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From Te Tohunga: The Ancient Legends and Traditions of the Maoris by Wilhelm Dittmer.

Listen:

Taranga was his mother, but ah, for Tama-nui-ki-te Rangi! ah, for Tama-nui-ki-te Rangi, what would have become of Maui? But a prey of the birds of the sea, ah! Tama found a bundle of jelly-fish and sea-kelps on the shore, and the sea-birds were collecting around it fighting and screaming; so he went, and, striping the fish and sea-kelps, he saw that they were covering and enclosing a child Maui-potiki.

Ah, behold Maui-potiki, Maui, the infant, reared and fashioned by the fish and the weeds and the waves, by storms and gales of the rolling sea ah, but for Tama-nui-ki-te Rangi, what would have become of Maui, alone on the shore? What but a prey of the sea-birds? Maui-potiki!

Ah, Listen:

Before his time Maui was born, and Taranga, his mother, who gave birth to him on the border of the sea, knew that he could not live; therefore she cut her hair, and, wrapping it around him, she threw him into the surf of the sea ah. She sang many incantations which have power over the evil spirits; for know, my listener, they are watching for the children who are born to life, before their life is ripe. They try to enter the body and fill the departing spirit of the child with hatred for man for the departing spirit will never know and receive the joys of man; and therefore, friend, the dead-born children form the multitude of evil spirits.

Ah, great were Taranga's incantations, but what would have become of Maui but for the love of Tangaroa? Tangaroa, the god of the oceans! His are the waves, and they rolled and rocked the child to sleep, and they fashioned him and gave him strength; and they took possession of him and gave him the power of the sea and the wisdom of the sea their great incantations which unite heaven and earth; and they gave him the terrible witchcraft of the sea.

Then, rolling him gently on the sand of the beach, the jellyfish robed him, and the seaweeds ah, my listener!

Tama-nui-ki-te Rangi became his father, and he lived with him till he grew into manhood. Many were his deeds, and great was his cunning: he learned powerful incantations, and he learned how to take the shape of the birds.

At last a great longing for his parents and his brothers grew in his heart, and he set out to seek them, for his heart was longing for them. He wandered and wandered toward the Edge of the Ascending Sun, and many days more he wandered, till he came to the great whare-puni; and all the people were there, and full of enjoyment and happiness.

He saw a woman who was counting her sons:

"Maui-i-mua my eldest; Maui-i-roto my second-born; Maui-i-taha my third son; and Maui-i-pai my other son;" and, perceiving Maui-potiki, she demanded: "Whom do I see among my children?"

Maui, assuming before her eyes the form of a pigeon, flew upon the forehead of Rangi, whose carved image supported the house, and, sitting there, he spoke: "If you are Taranga, my mother, then know, that I am Maui-potiki, your youngest son."

Ha! great was the wisdom given him by Tangaroa, and great was his beauty and strength, fashioned by the storms of the sea, so that, when he took the form of man again, his mother saw his great beauty and she believed in him, and knew that he was her son; and she spoke:

"Do you come from the North?"; and Maui answered: "No."

And again she asked: "Do you come from the South?" Maui again answered: "No."

And she asked again: "Do you come from the West?" Maui again answered: "No."

And she spoke again: "Do you come from the East?" and again Maui answered: No."

She said: "Do you come on the waves of the sea? "and Maui spoke: "The waves of the sea rolled me."

And she said: "Do you come on the waves of the wind?" and Maui said " Yes! "

Then Taranga cried: "It is true! He is the youngest son to whom I gave birth, and cast his body into the sea because his life was not ripe. He is here again; he is alive; it is true, it is true, it is true! He is my son; he is Maui-i-tiki-tiki-a-taranga!"

Ah, listen, my friend to Maui; Maui, my ancestor!

Three times he slept in the house of his mother, but every morning when he awoke he found his mother had disappeared before day-break.

The next night, when Taranga had come again to sleep with her sons, he waited till all were asleep, and then he closed every hole and rent through which light could come into the house, and put away Taranga's feather-garment and belt, that she might not be able to go away again. In the darkness now Taranga slept till the Sun was standing high, and she cried and searched for her garment and belt. Not finding them she covered herself with an old mat, and ran to a tuft of reeds which grew near the house, and disappeared beneath it.

Maui followed her, and, lifting the tuft, he found that it covered the entrance to a cave.

Quickly now he changed himself into a pigeon, and, binding the white belt of his mother around his neck and her black feather-garment before his breast, he flew to the entrance of the cave, and, entering it, he flew and flew and flew through the long and dark cave till he saw at last the people of another world.

Thither he flew, and rested upon a large tree. Sitting there, he perceived that his mother and father were among the people, and he threw down two berries, hitting both, his mother and Makea-tu-tara his father. They thought the berries had fallen from the tree, and took no heed; but Maui threw and hit them again, and then again. At last all saw the pigeon, and they began to throw stones, to kill it; but they could not hit Maui until at length he wanted them to, and then he fluttered down to the feet of his father. The people now sprang forward to kill the pigeon, but Maui quickly changed into a man again, so that they were struck with fear, and looked frightened into his staring red eyes: they were as red as if they were painted with kokowai.

Ah, my listener, Taranga, seeing her son, chanted the great Song of Welcome of the people of Hawaiki; and then, staring far into the distance, she sang the incantations to the gods who record the past, and with their help she narrated to the people all that had taken place since Maui's birth, and the people wondered, and believed that Maui was Taranga's son Maui-i-tiki-tiki-a-taranga.

And from that time, Maui lived with his people for time, and time, and time.

At last, Maui, full of knowledge and cunning, wished for a weapon, so that he might perform great deeds that no other men could do. He wished for a sacred weapon, and he held many Karakias to the gods whose abode is the tools of the warrior.

One day he asked the people who brought food every day to Muri-Rangi-whenua, his grandfather, and said: "Give me the food that I may take it to Muri-Rangi-whenua, for is he not a sacred man?" And they gave it to him, and he carried it away; but did not give it to his ancestor. Many were the days that passed since he took the food away; but he did not give it to the old man, whose cries became louder and louder, for he was very old and hungry.

At last the spirit of his life took his abode in the jawbone, and, departing from there to be swallowed by Hine-nui-te-po, he left the jawbone—as his last resting-place, tapu (sacred)—behind him.

Ah, behold now, my stranger, how, taking the sacred jawbone of Muri-Rangi-whenua, he became the possessor of his powerful weapon.

And truly wonderful deeds did he perform with his sacred weapon. Is not all this land its prey this land, Te-ika-a-Maui? Look how he wanders till he reaches a place on the river at Hawaiki look how he does not touch any food look how he distributes the great tapu over the place, how he makes it sacred to the most powerful gods only, and look, ah, look how he forms the jawbone of Muri-Rangi-whenua into a beautiful fish-hook; how he adorns it with carvings, and how its eyes of pawa-shell, flash fire into the world!

Ha, look, my friend, how he, with great cunning, fashions the teeth into barbs! Ah, see him giving to his weapon the great name of his ancestor, Muri-Rangi-whenua.

Ha, now he held the great Karakia over his fish-hook, making it sacred as an abode for the mightiest gods; and, hiding it in his belt, he went back to his brothers, and he watched them trying to catch fish; but could never land them, for their hooks had no barbs. He said laughingly: "O, brothers, let us together go upon the sea to find out who may catch the largest fish."

But his brothers were afraid of Maui and his cunning and witchcraft: they did not like him in the canoe, and therefore they left so early next morning that Maui had to stay behind.

When Maui awoke and found his brothers gone, he laughed, and changed himself into the little bird, Ti-waka-waka, and flew out upon the sea. When he had reached the canoe he set himself upon the prow, and began to twitter and sing.

Then his brothers knew him, and cried: "It is Maui, oh, it is Maui, who has come!" -and Maui, flying around the canoe, twittered: "Yes, brothers, it is Maui, it is Maui, who has come, Maui, Maui!"

Then, throwing off all his feathers one by one, he took the form of man again, and spoke: "Ha, my brothers, now you shall see how Maui catches his large fish, and you shall not know its name! But let us go further out upon the sea there, where the sea is deep, there is Maui's fishing-ground."

His brothers now paddled and paddled, till at last they said: "Truly Maui, this must be your fishing-ground, for we can see Hawaiki no more." But Maui answered: "No, no, let us go further out where there is no more end to the sea."

At last they came to a place in the middle of the ocean, and Maui spoke: "Eh-hu, my brothers, this is Maui's fishing-ground, the great battle-field for his fish-hook, Muri-Rangi-whenua."

Now he took his fish-hook with great care, so that his brothers might not see the barbs, and asked them to give him some of their bait; but they laughed, and cried: "No, no; mighty Maui, show us your big fish, the fish we do not know the fish you catch without bait! ho, ho, the great fish of Maui!"

Ha, ha, my friend.

But now, in great rage, Maui tore half his hair out, and, soaking it with his blood, he baited his hook with it. Then he threw his line far, far out into the sea, and began to chant this great incantation:

"Blow gently from the wakarua,

Blow gently from the mawaki

My line, let it pull straight,

My line, let it pull strong;

It has caught,

It has come.

The land is gained.

The fish is in the hand

The fish long waited for,

The boast of Maui,

His great haul,

For which he went to sea,

His boast, it is caught!"

Ha, see how his fish has swallowed the hook! Ha, see how his line straightens; see how Maui pulls and pulls with all his mighty strength! See, how his strength presses the canoe under water! Ha, listen how his brothers cry and wail; ha, ha, listen! "Maui, Maui, let go; let your fish go; oh, let go, let go, Maui!" Ha, ha, see how Maui pulls, and pulls, and pulls; see him pulling for three moons! Ha, listen how he shouts to his brothers: "What Maui has got in his hands he cannot let go again!"

Hearken now to his incantations to the gods who make heavy things light ah, see him gathering together all his mighty strength, ah, see him pull, see him pull!

Ah, friend, the sea foams, the sea thunders, the sea storms ha, oh see, ah ha, behold the fish of Maui, Maui's fish swimming upon the surface of the sea Maui's fish Ha, friend, it is this land! It is Te-ika-a-Maui. Aotea-roa, this land. Ah, behold the wisdom of my ancestors: how Maui's hook caught the house of the old Tonga-nui on the top of Tongariro, and pulled all this beautiful land out of the sea, Te-ika-a-Maui.

"Open now your throats that are still hoarse and tired from crying, my brothers, and tell me the name of my fish": so spoke Maui boastingly; but they could not give the name of the fish, and Maui said full of pride: "It is Te-ika-a-Maui!"

The canoe was now lying on the mountains at Hiku rangi, and Maui's brothers took their weapons and sprang forth, and wounded and killed the fish, and, ah, my friend, from that "time are the hills and the valleys and the mountains: they are the foot-prints of the brothers who did not follow Maui's bidding that they should wait till he had made offering to the gods that they might regard his catch with favour, and that his fish might retain its beautiful smooth surface for ever.

Dittmer, Wilhelm. Te Tohunga: The Ancient Legends and Traditions of the Maoris. George Routledge & Sons, 1907.

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Wilhelm Dittmer
World Mythology

A collection of myths, legends, and other stories that teach us something about the world. Note that myths are often tied into the history and religion of the people who tell them, and they should always be treated and read with respect!

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