321
See also: Prometheus helps mankind 36–39 ■ Fire and rice 226–27 ■ Ta’aroa gives birth to the gods 316–17 ■ Tane and
Hine-titama 318–19food and resolved to discover how
she heated it. For that, he knew
he had to gain access to the
Underworld. Following his mother
as she returned to her home, Maui
saw her speaking to a black rock,
which opened up when she recited
a poem.
So that he, too, could visit the
Underworld, Maui committed the
poem’s words to memory. He knew
that getting in unnoticed would
require trickery, so Maui visited his
friend Tane, the forest god, who
owned many pigeons. Maui
demanded Tane’s most prized bird,
a red pigeon called Akaotu who
was tame and well-trained. Tane
lent Maui the bird but made him
promise to return it unharmed.
Taking the pigeon with him, Maui
returned to the rock where his
mother had entered the Underworld.
He recited the poem and the portal
opened. Using his trickster powers,Maui then put himself inside the
bird and flew into the Underworld.
As he darted past the demons, they
could only grab at Akaotu’s tail,
pulling off a few of his feathers.Buataranga’s warning
Maui flew to where his mother
Buataranga lived whenever she was
in the Underworld. Because there
were no red pigeons living in the
lower realm, Buataranga knew that
something was amiss and quickly
deduced that her son was involved.
Maui resumed his human form,
and the red pigeon settled on a
breadfruit tree.
Maui told his mother that he had
come to find out how to kindle fire.
She told him that she did not know
the secret herself and that whenever
she needed to cook she went to theOCEANIA
Tane is known as Tane Mahuta (“King
of the Forest”) in Maori legend. The
largest Kauri tree in Waipoua Forest,
New Zealand, over 1,000 years old,
bears this name in honor of the god.Maui in Polynesian mythology
Tales of the trickster god
appear throughout Polynesian
mythology, although the god’s
name may vary; Maui’s Samoan
equivalent is called Ti’iti’i. In
Maori mythology, Maui is said
to be a human, miraculously
saved from death by ocean
spirits when he was very young
after his mother threw him into
the sea. The exact details of his
exploits tend to vary with
location. Common elements
include the stories of Maui
pushing up the sky, snaring the
sun, and gaining the secret of
fire, but accounts of Maui’s enddiffer. In the Cook Islands, he
is believed to have ascended
to the heavens. In some
Hawaiian myths, he has his
brains dashed out. The other
gods tire of his tricks and hurl
him against the rocks after he
tries to steal a banana they are
roasting. In Maori mythology,
Maui is a mortal killed by the
goddess of death as he tries to
win eternal life. Maui’s most
recent incarnation is in the 2016
Disney animation Moana, where
the eponymous heroine, a chief’s
daughter, searches for Maui in a
bid to save her people.fire god Mauike, who gave her
lighted sticks. Buataranga warned
her son, however, not to approach
Mauike because of his violent temper
and great strength.Playing with fire
Undeterred, Maui went straight to
Mauike’s house and asked him for
a firebrand. When he was given ❯❯The fire god, confident
in his own prodigious
strength, resolved
to destroy this
insolent intruder.
Myths and Songs from
the South PacificUS_320-323_Maui.indd 321 05/12/17 4:17 pm