Māui and the giant fish
Māui dreamed of the day
that he could go fishing with his older brothers. Each time his brothers
returned from a fishing trip Māui would ask, "Next time, can I come
fishing with you?"
But Māui's brothers
would always make an excuse. "No you're much too young to come fishing
with us. We need all the
room in our waka for the many fish that we catch."
"I'll only take up a little bit of room, and I'll
stay out of trouble, I promise," Māui would argue.
The eldest brother
would reply, "You're so skinny we might mistake you for some bait and
throw you overboard for the fish to eat."
Māui would get angry.
"I'll teach them, he'd say to himself, "I'll prove how good I am!"
Secretly Māui hatched a
plan to prove he was a great fisherman. One night when Māui was alone he began
weaving a strong fishing line from flax. As he wove he recited an old karakia
to give his fishing line strength.
When he was finished,
Māui took a jawbone which his ancestor Murirangawhenua had given him, and bound
it securely to the line. Early the next morning, Māui took his fishing line and
secreted himself in the hull of his brothers' canoe.
When Māui's brothers
pulled the canoe into the sea they noticed something a little different.
"The canoe is much
heavier this morning, are you sure you're helping?" said one.
"I think you've
been eating too much kumara!" said another.
"Stop your
bickering and get on with it!" said the eldest brother.
None of the brothers
noticed Māui hiding in the hull. When Māui heard his brothers drop the anchor,
he knew they were too far from land to return. Māui revealed himself to his
brothers' surprise.
"What!"
"What are you
doing here?"
"You tricked us!"
"No wonder we have
not caught one single fish!"
The brothers were angry
with Māui, but Māui spoke up.
"I have come to
fish because Murirangawhenua said I would be a great fisherman. Let your lines
down as I say my karakia and you'll catch more fish than you ever have."
Māui began his karakia.
The brothers threw
their lines into the water and instantly began catching fish. One after another
they pulled their fish into the waka. In no time the waka was full and the
brothers were delighted with their catch.
"We're the best
fishermen ever!" the brothers congratulated each other.
"Now it is my turn
to fish," said Māui.
The brothers laughed
when Māui pulled his fishing line from his bag.
"Huh, you'll be
lucky to catch a piece of seaweed with that!"
"Or maybe a piece
of driftwood to float home on!"
The brothers couldn't
contain their laughter. Māui didn't listen, instead he recited his karakia and
readied his line. "Can you give me some bait for my hook?" Māui asked
his brothers.
But the brothers only
laughed harder so Māui clenched his fist and hit himself hard on the nose. His
nose bled and Māui covered his hook with his own blood. Māui then stood at the
front of the canoe and whirled his line above his head as he recited his karakia.
He spun his line out to sea, the line sunk deep to the ocean floor, down into
the depths of the domain of Tangaroa, and instantly the hook was taken.
Māui's line went
suddenly taut. The brothers stopped their laughing and held tightly to the side
of the waka as they began to speed across the ocean.
"Cut the
line!" a brother called, clearly quaking in his seat.
"We'll all be
drowned," said another. "Please Māui cut the line!"
But Māui held tight to
his line, and slowly a giant fish was pulled to the surface. The brothers
huddled in the waka shivering with fright. The giant fish towered over their
small canoe.
"This is the fish
that our grandmother, Murirangawhenua, said would be gifted to us," Māui
said. "Guard our fish, and I'll soon return with our people."
The brothers agreed to
stay, and Māui headed back to Hawaiki. However as soon as Māui had gone, the
brothers began chopping greedily at the huge fish, claiming huge pieces of it
as their own.
When Māui returned, his
people were amazed to see the giant fish.
"Māui is the best
fisherman ever," they marvelled.
As they neared the
brothers were seen still chopping and arguing over which part of the fish was
theirs. The people saw them for the greedy brothers that they were. They were
so greedy that they had chopped huge gullies and mountains from the fish's
flesh.
Over many hundreds and
thousands of years, these gullies and mountains became part of the landscape of
Aotearoa as we know it today. Birds, plants, animals and the people of Hawaiki
populated the giant fish of Māui. And in time Māui's giant fish became known as
the North Island of Aotearoa, and Māui's canoe the South island.
This is the story of
Māui and the giant fish.
(http://eng.mataurangamaori.tki.org.nz/Support-materials/Te-Reo-Maori/Maori-Myths-Legends-and-Contemporary-Stories/Maui-and-the-giant-fish)
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