The fish of Maui
Maui was a special person with magical powers and was better at everything than his 4 brothers. Their names were Roto, Mua, Pae and Taha. The 4 brothers had planned to go fishing the next morning but they had grown overly jealous of Maui because of his powers. So, they decided to not tell Maui about their trip out fishing. Maui had overheard them talking so early next morning Maui hid himself in the bottom of the canoe.
The next morning Roto, Mua, Pae and Taha all laughed as they set out to sea thinking that Maui was not there. Little did they know Maui ‘Nukurau’ (the trickster) was hiding in the bottom of the canoe. The brothers paddled out until they found a good fishing spot. The spot that they picked was not good enough for Maui ‘Atamai’ (The quick witted) so he jumped up from his hiding place and ordered his brothers to paddle further. The brothers begged Maui to stop but he would not. The sun began to set and the land was far from sight, Maui paddled the whole night following from the light of Marama, the moon. His brothers all fell asleep one by one but Maui could sense something so he kept on paddling. As the brothers woke up in the morning they were all grumpy and tired and Maui was only just satisfied with his fishing spot. So as ‘utu’ or revenge his brothers gave Maui no fishing bait. Since Maui had no bait he cut himself on the nose and spread the magic jawbone hook with his own blood. Maui swung the hook and line around his head and cast it into the ocean. The magic hook fell through the water with the speed of a taiaha. The bone locked into a wooden carving. But Maui did not know that he had caught a tekoteko of a whare, this carving was attached to something big! Maui was not catching a fish, he was catching land… Maui tugged and pulled with all his might, the ocean began to stir. Above the water Maui started chanting karakia ( magical incantations ) that went into the great fish. They started calling to the land to rise up to the surface so it was lighter for them to tug up. But this fish knew that the sea was its home, so the fish started to put up a fight.
Maui braced himself on the boat as the sea began to move with great force. Maui placed his feet strongly on the edge of the canoe and started to heave in the line, Maui would not stop pulling in the line until he got what he wanted. The fish was pulling as much as it could to get back to the ground, but its strength was not as strong as Maui’s will. Maui used one last great pull and the fish floated to the surface. What a great fish is was! It’s tail stretched to the north and it’s head lay to the south. Maui says to his brothers ‘I must go get the hook, do not touch him well i’m gone’. But as soon as Maui was out of sight the brothers started hacking out their share of the fish. The great fish yelped in agony as it was getting sliced into pieces. As it got cut it turned into just hills and valleys of grass. The fish of Maui was now a rugged land. This large fish is now the north island of New Zealand ( Te ika a Maui )
