How Maui Brought Fire To The World

len.george (63)in #history • 5 years ago

Having returned home after fishing up New Zealand, the hero now thought that he would extinguish and destroy the fires of his ancestress of Mahu-ika.

So he got up in the night and put out the fires left in the cooking houses of each family in the village, then, quite early in the morning, he called aloud to the servants, “I hunger, I hunger, quick, cook some food for me”.

One of the servants therefore ran as fast as he could to make up the fire to cook some food, but the fire was out.

He ran around from house to house in the village to get a light, he found every fire quite out.

He could nowhere get a light.

When Maui’s mother heard this, she called out to the servants and said, “Some of you repair to my great ancestress Mahu-ika, tell her that fire has been lost upon earth, and ask her to give some fire to the world again”.

The slaves were alarmed, and refused to obey the commands which their masters, the sacred old people gave them, and they persisted in refusing to go, not withstanding the old people repeatedly ordering them to do so.

At last, Maui said to his mother, “Well, then I will fetch down fire for the world, but which is the path by which I must go?”.

His parents, who knew the country well, said to him, “If you will follow that broad path that lies just before you there, and you will at last reach the dwelling of an ancestress of yours, and if she asks who you are, you had better call out your name to her, then she will know you are a descendant of hers.

But be cautious, do not play any tricks with her, because we have heard that your deeds are greater than the deeds of men, and you are fond of deceiving and injuring others, and perhaps you even now intend in many ways to deceive this old ancestress of yours, but pray be cautious not to do so”.

Maui said, “No, I only want to bring fire away for men, that is all, and I’ll return again as soon as I can do that”.

Then he went and reached the abode of the goddess of fire, and he was filled with wonder at what he saw, that for a long time he could say nothing,

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At last he said,”Oh, lady, would you rise up?”. “Where is your fire kept?”. “I have come to beg some from you”.

Then the old lady rose right up, and said, “Au-e, who can this mortal be?”.

Maui answered, “It is I”.

“Where do you come from?” she said.

“I belong to this country” Maui replied.

“You are not from this country”, said she, “Your appearance is not like that of the inhabitants of this country”.

“Do you come from the north-east?”.

Maui replied, “No”.

“Do you come from the south-east?”.

Maui replied, “No”.

“Do you come from the south?”.

Maui replied, “No”.

“Are you from the westward?”

Again Maui said, “No”.

“Come you, then, from the direction of the wind which blows right upon me?”.

This time Maui said “I do”.

She cried, “Oh, then you are my grand child, what do you want here?”.

Maui answered, “I am come to beg fire from you”.

She replied, “Welcome, Welcome, here then is fire for you”.

Then the aged woman pulled out her nail, and as she pulled it out fire flowed from it. and she gave it to him.

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When Maui saw she had drawn out her nail to produce fire for him, he thought it a most wonderful thing.

Then he went a short distance off, and when not very far from her, he put the fire out, quite out, and returning to the old woman again he said, “ The light you gave me has gone out, give me another”.

Then she caught hold of another nail, and pulled it out as a light for him, and he left her, and went a little on one side, and put that light out also.

Then he went back to her again and said, “Oh, lady, give me, I pray you, another light for the last one went out”.

Thus he went on and on, until she had pulled out all the nails of the fingers of one of her hands, and then she began with the other hand.

When she had pulled out all the fingernails of her second hand too, she commenced upon the nails of her feet, and pulled them out in the same manner, except the nail of one of her big toes.

Then the aged woman said to herself at last, “This fellow is surely playing tricks with me”.

Then out she pulled the one toe nail that she had left, and it, too, became fire, and as she dashed it down on the ground the whole place caught fire.

She cried out to Maui, “There, you have it all now”.

Maui ran off, and made a rush to escape, but the fire followed hard after him, close behind him.

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So he changed into a fleet winged eagle, and flew with rapid flight, but the fire pursued, and almost caught him as he flew.

Then the eagle dashed down into a pool of water, but when he got into the water he found that almost boiling too.

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The forests just then caught fire, so that he could not alight anywhere, and the earth and the sea caught fire too, and Maui was very near perishing in the flames.

Then he called on his ancestors, Tawhiri-ma-tea and Whatitiri-matakataka, to send down an abundant supply of water, and he cried aloud, “Oh, let water be given to me to quench this fire which pursues after me”.

Lo, then appeared squalls and gales, and Tawhiri-ma-tea sent heavy lasting rain, and the fire was quenched,

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Before Mahu-ika could reach her place of shelter, she almost perished in the rain, and her shrieks and screams became as loud as those of Maui had been.

Thus Maui this proceeding, in this manner was extinguished the fire of Mahu-ika, the goddess of fire, but before it was all lost, she saved a few sparks which she threw to protect them, into the Kaikomako, and a few other trees, where they are still cherished, hence men yet use portions of the wood of these trees for fire when they require a light.

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Then he returned to the village, and his father and mother said to him, “You head when we warned you before you went, nevertheless you played tricks with your ancestress, it served you right that you got into such trouble”.

The young fellow answered his parents “Oh, what do I care for that, do you think that my perverse proceedings are to put a stop to, by this?”.

“Certainly not, I intend to go on in the same way for ever, ever, and ever”

His father answered him, “Yes, then, you may just please yourself about living or dying, if you will only attend to me you will save your life, if you do not attend to what I say, it will be the worse for you, that is all”.

As soon as this conversation was ended, off went the young fellow to find some more companions for his other scrapes.

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https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-origins-of-maui-how-he-came-home-part-1

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