How Maui Found His Sister

After his sister, Hina [named after the moon] committed suicide by throwing herself into the restless sea.

Maui wept and longed for his lost sister, and being consumed with grief, he sought aid from Rehua, the deity whose habitation was in the Tenth Heaven.

[Rehua is identified with certain stars, to the Tuhoe, he is Antares, other tribes claim he is Betelgeuse, or Sirus. He is a son of Rangi and Papa, and is untouched by death and has the power to heal blindness and revive the dead, or heal any disease]

When he reached Naherangi he said to the god, “O Great Rehua, in thy musings hast thou heard murmurings from the worlds below?”

Rehua answered, “Yea, even so, from Motutapu, the Sacred Island”.

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Maui changed himself into a pigeon, pursued his noiseless flight through the Ten Heavens to the abode of Hina, his sister.

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Hina, after throwing herself into the sea, was for many days buffeted by the waves, and she was wafted by the winds to Motutapu.

Two brothers, Ihu-atamai and Ihu-weriweri, found her, and, with the aid of incantations and the sacred fire, she was restored to her former beauteous shape and looks.

Tinirau, the overlord of the island, hearing of her great beauty, sent for her and made her his chief wife.

This naturally led to dissensions in his household.

Consequentially, Hina was badly treated by the other wives.

It was at this time that Maui landed on the window sill of Tinirau’s house, where all the people exclaimed “He Rupe, he rupe” [a pigeon, a pigeon], and they began to throw spears.

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But “Rupe” dodged all the spears, and then transformed himself back into a man, thus revealing himself to his sister, whom he took with himself to the tenth heaven to offer his thanks to the Supreme Being.

Now, Rehua had a son, Kaitangata [man-eater] by name, who became enamoured with Hina,

Maui, in building a latrine Kaitangata, put in the post 'Whaitiri' loosely, so that when Kaitangata took hold of that post it became uprooted and he, falling over the cliff, was killed.

That is why, even to this day, when a Maori beholds the blood red skies in the west, he exclaims, “Ka tuhi Kaitangata”. [Behold the besmeared blood of Kaitangata.]

Info from [http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Pom02Lege-t1-body-d3-d11.html]

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/myths-and-legends-of-new-zealand-intro

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/children-of-heaven-and-earth-how-the-heavens-were-separated-from-the-earth

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/children-of-heaven-and-earth-part-2

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-this-series-began

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

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-maui-found-his-mothers-home

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-maui-caught-the-sun-part-1

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/one-result-of-maui-catching-the-sun

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-maui-got-the-jaw-bone-of-his-ancestor

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-maui-fished-up-the-north-island-of-new-zealand

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-maui-brought-fire-to-the-world

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