The Origins Of Maui. How He Came Home. part 1

They discovered him one night whilst they were dancing in the great house of assembly.

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Whilst his relations were all dancing there they found out who he was in this manner.

For little Maui, the infant, crept into the house, and went and st behind one of his brothers, and hid himself, so that when their mother counted her children that they might stand up ready for the dance.

She said,
“One, that’s Maui-taha, [meaning Left side],
two, that’s Maui-roto, [meaning innermost part],
three, that’s Maui-pae, [meaning Left Hand],
four, that’s maui-waho, [meaning Outer Left]”.

Then she saw another child and dried out, “Hello, where did this fifth come from?”

Then little Maui, the infant replied, “I am your child too”.

Then the old woman counted them all over again, and she said, “Oh no, there ought to be only four of you, now for the first time I have seen you”.

Then little Maui and his mother stood for a long time disputing about this in the very middle of the ranks of all the dancers.

At last, she got angry, and cried out, “Come, you be off now, out of the house at once, you are no child of mine, you belong to someone else”.

Then little Maui spoke out quite boldly, and said, “Very well, I had better be off then, for I suppose, as you say it, I must be the child of some other person, but indeed I did think I was your child when I said so”.

“I knew I was born at the side of the sea, and was thrown by you into the foam of the surf, after you had wrapped me up in a tuft of your hair, which you cut off for that purpose”.

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“Then the seaweed formed and fashioned me, as caught in its long tangles the ever-heaving surges of the sea rolled me, folded as I was in them, from side to side.

“At length, the breezes and squalls which blew from the ocean drifted me ashore again
And the soft jellyfish of the long sandy beaches rolled themselves around me to protect me, then myriads of flys alighted on me to buzz about me and lay their eggs that the maggots might eat me”,

“Flocks of birds collected around me to peck me to pieces, but, at that moment appeared also my great ancestor, Tama-nui-ki-te-Rangi, and he saw the flies and the birds collected in clusters and flocks above the jellyfish, and the old man ran, as fast as he could, and stripped off the encircling jellyfish.”

Another version has Tangaroa [Neptune] bringing him up and teaching him his history and magic.

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“Behold, within there lay a human being, then he caught me up and carried me to his house, and he hung me up in the roof that I might feel the warm smoke and the heat of the fire, so I was saved alive by the kindness of that old man.”

“At last, I grew, and then I heard the fame of the dancing of this great house of assembly”.

“It was that which brought me here, from the time I was in your womb, I have heard the names of these, your first-born children, as you have been calling them over until this very night”.

“When I again heard you repeating them, in proof of this I will now recite your names to you, my brothers”

“You are Maui-taha, you are Maui-roto, and you are Maui-pae, and you are Maui-waho, and as for me, I am little Maui the baby, and I am sitting before you”.

When his mother, Taranga, heard all this, she cried out, “You dear little child, you are indeed my last born, the son of my old age, therefore I now tell you your name will be Maui-tiki tiki-a-Taranga, or Maui-formed in the top knot-of-Taranga.

And, he was called by that name.

After the disputing which took place on that occasion, his mother Taranga, called to the last born, “Come here my child, and sleep with the mother who bore you, that I may kiss you, and that you may kiss me.”

He ran to sleep with his mother and his elder brothers were jealous, and began to murmur about this to each other, “Well, indeed, our mother never asks us to go and sleep with her, yet we are the children she saw actually born and about whose birth there is no doubt”.

When we were little things she nursed us, laying us down gently on the large soft mats she had spread out for us, then why does she not ask us now to sleep with her?”

When we were little things she was fond enough of us, but now we are grown older she never caresses us, or treats us kindly.

But as for this little abortion, who can really tell whether he was nursed by the sea tangles or by whom, or whether he is not some other person’s child, and here he is now sleeping with our mother.

Who would ever have believed that that little abortion, thrown into the ocean, would have come back into the world again a living human being?.

Now, this little rogue has the impudence to call himself a relation of ours.

Then the two elder brothers said to the two younger ones, “Never mind, let him be our dear brother, in the days of peace remember the proverb”.

“When you are on friendly terms, settle your disputes in a friendly way, When you are at war, you must redress your injuries by violence”.

“It is better for us, oh, brothers, to be kind to other people, these are the ways by which men gain influence in the world”.

“By labouring for the abundance of food to feed to others, by collecting property to give to others, and by similar means by which you can promote the good of others, so that peace spreads throughout the world”.

Let us take care that we are not like the children of Rangi-nui, and of Papa-tu-a-nuku, who turned over in their minds thoughts of slaying their parents, four of them consented, but Tawhiri-ma-tea, had little desire for this, for he loved his parents.

But the rest of his brothers agreed to slay them, afterwards when Tawhiri, saw that the husband was separated far from his wife, then he thought that it was his duty to do, and he fought against his brothers.

Thence sprang the cause which led Tu-matauenga to wage war against his brethren and his parents, and now, at last, this contest is carried on even between his own kindred, so that man fights against man.

Therefore let us be careful not to foster divisions amongst ourselves, lest such wicked thoughts should finally turn us each against the other, and thus we should be like the children of Rangi-nui and Papa-tu-a-nuku.

The two younger brothers, when they hear this, answered, “Yes, yes, oh, eldest brothers of ours, you are quite right, let our murmuring end here”.

This is how Maui-tiki tiki-a-Taranga was welcomed home.

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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

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