Maui’s Island of New Zealand — Obscure Fairy Tales

It was a warm morning on Maui and his four brothers’ native island. The older siblings were planning to go on a fishing expedition, but didn’t want to bring their youngest brother on the trip. Still, Maui wanted to tag along.

In preparation for the journey, Maui had wove himself a flax fishing line, enchanted it with a karakia for strength, and attached it to the fish-hook made of jawbone given by his grandmother Murirangawhenua. There was no way he wasn’t joining his brothers on the fun this time! Thus, Maui hid in the hull of his brothers’ vessel and waited until the next morning, when the waka was out into the open sea, before coming out of hiding.

As his four siblings were less than happy to find out he had snuck onto the vessel, they refused to lend him a bait. Maui struck himself on the nose and used his own blood as bait on the hook.

It wasn’t long before his first catch of the day. However, when he tried to pull up his fish-hook, Maui realized something much bigger than a simple fish had caught his bait. He pulled up his fish-hook and saw his catch: his hook had caught the sill of the doorway of Tonga-nui’s submerged house.

Maui knew forcing the marine deity to release his line would be difficult, so he chanted incantations praising Tangaloa’s grandson Tonga-nui. Eventually, his fish-hook resurfaced along with a massive fish. The siblings brought their catch back to shore by attaching it to the waka.

Once on firm land, Maui’s brothers wanted to start cutting up the fish right away. However, Maui refused. He wanted to make an offering to the gods beforehand. His brothers rejected his plea for patience and swiftly used their knife to cut open the flesh of the sea creature.

Right away, the massive fish turned into a giant hilly region, akin to a humongous island. Over time, the hilly region was populated and humans exploited its resources.

Unbeknownst to them, the five siblings had rose and created the North Island of New Zealand, Te-ika-a-Maui.

The serie Obscure Fairy Tales encompasses an array of tales, myths and legends from around the world. To read more, visit this page dedicated to fiction writing.