Maui Legends

As part of Matariki we re-read the legends of Maui. We then retold and created artwork. Below is my work.

      Māui and the North Island

One day  Māui was walking in his village and he heard his brothers  Roto, Mua, Pae and Taha talking. They said that they would go fishing the next day. Māui asked  if he could go too but they said no. So the next morning Māui hid in the bottom of the boat so his brothers would not  see him. His brothers set off in the boat not knowing that Māui was there. Later Māui jumped out of his hiding spot and scared his brothers. After that he told his brothers to paddle. They did not want to paddle but they obeyed and did what Māui said. Māui also helped to paddle. Then Māui took over and slowly all his brothers fell asleep. But Māui kept paddling. The sun set and Māui kept on going. Finally the morning came and the Rā (sun) was in the sky and Māui had found the spot that he wanted to fish. His brothers were very unhappy and grumpy in the morning. So his brothers did not let him have any bait. So Māui scratched himself with his magic hook and put his own blood on it. Roto, Mua, Pae and Taha put their hook in the water. Soon they pulled up their hooks but there was nothing there. Māui had just put his hook in the water and it hooked on the foot of a carving at the bottom of the ocean. Māui pulled but it didn’t come up. None of his brothers chose to help as they were too scared. Māui planted his feet on the edge of the boat.  So he tugged, he jerked and hauled. Then the water started to bubble and fizz and something began to rise up to the surface and come up. The giant stingray came up to the surface and was sitting on the water. Roto, Mua, Pae, Taha and Māui climbed onto the giant stingray which has now become the North Island. Māui had to walk to the head of the stingray that was all the way down south because he had to get the hook out of the stringray. He told his brothers not to touch the creature while he was gone. But once Māui was out of sight his brothers got out the paddles and started to hack at the creature. It cried in pain and moved around a lot. Now the creature is jagged and bumpy and that's why the North Island has hills and ranges.

Retold By Hannah