Hine-nui-te-po, the great goddess of death, crushed Maui between her obsidian thighs when he tried to crawl through her sleeping body to reverse the path of death — a fantail bird's laughter woke her, and humanity's last hope for immortality died with him.
Hine-nui-te-pō rules over Pō, the dark realm of the dead where all mortal souls ultimately journey in Maori tradition.
Hine-nui-te-po killed Maui with the obsidian teeth lining her body when the piwakawaka's laughter woke her. The fantail's failure to remain silent is blamed in Maori tradition for the permanence of human mortality.
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