Māui-taha- Polynesian FigureMortal
Also known as: Maui-taha
Description
One of Māui's older brothers who crewed the canoe during the great fishing expedition. When Māui left to dedicate the catch to the gods, Māui-taha and his brothers began carving the great fish. Their impatient knives scarred it into the mountains and valleys of the North Island.
Mythology & Lore
The Stranger
Māui-taha and his brothers grew up under their mother Taranga's care, unaware that a fifth brother existed. Māui had been born prematurely and cast into the sea, wrapped in a topknot of Taranga's hair. He survived. Years later, he appeared among them and took a place beside their mother. The brothers were bewildered and resentful. In Grey's account, their suspicion broke only when Taranga herself recognized and embraced her lost son. The favoritism she showed him afterward did not help.
The Great Fish
When Māui set out to fish up the land, his brothers crewed the canoe. Māui baited his hook with blood from his own nose and cast it deep. The hook was the jawbone of his ancestress Murirangawhenua. What he hauled up was Te Ika a Māui, the great fish that became the North Island.
Māui left to perform the proper rites of dedication. The brothers could not wait. They took their knives to the enormous fish and began to carve. The ridges and valleys of the North Island are the scars they left, the landscape shaped by men who would not let the gods have their portion first.
Relationships
- Family