Māui-waho- Polynesian FigureMortal

The Brothers of Māui

Māui-waho is one of the older brothers of Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga, the youngest and most gifted of five brothers in Māori tradition. His name means roughly "Māui of the outside." He and his brothers were already grown when the young Māui appeared among them as a stranger, born prematurely and raised apart from the family. Their mother Taranga recognized her lost son and forced the brothers to accept him, though they never quite knew what to make of a sibling who could do things they could not.

The Snaring of the Sun

In the tradition recorded by George Grey, the sun raced across the sky too quickly, leaving people no daylight to finish their work. Māui devised a plan to ambush it at the pit from which it rose each morning. He set his brothers to plaiting strong ropes from flax.

They traveled together to the sun's rising place and positioned themselves with the ropes. When the sun emerged, they cast the ropes over it and held fast. The sun thrashed and burned. Māui-waho and his brothers hauled on the lines while Māui beat the sun with the enchanted jawbone of Murirangawhenua, striking it until it agreed to travel more slowly across the sky. Māui swung the jawbone. His brothers held the ropes. Neither could have done it alone.