MAUI’S FISH
O [1]Te Ika a Maui—The Fish!
But turn now your eyes on those worthy, wise Brothers of Maui,—
With grimaces nibbling their faces, with eyes and with mouths round as sea-eggs,
They squat on their haunches, stuck still:
Dumb as [2]heads in the old days held fast in the mouth of the oven,
Dumb as fish,—who would ever have thought it?
But hear now their guile!
“O my Brothers,” said Maui,
Meet is it I go with thank-offermgs to thank Tangaroa—
Tangaroa, who gave me this fish:
[3]Rangi also, and [4]Tawhiri-matea, who hid it below.
But abide till I come!” he besought them with earnest persuasions,
“Till these gods are bespoken, with hand or with foot,
O defile not my Fish!
When I come, I will portion it all.” So he went.
But what then said these Brothers?
Aha! As the [5]kotare, perched and asleep, hears the fish-rippled water, and straightway awakes,
They awoke!
“Who is Maui?” said they “who that babe, with his portion, and portion?
- ↑ Te Ika a Maui (Tay Eeka ah Mów-ee): The fish of Maui—the Maori name properly for the North Island only of New Zealand, but often for the whole country.
- ↑ Heads, etc.: The reference, in itself an insult to the Brothers, is to the cooking and eating, in cannibal days, of slain enemies. The Maori oven was a pit dug in the ground and lined with stones for heating.
- ↑ Rangi (Rah-ngee): The sky.
- ↑ Ta-whiri-matea (Tah-wheeree-máh-tayah): God of the Winds.
- ↑ Kotare (kóh-tah-ray): The kingfisher.
56
