Maui Magic Maui Magic 
From the air, Maui the island seems to have a human shape - a head, neck, and torso floating on the blue waters of the Pacific as in the picture above. Island photo is oriented with west on the top (Maui's head) - the other directions being North to the right, South to the left and East on the bottom. |
Maui is named after the prankster son of Hinaakeahi (Hina of the Fire), a demigod revered through the Pacific for his superhuman feats, including lifting the sky so people no longer had to crawl on all fours, and lengthening the day by lassoing the sun. Maui enjoyed wrapoping his good deeds in trickery, and when he sought the gift of fire for mankind, he employed his usual tactics.
First, Maui captured the mud hen, who knew the secret of fire, and told her he'd wring her neck until she told him how to make it. After he'd wrung her neck a few times, the mud hen direceted him to rub sticks together, and tricky herself, she advised him to use the wrong kind of sticks. Maui kept on wringing her neck, and when at last she told him how to make fire, Maui said he had one more thing to rub. Grabbing the bird once more, Maui rubbed the top of her head with a fire stick until all the feathers fell off. To this day the Hawaiian mud hen hs a bald head - and Hawaiians have the secret of making fire.
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