Maui's Quest for Eternal Life

By Chrissie Ward

The legendary hero Maui performed many famous deeds. He survived in the ocean when his mother thought he was stillborn; he caught the sun with ropes and slowed its path across the sky; he fished up from the ocean the land that became Aotearoa, New Zealand. He thought he was the greatest hero who ever lived.

One night, he watched the moon pass overhead and mused, "Why shouldn't men be as the moon, who appears every night? We should be like the gods, immortal for all time."

His father, Makea, heard his words.

"My son," Makea said to Maui, "I know you are brave and strong, but there are some things even you cannot overcome."

"Nonsense, old man," said Maui. "There is no challenge that is too much for me."

Makea said gravely, "Have you forgotten your ancestress, Hine-nui-te po, the Great Woman of the Night? You know that she opened the pathway between the world of light and the world of spirits when she fled in shame from Tane, her father, when he took her as his wife. She told Tane that she would stay in the underworld to receive the spirits of their offspring, and there she waits for you also."

Maui said, "You are rambling, for I remember my mother telling me that I would one day vanquish Hine-nui-te-po, and death would no longer have power over men."

Makea warned, "My son, I have to tell you of a bad omen. For when I first saw you and performed the sacred ceremony over you, I forgot an important part of the prayer."

Maui brushed this aside. "I care nothing for that. Where can I find Hine-nui-te po?"

"Over there," Makea said, pointing to the distant mountains. "There where the sky meets the earth, you can see her flashing in the sunset. She has the body of a woman, but her eyes are of obsidian, with a red glow within them. Her hair is like seaweed; her mouth is like that of a fish; and in the place where men enter her she has sharp teeth of greenstone."

This was meant to deter Maui, but he said, "If I am not scared by the sun, do you think I will be frightened of an old goddess?"

And Makea sighed at the rashness of youth.

The next morning Maui rose before dawn. He cast off his clothes and washed his strong, handsome body in the river. All other men were still slumbering, but the birds of Tane's forest were awake and fluttered about him curiously.

"Why are you up so early, Maui?" they asked. "Where are you going?"

"I go to conquer Hine-nui-te-po," he told them. "I will enter her through the birth channel, work my way up her body and come out from her mouth. Thus I will reverse the path that all humans tread, and death will no longer have dominion over us. Which of you will come with me?"

The birds were aghast at this impiety, and flittered and twittered about, discussing what to do. But at length some of the most curious agreed to go with Maui, to see what would happen. These were the fantail, the grey warbler, the whitehead, and the robin.

So Maui led his bird companions to the place where the sky meets the land, until they came to Hine-nui-te-po, who was lying sleeping with her legs apart. They could see the greenstone teeth between her thighs, and the birds twittered with fear.

"Do not go in there," they cried, "for you will surely be killed!"

Maui said, "Not if you all keep your heads. You must stay silent until the moment when I come out of her mouth, and then you can sing with joy that I have conquered death. Until then, keep quiet. Now, what will be the best form for me to take to enter her?"

At first he took the shape of a rat, but the whitehead said, "No, you will never succeed like that."

Next he took the shape of a worm, but the fantail didn't like worms and said that was no good either. So Maui took the shape of a glistening caterpillar, and in this form he began to enter Hine-nui-te po.

Maui thrust in his head, and he wriggled and wriggled, working more of his body inside the goddess. The end of his tail was sticking out between her thighs, and as he wriggled and wriggled the little birds had to push their beaks into the ground to stop from giggling. But Maui looked so comical that the fantail was overcome. He groaned and spluttered with the effort to contain his amusement, but it was too much. The fantail burst out laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha! Look at Maui wriggling! Oh, he looks so funny!"

At this loud noise Hine-nui-te-po started awake, realised that her body was being invaded, and closed her thighs. Maui was crushed, and his quest for immortality was ended.

Now, if the little fantail should fly into your house, darting about to catch flies, seize your broom and chase him out quickly. For he is a foolish bird, and it is because of his foolish laughter that Maui's quest failed and all mankind must descend one day to the underworld to meet Hine-nui-te po, the Goddess of Death.