Maui Legends

As part of Matariki we re-read the legends of Maui. We then retold a legend and created artwork. Below is mine and Billie's artwork.

Once, a long time ago lived a man called Māui and he had 5 brothers. They were all tūpuhi (skinny)and hiakai (hungry) but were very generous. Māui and his brothers worked hard all day and night for the village people but the problem was that there were really short days so there was no time to do anything. The brothers and Māui didn’t look after themselves they looked after the village people. The village people were very demanding. Māui and his brothers were out every day hunting because crops weren't growing. The crops needed the ra (sun) to grow. One day a  woman entered the village, she called herself Wahine o te Moana. Wahine o te Moana was caring but told her opinion. Wahine o te Moana made the village people help Māui and his brother. Now Māui and his brothers can sleep and eat but they still weren't happy. Māui wasn’t happy because there wasn’t enough time in the day to do things. The next morning Wahine o te Moana had to leave. She gave Māui a special jaw bone from a whale. When Wahine o te Moana gave Māui that jaw bone she said, “Do something that needs to be done with this jaw bone Māui”! That morning Māui decided to slow the ra (sun) down, so he started to prepare. When Māui told the village people what was going to do they all laughed. But that didn’t stop Māui. Māui started plaiting strong flax rope with his brothers. They were up all night and day. Then they finally went to slow the ra (sun) down. As they started walking to where the ra (sun) set and rises the ground was as hot as fire. Māui and his brothers hid behind a small rock wall that they had made. When the ra (sun) started to rise Māui and his brothers threw the ropes over the ra (sun's) fiery hair, Māui said, “Hold on and don’t let go”! Then Māui got his jaw bone and smacked the ra (sun) over the nose. Māui yelled in anger, “You will slow down and make our days longer!’’ “Okay,”  said the ra(sun),  “but don’t kill me”! The brothers let the ropes go and the ra (sun) was in pain but he held his promise .When Māui and his brothers got back to the village everyone was hari koa (happy) at last, and all sang around the fire. That's how Māui slowed the ra (sun).

Retold by Sasha and Billie

Here is our artwork