MAUI AND THE GIANT FISH

 Maui always wanted to go fishing with his brothers but they would always tell him that he was too small. This made him angry. Maui secretly made a fishing line from flax while reciting a karakia. He took a jawbone which Muri Ranga Whenua gave him and secured it on his line. Early one morning he hid in his brother’s canoe. When his brothers dropped anchor Maui came out of hiding. When Maui wanted to fish his brothers didn’t want to give him bait. He punched himself on the nose and put some of the blood on the hook. He spun his line out to sea and sunk all the way down to the bottom. The hook was instantly taken. Maui pulled a giant fish to the surface. His brothers were so scared they shivered in the corner of the canoe. Maui told his brothers to guard the fish while he goes to Hawahiki to fetch his people. When Maui returned they saw that the greedy brothers chopped gullies and mountains out of the fishes flesh. Over thousands of years the land became populated with plants,animals and fish. Maui's giant fish became the north island and the canoe south island.