MYTHOLOGY. 
27 
craft; stay behind. So they left him. Some time afterwards 
he took the form of a Piwakawaka (the fan-tailed fly-catcher, 
a very lively restless little bird), and flying straight to the canoe, 
he perched on the prow. But as he began twirling and 
twiddling about, his brothers immediately recognized him. He 
then dropped his feathers one by one, and again resuming his 
proper form; he remained sitting on the prow of the canoe. 
His brothers said, don’t let us give him a bait for his 
hook. Maui looked about with his eyes, and saw the root 
end of a leaf of flax lying near him ; he cut it off as a bait for 
his hook, made from the jawbone of his grandfather, which he 
pulled from beneath his mat. He gave his nose a blow, and 
with the blood which came from it, saturated the lump of flax, 
and tying it on his hook as a bait, he then cast it into the sea, 
paying out the line as he uttered this spell— 
Angi angi ki te wakarua, Blow gently from the wakarua, 
Angi angi ki tc mawaki; Blow gently from the mawaki; 
Takn aho ka tangi wiwi nei; My line let it pull straight; 
My line let it pull strong; 
'Baku aho ka tangi wawa; 
'Baku aho kai iria ka mate, 
Tu ana he wata mano wai. 
Manowa mai hoki, 
Te watu wiwia, 
Te watu rawca, 
Te watu ko ronga ta, 
Au ni ka wai atn 
Ki moana, ka wainga 
Waka nene a Maui 
Waka nene a-ka-tau, 
My line, it is pulled, 
It has caught, 
It has come. 
The land is gained, 
The land is in the hand, 
The land long waited for, 
The boasting of Maui, 
His great land, 
For which he went to sea, 
His boasting, it is caught. 
(He Hirihiringa mo te hutinga a te ao) 
He let out all his line, and then there was a bite. The 
hook caught something, which pulled very hard, so that the 
canoe heeled over, and was on the point of capsizing. His 
brothers called out, Maui let go. He replied,* What did 
I come for but to catch fish ? I won’t let go. So he con¬ 
tinued pulling in his line, and again the canoe heeled over. 
His brothers impatiently repeated the command, Maui let 
* Ka mau ta Maui ki tona ringa ringa e kore e taia te ruru. What Maui 
has got in his hand lie cannot throw away ; which has passed into a proverb. 
