Maui, Hawaiian
Sup’pa Man - by Del Beazley &
Mel Amina |
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Told is the tale of the mischievous one |
Verse 1, - Legend says that Maui's brothers ridiculed him, called him lazy, and a worthless fisherman. Maui was determined to bring home a marvelous catch and fashioned a fishing hook with a line made from the strongest olona vines. He named the hook Manaiakalani. His mother, Hina, gave him an alae bird to use as bait. He begged his brothers to let him sail with them to the deep ocean where the fish were plentiful; but no fish were caught. He urged them farther and farther out, but they grew tired of paddling and wanted to return to land, because Maui had not cast his line. It was then that Maui let down his hook that became entrapped in the mouth of Kaunihokahi (one old tooth), the one who holds the land at the bottom of the sea. When Maui felt a tug on his line, he fastened the line to the canoe and bade his brothers paddle harder without looking back. They paddled and struggled as the weight became heavier. Finally, one brother looked back and was startled to see land rising from the ocean. He dropped his paddle and this action broke the line held in the mouth of Kaunihokahi. If this brother had not looked back and dropped his paddle, Maui would have fished up the land mass joined together, instead of the separate islands now called Hawai`i.
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Source: The composer, immortalizes Maui, the mischievous demi-god and the great hero of Polynesian/Hawaiian folklore in song. Verse 1, stanza 3. This is how Maui captured the sun. Hina, Maui's mother, dwelt at Makalia with the family, near Kahakuloa in West Maui. Hina would pound kapa, hang it up to dry, then gather the kapa in the evening. Every day the same kapa would be put out to dry and gathered in the evening still damp, because the sun moved too swiftly across the sky and the days were too short to dry the kapa. Maui saw his mother repeat the same routine day after day, and decided to lengthen the days by cutting off the legs of the sun to slow it down. He went to Wailohi in East Maui to observe the movements of the sun, then climbed up Haleakalâ and noticed the sun's course took it directly over the mountain. Returning home, he revealed his plan to his mother who sent him to Paeloko, to gather coconut husk fibre. This was woven into 15 strands of strong cord. Then he fashioned a noose from the hair of his sister, Hina of the sea. He was then sent to his grandmother who would give him the rest of the tools and instructions to conquer the sun. The old grandmother gave him a stone for a battleax and one more rope. She told him to station himself by a large wiliwili tree at the point where the sun would rise over the rim. She showed him how to snare the strongest beams (legs) breaking off each beam as the sun rose in the sky. One by one the sunbeams rose over the rim and were snared until only one beam, the strongest, remained. There was a struggle but Maui caught the beam with his grandmother's rope. Maui struck the sun again and again with his stone battleax until the sun begged for life. The sun pleaded with Maui, accusing him of breaking off his strong legs and leaving him only the weak ones. An agreement was made and Maui permitted the sun to pursue his course more slowly at certain times of the year and moving more swiftly at other times. Old timers say the ancient name of Haleakalâ is Alehekalâ (sun-snarer) or Aheleakala (rays of the sun). |