"Oh the great fish hook of Maui!
Manai-i-ka-lani 'Made fast to the heavens'

An earth-twisted cord ties the hook.
Engulfed from the lofty Kauiki.
Its bait the red billed Alae,
The bird made sacred to Hina.

It sinks far down to Hawaii,
Struggling and painfully dying.
Caught is the land under the water,

Floated up, up to the surface,
But Hina hid a wing of the bird
And broke the cord under the water.

Below, was the bait snatched away
And eaten at once -by the fishes,
The Ulua of the deep muddy places."

--Chant of Kualii, aprox. 1700 A.D.

Go hence to your father,
'Tis there you find line and hook.
This is the hook-'Made fast to the heavens-'
'Manaia-ka-lani'--'tis called.
When the hook catches land
It brings the old seas together.
Bring hither the large Alae,
The bird of Hina.

STORY OF MAUI

Eons ago, there was born the Demigod Maui. His father was the holder of the heavens and his mother was the guardian of the path to the Netherworld. Maui was the only one of the children who possessed the powers of magic and miracles.

Maui was the smallest of the family. He had the quickest of mind and had an extremely rascally nature about him. Maui would take any advantage of both his friends and the gods in his quest to fulfill his schemes.

It is said that Maui was not a god fisherman. His brothers were much more skilled. They would often laugh at him for his poor success. In revenge, Maui used his cunning to fill his boat with catch at his brothers expense. Maui would position his boat so that when one of his brothers began to pull in a fish, he would distract them so that he could pull his line across theirs stealing their fish.

Maui's brothers could only marvel at their younger brother. However they soon caught on and refused to take him fishing with them. Maui's fortune turned against him. His mother then sent him to his father to obtain a magic hook.

"Go to your father. There you will recive the hook called Manaiakalani, the hook fastened to the heavens. When the hook catches land, it will raise the old seas together."

Maui returned with his hook. He joined his brothers in another fishing expedition. They jeered him and threw him out of the boat. When they returned, they were empty handed. Maui berated them. He stated that if they had allowed him to join them, they would have had better success. The brothers decided to allow him to join them in their canoe for another chance.

They paddled far into the deep ocean and threw their lines overboard. To their dismay, they only caught sharks. The brothers ridiculed Maui asking "Where are the fish you promnised?"

Maui then rose and threw his magical hook into the ocean.Chanting a spell of power, he commanded the hook to catch the Great Fish.

At once the sea began to move. Great waves rose around the canoe. Maui commanded his brothers to paddle with all their might and to not look back. For two days, Maui held taut the magic line and hook while his brothers kept paddling furiously. Suddenly from below the depths arose the tops of great mountains in a series of peaks that broke the surface of the ocean. Maui reminded his brothers to keep paddling mightly. Maui pulled mightly against the line and forced the peaks even farther out of the water.

One of his brothers then broke the command and gazed back in awe at the sight of the rising land. He stopped paddling and quickly the magic line began to slacken in Maui's hands. Before he could call out to his brothers, the line snapped and the magic hook was lost forever beneath the sea.

Maui chastised his brothers for their failure to paddle as he had commanded. "I had endeavoured to raise a great continent but because of your weakness I have only these islands to show for all my efforts."

And this is how the Islands of Hawai'i came to be...