Polynesia

Oldest hero in Polynesia

I am glad that it was a special joy for W. Sharpe-Dunn to discover Mautikitiki (PIM Mar. p. 37) but he is hardly a “new Polynesian hero”. He is in fact the oldest and best-known hero of all, Maui. In New Zealand Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga, in Samoa Ti’iti’i, and everywhere fisher-up of this island using that island as his canoe, slower down of the sun, bringer of fire.

Everywhere, his stories have their own special flavor. On Mungiki his battle with a crab, in which he marked the ani mal’s back (the mark is there to this day, which proves the story is true) has a light charm. In New Zealand, the story of his attempt to reverse death by entering the body of the Great Lady of Night, Hine-Nui-te-Po, his betrayal by the laughing

fantail, and his doom, has an awesome power.

But the constancy of the name and the main themes persisting across the oceans and the centuries point to a power in the oral tradition which we of the paper memory should have more respect for.

Hugh Young Momoke

Wellington New Zealand