Te Ika-a-Māui: The Fish of Maui

Maui, the trickster demigod of Polynesian mythology, was the youngest of five brothers. Though small and seemingly insignificant, he possessed cunning intelligence and supernatural power. One night, he crept into his brothers' fishing canoe and hid under the floorboards as they paddled far out to sea. When they discovered him, it was too late to turn back. Maui revealed his secret weapon — a fishhook carved from the jawbone of his grandmother Murirangawhenua. He whispered a karakia (incantation) over his hook and baited it with a drop of his own blood. As the line sank to the deepest ocean floor, something enormous took the bait. The sea began to churn and boil. Maui's brothers paddled furiously as he hauled with all his might. Slowly, impossibly, the land rose from the sea — a massive fish that would become the North Island of New Zealand. Maui warned his brothers not to cut the fish until he had properly thanked Tangaroa, god of the sea. But the brothers, greedy and impatient, began hacking at the fish with their paddles, creating the mountains, valleys, and rugged coastline of the North Island. To this day, the North Island is called Te Ika-a-Māui (The Fish of Maui), the South Island is Te Waka-a-Māui (Maui's Canoe), and Stewart Island is Te Punga-a-Māui (Maui's Anchor). The fishhook is said to rest in the constellation we know as Scorpius, its curved shape still visible in the night sky.