awaiian hau), or "the lemon hibiscus"--the "argenta," the "fig" and
the "banyan." She taught him also how to make fire by swift motion when
rubbing the sticks of these trees. She also gave him coals for his
present need.

But Maui was viciously mischievous and set the banyan house on fire,
then mounted his pigeon and fled toward the upper-world. But the flames
hastened after him and burst out through the rock doors into the sunlit
land above--as if it were a volcanic eruption.

The Tokelau Islanders say that Talanga (Kalana) known in other groups of
islands as the father of Maui, desired fire in order to secure warmth
and cooked food. He went down, down, very far down in the caves of the
earth. In the lower world he found Mafuika--an old blind woman, who was
the guardian of fire. He told her he wanted fire to take back to men.
She refused either to give fire or to teach how to make it. Talanga
threatened to kill her, and finally persuaded her to teach how to make
fire in any place he might dwell--and the proper trees to use, the
fire-yielding trees. She also taught him how to cook food--and also the
kind of fish he should cook, and the kinds which should be eaten raw.
Thus mankind learned about food as well as fire.

The Savage Island legend adds the element of danger to Maui's
mischievous theft of fire. The lad followed his father one day and saw
him pull up a bunch of reeds and go down into the fire-land beneath.
Maui hastened down to see what his father was doing. Soon he saw his
opportunity to steal the secret of fire. Then he caught some fire and
started for the upper-world.

His father caught a glimpse of the young thief and tried to stop him.

Maui ran up the passage through the black cave--bushes and trees
bordered his road.

The father hastened after his son and was almost ready to lay hands upon
him, when Maui set fire to the bushes. The flames spread rapidly,
catching the underbrush and the trees on all sides and burst out in the
face of the pursuer. Destruction threatened the under-world, but Maui
sped along his way. Then he saw that the fire was chasing him. Bush
after bush leaped into flame and hurled sparks and smoke and burning air
after him. Choked and smoke-surrounded, he broke through the door of the
cavern and found the fresh air of the world. But the flames followed him
and swept out in great power upon the upper-world a mighty volcanic
eruption.

The New Zealand legends picture Maui as putt