over into the canoe--causing his brother's
line to slacken for a moment. Then his mournful cry rang out: "Oh, my
brother, your fish is gone. Why did you not pull more steadily? It was a
fine fish, and now it is down deep in the waters." Then Maui held up his
splendid catch (from his brother's hook) and received somewhat
suspicious congratulations. But what could they do, Maui was the smart
one of the family.

Their father and mother were both members of the household of the gods.
The father was "the supporter of the heavens" and the mother was "the
guardian of the way to the invisible world," but pitifully small and
very few were the gifts bestowed upon their children. Maui's brothers
knew nothing beyond the average home life of the ordinary Hawaiian, and
Maui alone was endowed with the power to work miracles. Nevertheless the
student of Polynesian legends learns that Maui is more widely known than
almost all the demi-gods of all nations as a discoverer of benefits for
his fellows, and these physical rather than spiritual. After many
fishing excursions Maui's brothers seemed to have wit enough to
understand his tricks, and thenceforth they refused to take him in their
canoe when they paddled out to the deep-sea fishing grounds. Then those
who depended upon Maui to supply their daily needs murmured against his
poor success. His mother scolded him and his brothers ridiculed him.

In some of the Polynesian legends it is said that his wives and children
complained because of his laziness and at last goaded him into a new
effort.

The ex-Queen Liliuokalani, in a translation of what is called "the
family chant," says that Maui's mother sent him to his father for a hook
with which to supply her need.

"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."

When Maui had obtained his hook, he tried to go fishing with his
brothers. He leaped on the end of their canoe as they pushed out into
deep water. They were angry and cried out: "This boat is too small for
another Maui." So they threw him off and made him swim back to the
beach. When they returned from their day's work, they brought back only
a shark. Maui told them if he had been with them better fish would have
been upon their hooks--the Ulua, for instance, o