oot in the coral reef. But they add some very
mythical details. Maui's magic fish hook is thrown into the skies, where
it continuously hangs, the curved tail of the constellation which we
call Scorpio. Then one of the gods becoming angry with Maui seized him
and threw him also among the stars. There he stays looking down upon his
people. He has become a fixed part of the scorpion itself.

The Hawaiian myths sometimes represent Maui as trying to draw the
islands together while fishing them out of the sea. When they had pulled
up the island of Kauai they looked back and were frightened. They
evidently tried to rush away from the new monster and thus broke the
line. Maui tore a side out of the small crater Kaula when trying to draw
it to one of the other islands. Three aumakuas, three fishes supposed to
be spirit-gods, guarded Kaula and defeated his purpose. At Hawaii
Cocoanut Island broke off because Maui pulled too hard. Another place
near Hilo on the large island of Hawaii where the hook was said to have
caught is in the Wailuku river below Rainbow Falls.

Maui went out from his home at Kauiki, fishing with his brothers. After
they had caught some fine fish the brothers desired to return, but Maui
persuaded them to go out farther. Then when they became tired and
determined to go back, he made the seas stretch out and the shores
recede until they could see no land. Then drawing the magic hook, he
baited it with the Alae or sacred mud hen belonging to his Mother Hina.
Queen Liliuokalani's family chant has the following reference to this
myth:

"Maui longed for fish for Hina-akeahi (Hina of the fire, his mother),
Go hence to your father,
There you will find line and hook.
Manaiakalani is the hook.
Where the islands are caught,
The ancient seas are connected.
The great bird Alae is taken,
The sister bird,
Of that one of the hidden fire of Maui."

Maui evidently had no scruples against using anything which would help
him carry out his schemes. He indiscriminately robbed his friends and
the gods alike.

Down in the deep sea sank the hook with its struggling bait, until it
was seized by "the land under the water."

But Hina the mother saw the struggle of her sacred bird and hastened to
the rescue. She caught a wing of the bird, but could not pull the Alae
from the sacred hook. The wing was torn off. Then the fish gathered
around the bait and tore it in pieces. If the bait could have been kept
entir