''How Māui Found His Father and the Magic Jawbone'' is a 1975 New Zealand children’s book and the first published book by Peter Gossage, a
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
author. The book is a retelling of one of the many stories about the mythical culture hero
Māui
Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity ( demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main expl ...
. A new edition of this book was published and popularised in 2011 by
Penguin Books New Zealand
Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...
. This book is a prequel to many of Gossage's novels.
Plot summary
At this point in the storyline, Māui has found his mother, Taranga, and bought her home with him to his village but was still curious who his father was. Taranga snuck out each day in the early morning. Māui decided to follow her and watched her leave the
pā
The word pā (; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori people, Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive :wikt:terrace, terraces – and also to fo ...
and leap into a hole down the hill. He followed her, chanting a
karakia
Karakia are Māori incantations and prayer used to invoke spiritual guidance and protection.rupe as he fell, before landing in a tunnel. Creeping along, he ventured into a vast underground land and spotted his mother under a
pūriri
''Vitex lucens'', commonly known as pūriri, is an evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand.
History
Pūriri was first collected (by Europeans) at Tolaga Bay by Banks and Solander during Cook's first visit in 1769. The plant was described by S ...
tree with a man. He flew into the tree and dropped berries onto the man to make him look up but was stopped when the man got angry, demanding people of the underworld to throw stones at the cheeky bird. Māui dodged the stones and flopped to the man's feet. Before the man could pick up the rupe, Māui transformed back into his human form. Looking at one another, Maui and his father knew they were father and son. His father,
Makeatutara
In Māori mythology, Makeatutara is the father of Māui. His wife is Taranga. He is a deity and guardian of the underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious tra ...
, took him to a sacred waterfall, bathed him in the waters and chanted a karakia to give Māui more magical powers and everlasting power. Māui was happy to have his family altogether but unbeknownst to him, his father was upset because made a mistake while chanting the karakia that he knew would one day cost Māui his life. Muriranga-whenua, Māui's grandfather, lived in the underworld with his father and Maui would visit him each day to give him food. However, Maui was scheming and told his grandfather he would not give him anymore food if he did not give him the magic jawbone. His grandfather refused but at last he became too hungry and relented, so he slipped his magic jawbone from his mouth and gave it to Maui. He gave Māui special instructions on what to do and not to do with it, warning him about the wrath of
Hine
''Hine'' is a surname deriving from Middle English.
Etymology
According to the '' Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland'', the modern name ''Hine'' and its variants derive from the Middle English word ''hine'' (with the addit ...
, the goddess of death. With the jawbone in his possession, Māui felt its power course through him and says:
I will tame the Sun!
I will find the Secret of Fire!
I will even defy Death!
In Gossage's later novels, Māui returns to the land above and does it all.
Characters
*
Māui
Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity ( demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main expl ...
Makeatutara
In Māori mythology, Makeatutara is the father of Māui. His wife is Taranga. He is a deity and guardian of the underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious tra ...
– Māui's father
* Muriranga-whenua– Māui's grandfather
Mythology
As seen in the book, Māui follows his mother into the Underworld and his father later performs the magical baptismal and purifying ceremonies. In
Māori mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...
, his father made a slip in uttering the incantations because he was being hurried and this was ultimately the destruction of Māui.
In myths, Muri-Ranga-Whenua is actually a woman and not a man. In some tales she is an ancestress, in others she is an old chief but more commonly, she is his grandmother.{{Cite web , title=Jaw-Bone , url=https://brickthology.com/category/jaw-bone/ , access-date=2024-02-09 , website=Brickthology , language=en