---
title: Maui-of-a-Thousand-Tricks
description: mythology - Maui-of-a-Thousand-Tricks
author:
  name: Graciela Paula Caldeiro
  url: http://graciela-caldeiro.idoneos.com
canonical: https://mitologiapolinesia.idoneos.com/en/300184/
source: en/300184/index.md
---

<h2 id="maui-el-de-las-mil-estrategemas">Maui-of-a-Thousand-Tricks</h2>

In Polynesian mythology, the creation of the world is attributed to the sky father, Rangi, and the earth mother, Papa, or alternatively to the sea god Tangaroa. However, it was the hero Maui who fished the islands up from the bottom of the sea using a great hook. His mother, commonly called Hina, meaning "young woman," became pregnant mysteriously by putting on a man's loincloth and gave birth to Maui in the form of a fetus. As he grew, he became a heroic figure, clever and strong, and earned the nickname "Maui-of-a-Thousand-Tricks." He could do anything except conquer death, and he made the world a better place for humanity. Among other things, he raised the sky, stole fire from the underworld to give it to humanity, and snared the sun. Thinking it moved too quickly across the sky, Maui cast a lasso made of coconut fibre around it, but the sun burned it away completely. He made another rope from the sacred hair of his sister's head and waited at the eastern edge of the sea. At dawn, he cast the rope and caught the sun by the neck. Although it pleaded and begged, Maui would not release it until it agreed that the days would be longer in summer and short only in winter.