Paliku Cabin.
HALEAKALA HAWAIIANA
MAUI LEGENDS
Thus starts the story of Maui, beloved demi-god of all Polynesia in the never-never land of long ago. Not wanted as a babe, for he was scrawny and deformed, his mother, Hina, wrapped him in a lock of her hair and cast him into the sea. But jellyfish rescued and mothered him, and the god, Kanaloa, gave him protection. For all that, the growing youngster yearned for his own, so that one day he crept back and stealthily mingled with his four brothers. He was accepted in the family circle only after much pleading by the eldest boy.
Maui-of-a-thousand-tricks is the favorite nickname given this delightful, oft thoroughly human scamp. Throughout his escapades he was ever faithful to man, so frequently fickle and unworthy. Maui made the birds visible, for at first they could only be heard as they sang and fluttered through the air. Maui invented spears and barbed fishhooks. His greatest catch, so runs his fish story, was with a huge hook of powerful magic made from the lifeless jawbone of his grandmother, who was remarkable, for only one side of her body was alive. He tricked his brothers into the task of manning the paddles while he, equipped with his potent tackle, fished up the Hawaiian Islands from the depths of the ocean. Maui first had strictly admonished the brothers not to watch him, but only to look straight ahead. When curiosity overcame the belabored paddlers, they disobeyed. The line parted as they looked back, leaving the land only partly emerged, a chain of islands instead of a continuous whole.
The story of the island of Maui thus begins and—so runs one version—Maui lived in plain fashion on simple fare in a humble grass hut at Kauiki, the famous foothill of Haleakala in the district of Hana. Hawaii at the time was covered by darkness and fog, so Maui pushed the heavens to their present position far above the highest mountains, Haleakala, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai. Before this feat, man had to stoop and crawl, pressed closely to the ground, for the skies were low, and were held up by the plants whose leaves became flattened by their burden, even as they remain today. Yet even now, when Maui is asleep, the heavens rush back as somber clouds and darken the country with storms. From Kauiki, Maui made his important journey to the crater to capture the sun and force it to move slowly through the heavens that tapa may be dried and fruits can mature. Also there are more daylight hours for fishing and ceremonial preparations in the heiau. This legend, the most pertinent to this guide, is sketched in the [Introduction to Part I].
Most Hawaiian legends place Maui’s home in the black lava bank of the Wailuku River above Hilo, while his mother chose the dark cave behind Rainbow Falls. His exploits, so often capricious, more frequently reflect a benefactor’s concern for mankind. Maui disclosed the art of making fire by rubbing sticks together. Previously, man was dependent on Pele’s volcanic furnace or on embers carefully nurtured to kindle his fires. Maui wrung the secret from Alae, the reluctant mud-hen, who alone knew it and guarded it with greatest care. Exasperated by repeated frustration and deception, Maui, once he had gained her secret, punished the stubborn bird by rubbing her head with a stick so roughly that all the feathers came off and raw flesh appeared, which is how it remains today.
Maui in his noblest moment gave his all for man, whose frailty brought about the downfall of both. For Maui, too, was doomed to die some day, since his father, like Achilles’ nurse Cynosura, had neglected a part of the proper ceremony to make him immortal. Maui abhorred the fact that man must die, for he regarded death as degrading and an insult to the dignity of man. The secret of life was hidden within the heart of Hina-nui-kepo, the dread ogress of death. To win immortality one had to steal through her jaws, which had sharp basalt teeth, enter into the inky blackness of the stomach, and tear out the heart. This could only be done while Hina slept. First, Maui turned man into a little bird, and advised him to keep very quiet, lest he awaken the fearful goddess from her slumber. Then he went stealthily about his fearsome task, speedily and alone. All went well until the return journey; alas! poor, weak man could not restrain himself, but burst into uncontrollable laughter as he watched the plight of the demigod within the ugly, gaping fish-mouth of Hina. The great jaws closed with a snap that crushed Maui and left Death ever after the victor. Greater love hath no man!
It would seem that the crater so high in the sky, so remote in location, so difficult in access, so desolate in appearance, so dread in origin, should have been shunned by the early native. Quite the contrary, many marks of frequent and varied use may be discovered in the crater. A trail through it connected the busy sites on West Maui and the isthmus with Kaupo and Hana near the eastern shore. This direct route avoided the wet heavily forested northern slopes of the mountain as well as the precipitous, arid, rough terrain on the southwest. It was easily traversed, in spite of the climb involved.