Hina escaped and returned to her home, saying nothing to Maui about the trouble. But the next day, while getting water, she was again overthrown and befouled by the slime of Tuna-roa.
Then Hina became angry and reported the trouble to Maui.
Maui decided to punish the long eel and started out to find his hiding place. Some of the New Zealand legends as collected by White, state that Tuna-roa was a very smooth skinned chief, who lived on the opposite bank of the stream, and, seeing Hina, had insulted her.
When Maui saw this chief, he caught two pieces of wood over which he was accustomed to slide his canoe into the sea. These he carried to the stream and laid them from bank to bank as a bridge over which he might entice Tuna-roa to cross.
Maui took his stone axe, Ma-Tori-Tori, "the severer," and concealed himself near the bank of the river.
When "the long eel" had crossed the stream, Maui rushed out and killed him with a mighty blow of the stone axe, cutting the head from the body.
Other legends say that Maui found Tuna-roa living as an eel in a deep water hole, in a swamp on the sea-coast of Tata-a, part of the island Ao-tea-roa. Other stories located Tuna-roa in the river near Maui's home.
Maui saw that he could not get at his enemy without letting off the water which protected him.
Therefore into the forest went Maui, and with sacred ceremonies, selected trees from the wood of which he prepared tools and weapons.
Meanwhile, in addition to the insult given to Hina, Tuna-roa had caught and devoured two of Maui's children, which made Maui more determined to kill him.