Hine-nui-te-po, the goddess, once devoured Maui, as the Darkness nightly devours the Sun, and now keeps enclosed the world. But even now the Sun is wandering through the caves of the lower worlds—Te Po—to receive new strength in its fires, and Hine-nui-te-po is lasting upon the earth, and the hearts of the Maori-people are filled with fear and horror whilst the Sun is still hidden by the east and Maui, the great hero, is not yet born with him at Mahiku-Rangi.
The last sparkle of the fire has died away and the pawa-shell eyes of the old ancestor are swallowed by the Darkness.
O, who will deny the truth of the old gods?
Who can deny the truth of the Sun-god,
[2] A poi is a small egg-shaped object made of raupo (reed) and dried, hanging on a little flax-string.
IV
THE CREATION OF THE STARS
