How Māui Slowed the Sun
How Māui Slowed the Sun is a 1982 New Zealand children’s book by Peter Gossage, a New Zealand author. The book is a retelling one of the many stories about the mythical culture hero, Māui. The book follows Māui as he proposes the idea to catch the sun and slow it down because daylight time is not long enough causing working and eating to be cut short.
Plot summary
The book begins with the issue of Te Ra, the sun, who moved across the sky too quickly causing shorter days for everyone. Māui gathers his four brothers and suggest they catch the sun and slow him down. Some of the brothers disagreed but helped him regardless. They made strong ropes out of flax to snare the sun where it rises. The brothers travelled to where the sun rises but only moving at night to ensure he didn't know they were coming. They found a pit in the ground where the sun had yet to rise and using clay, they built a wall of earth to hide themselves behind. When the sun rose, the light nearly blinded the brothers but Māui muttered a here. The brothers threw ropes over the sun which tangled in Te Ra's hair and looped around his body. Māui then leapt onto the wall and hit the sun of the head with the magic jawbone from his grandfather. Despite the fight, Māui told Te Ra he wasn't going to kill him but that he'd just make him move more slowly. The harsh ropes on his body caused Te Ra to feel tired and weak so when the brother's released him, he slowly floated through the sky.Characters
- Māui – the hero
- Te Ra – the Sun
Mythology
This book was inspired by Māori mythology. Oral storytelling is important to promulgate cultural traditions and values. Like many native people, the culture of the Māori was highly oratory. Maui's capture of Te Ra is a story that’s been handed down through the generations, to not only educate but entertain.The book and the myth are similar with some differences. In the myth, Māui and his brothers decide to slow down Te Ra when they were making a hāngi for their evening meal and had just finished heating the stones, when the sun went down, and it quickly became too dark to see. Māui was annoyed with having to eat his food in the dark and hence the idea was put forth. Something else that is in the myth but not in Gossage's book is how collecting flax to create the ropes was a collective contribution, as the whole village helped. Māui also chanted a karakia to invoke spiritual guidance and protection.
“Taura nui, taura roa, taura kaha, taura toa, taura here i a Tamanuiterā, whakamaua kia mau kia ita!”While the book only mentions the use of clay, Maui and his brothers also collected water on their way to Te Ra which was used to soften the clay as they built the walls to shelter from the sun’s heat.