In ancient times there was a man who lived on Takaroa named Maui. Maui means broken and that is what Maui looked like. He looked like he was broken. His face was crooked, his back was bent, he walked funny. But there is one thing about Maui: no one had more mana (magic, power, the ability to do things) than Maui.
Maui had a brother named Kuri. These days, Kuri means dog. But in those days there were no dogs in the world so Kuri was a perfectly fine name. Kuri was very handsome. Because Kuri was so handsome he always had lots of girlfriends around him.
Maui didn't have any girlfriends because of the way that he looked. But there came a time when Maui had a girlfriend. Her name was Hina. Hina and Maui lived in a house and at night Maui would go fishing. When Maui would return from fishing he would give the fish that he had caught to Hina and she would cook the fish. Then Maui and Hina would eat the fish together.
But there came a time when Hina started to like Kuri. When Maui would bring her a fish she would cook it and give it to Kuri. Maui started to notice that the fish that he would catch would not be the fish that he would eat. He was suspicious that something was going on. So this was his plan. One night he told Hina, "I am going fishing and I will not come back until tomorrow morning." Then he got into his canoe and he went fishing. He waited a couple of hours and then he came back home early. When he came into his house he found Hina with his brother Kuri.
This made Maui mad and he said to his brother:
Kumehia te gutu, kia roa,
Kumehia te tariga, kia roa,
Kumehia te kaero, kia roa,
Fatifati ka, fatifati ka,
Fati goru e,
This means:
Pull out the mouth that it be long,
Pull out the ears that they be long,
Pull out the tail, that it be long,
Broken and broken, broken and broken,
Broken and swollen,
Because of Maui's mana (magic) his brother's mouth grew long, he grew a tail, his ears grew long. His body was broken up and swollen in different places. He became the world's first dog and that is why they are called kuri. Because Kuri was the first.
Maui didn't turn Hina into a dog that night, but she was still scared that he would turn her into a dog. She wanted to get away from him and this is what she did. Everyday in the afternoon she would go out on the beach and feel sad and cry. In those days because of the mana that was on the land, you could send your words to far away places without a telephone or a radio. Just because of the mana on the land. That is what happened to Hina's feeling sad and crying. It went to a faraway place to her brother and he came to her.
Hina's brother was different than you and I, he was a bird. When he came to Hina he asked her what was wrong. She told him what Maui had done to Kuri and then she asked her brother. "Take me some place so far away that Maui's mana won't get to me." He said to her, "Hina there is no place that's far enough away that Maui's mana won't get to you." She replied, "Isn't there at least one place?" He replied, "Yes, there is. But to get there we will have to work hard." She said, "Take me there." So he took her there. To this day when the moon comes up when it is full, look to the moon and you will see Hina. Because the moon is the one place that is far enough away that Maui's mana won't get to Hina.
