Legends of Ma-Ui—a Demi God of Polynesia, and of His Mother Hina

Before Marvel's demigod, before Disney's Polynesian princess, there was the original Maui: a trickster who fished islands from the sea, pulled the sky from Earth's back, and stole fire from the gods. This 1910 collection gathers legends that circulated across the Pacific for centuries, binding Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti, and dozens of island cultures into one mythological family. Westervelt's careful preservation captures Maui's double nature, a mischievous shapeshifter who also shaped the world for humanity. The tales of his mother Hina add dimension to a figure often reduced to mere heroics. These aren't just stories; they're threads in a cultural web connecting scattered islands across thousands of miles of ocean. For readers seeking mythology beyond the Greek and Norse canon, or anyone drawn to Pacific culture, these legends offer something rare: a window into how one of the world's great trickster figures was remembered, retold, and reimagined across centuries and countless islands.