The Biggest Fish of All

retold here by Cara
Adapted from "The Biggest Fish of All" from Maui the Mischievious Hero by Barbra Lyons

This story explains how our Hawaiian islands came to be. Maui had a passion for fishing with his brothers while they sat in their canoe. One day Maui was not invited to go with his brothers because he rarely caught any fish and he was bound to do mean things such as rocking the boat. As he watched his brothers get farther and farther away he climbed a tall coconut tree. Up there he thought of how he could catch more fish. Maui thought of a fish hook with a barb. His brothers came home and told Maui that they would try the fish hook. He was disappointed because he felt that he should try the hook since he created it. As Maui expected, it turned out to be a great fish hook but Maui was still left on the shore.

He was told of an old lady from the underworld. Half of her body is alive and the other half is dead. Maui asked her for one of her jaw bones from her dead half. She was related to Maui’s family and enjoyed them so she gave him this. He went home and made his magic fish hook. When he had finished making it he realized he needed bait. Maui went to his mother, Hina, and asked for an alai bird. Hina was aware that Maui could make a magic fish hook. His mother knew because his dad was a god.

The brothers came home earlier than usual so Maui asked if they could take him out in their canoe. One brother agreed and figured that it was still early in the day and maybe Maui really could show them where the big fish were. As they paddled deeper and deeper into the sea the brothers started to worry because they never paddled so far out. They wanted to turn back because they thought Maui was playing a trick on them. Maui insisted that they needed to go only a little bit further. As they got to their destination, Maui started to bait his hook. He dropped his hook and it sunk lower and lower into the sea. Maui felt a tug and told his brothers to paddle quickly. Waves came and they had to work even harder to keep the canoe from flipping. Since one of the brothers was fatigued, he turned, looking behind him. To his amazement he saw a brand new island in the midddle of the sea.