80 RiR TFIHiTi Légende polynésienne/Polynesian legend P.bacchet The birth ofeight-headed Māui Throughout the islands of the Great Ocean, the name Māui is associated with a family that has both human and divine origins, whose extraordinary feats are recited through legends that vary slightly between archipelagos and from one island to another. Māuis came into existence after Ta’aroa had created the earth, sea and sky, calledup the horde of divinities that helped instill order in the world and made the diversity of life abound. They appeared after the first human couple, Ti’i and the insatiable Hina. Ti’i and Hina gave rise to the first ari’i and made the ari’i’s first human subjects. From the union of their children or those they made, different social categories arose. The highest ranking ari’i reigned over the lessimportant ari’i, the nobility, proud ra’atira, chiefs of several families, the humble manahune, and finally the slaves, tītī. Nonetheless, despite the social chasm that separated them, each knew that he was of divine descent. The ari’i possessed the most mana, but even the most miserable slave knew that he had a little divine blood. The world had not yet been totally ordered when Lady’Uahea and Lord Shining sunbeam brought the firstborn Māui into the world, the first expert priest, that is one who knew the art of prayer, to whom the gods not only listened but also granted his prayers. Then came the second Māui, junior Māui, aside Māui, maid Māui or Hina-with the-hair-that-stretches-stretches and lastly,eight-headed Māui or placenta Māui, the sixth of the Māuis. The pouch of this last child was like a jellyfish. The parents cried  : « The child is dead ! » They made it into a package with a crude belt, held by a hairpin and after praying, they threw it into the sea. But Māui’s heart continued to beat as he floated at the mercy of the waves. The grandparents Red ant and Linked ant saw the packet drifting, they caught it and saw that inside it was a small human witheight heads  : one large and seven smaller ones surrounding the neck. In his coral cave at the bottom of the ocean, the child developed and grew. The grandparents watched the child’s silent manner with curiosity. Then, Māui returned to his mother’s cave, where’Uahea lived with the five children. The mother asked  : - Who then are you ? The son replied  : - But I am Māui.’Uahea then said  : - Here is Māui the firstborn, Māui that followed, Māui of the middle, Māui on the side and lady Maui ; here are the group of five Māui from this cave, where has this extra Māui come from ? This Māui then replied  : - I am Māui-placenta, Māui-sun-searcher dear ‘Uahea ! Here is the crude belt attached with your hairpin ! I became a wave. I come from the ocean cave of Red ant and Linked ant. I had bumped myeight heads dear’Uahea. Compassion overflowed’Uahea’s soul and the children of that dark cave. They realized that this truly was a Māui, a survivor from the ocean. Henceforth,eight-headed Māui lived near his mother and five siblings. It was this Māui that stakedup the sky to hold it in place and separated it from the earth ; it is this Māui that caught the sun in his net as wellas doing many other good works. Brave and perceptive he helped to dispel fear from the hearts of men and so build peaceful societies. His feats amaze us.