Sunday, November 13, 2016

Maui the Shapeshifting Wonder

Hello all!  I'm back with another Polynesian mythology post!

If you've seen the previews for Disney's Moana, you may have seen Maui transforming into a bird. It looks awesome and it makes for a really cool character concept – but it's also accurate to the myths! Let's take a look.

Our story begins with the birth of Maui. He was born prematurely, and did not survive the birth. The baby Maui was wrapped in locks of his mother's hair, and thrown into the ocean.
 
 
His mother's prayers on his behalf drew the attention of the gods, who rescued Maui and restored him to life by their fire.
When he was a young boy Maui decided that he wanted to return to his birth family. His mind made up, the young demigod set out to find his mother.

There's two variations of the story that I know of (though I'm sure there are more!).

In one tale, Maui returns home and finds his brothers there. They are wary of the newcomer, not knowing that he is their brother. Maui eventually wins their favor by shapeshifting himself into several kinds of birds.
 
 
Impressed by this, the boys become friends.

One night Maui is at a party with his brothers. When the event ends, his mother has the boys line up so that she can count them all before taking them home. To her surprise, she finds an extra child with them – Maui! At first she ignores his claims that he is her son, but when he tells her the story of his birth, she knows that Maui is her lost child. At once the mother accepts him into her home.

The second version of the story is much the same as the first. In it, Maui wins the favor of his brothers – though without shapeshifting. He also attends the party and reunites with his mother in the same fashion. After that the story becomes rather different than the first.

Maui returns home with his family and sleeps in their house. He discovers that his mother disappears each morning, and none of his brothers know where she goes. Determined to find out, Maui blocks the light from entering the house. Because the sun does not enter the house the next morning, his mother oversleeps. When she wakes up and realizes that she is late, she rushes from the house, not taking care to cover her tracks.

The curious Maui shapeshifts into a bird – shocking and delighting his brothers – and follows her. His mother unknowingly leads him to a garden, where he finds her working alongside a man: his father! Maui perches in a tree above the man's head and drops berries onto him until his father takes note. Only then does Maui shapeshift back into his human form. His mother explains who he is, and so Maui meets his father for the first time.

While both stories are different, they show Maui shapeshifting at a very young age.

Kind of a cool power to have, right? I'm very much looking forward to seeing Maui shapeshifting in Disney animation!
 

See you next week!

1 comment:

  1. hi, is it your drawings, i wanna credit them correctly :)

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