SOLAR MYTH
Maui, the dutiful son and great hero, yields to his mother'sentreaty and adjusts the center of the universe to her con-venience. The days are too short for drying tapa. He is per-suaded to slow down the speed of the spider-sun with a lassoof sisal rope.
The golden spider of the skyLeaped from the crater's rim;And all the winds of morning roseAnd spread, and followed him.
The circle of the day swept out,His vast and splendid path;The purple sea spumed in the westHis humid evening bath.
Thrice twenty mighty legs he had,And over earth there passedShadows daily whipping by,Faster, faster, fast. . . .
For daily did he wax more swift,And daily did he runThe span of heaven to the sea,A lusty, rebel sun.
Then Maui's mother came to himWith weight of household woes:"I cannot get my tapa dryBefore the daylight goes.
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