The spider fled. Great Maui stood
Firm on the mountain rim.
Firm on the mountain rim.
The spider dipped and swerved and pulled,
But struggle as he might,
Around one-half his whirl of legs
The sisal ropes cut tight.
But struggle as he might,
Around one-half his whirl of legs
The sisal ropes cut tight.
He broke them off, the mighty man;
Let fall them in the sea.
Where there had once been sixty legs
There now were thirty-three.
Let fall them in the sea.
Where there had once been sixty legs
There now were thirty-three.
Maui counted them, and took
The pathway home; and came
Back to his mother, brooding,—strode
Like a lost man, and lame.
The pathway home; and came
Back to his mother, brooding,—strode
Like a lost man, and lame.
The tarnished spider of the sky
Limped slowly over heaven,
And with his going mourned and moaned
The missing twenty-seven.
Limped slowly over heaven,
And with his going mourned and moaned
The missing twenty-seven.
On with a hollow voice he mourned,
Poured out his hollow woe;
Poured out his hollow woe;
8
