Book Description

The monography deals with the problem of Polynesian culture hero – in local mythology named Māui. The purpose of this work is to summarise, analyse and compare individual motifs in the mythological cycle of this culture hero – who appears not only in Polynesia, but also in the mythology of Melanesia and Micronesia. I concentrated especially on searching the like and unlike motifs in eastern Polynesian and western Polynesian myths. The focus lays in comparing the mythological motifs from Māui cycle which relate to his most important actions – fishing up islands from the bottom of the sea, lifting the skies from the earth, restraining the movement of the sun in the sky, bringing the gift of fire and attempt at gaining immortality for mankind. Based on information acquired the purpose was to build a typology and overview of differences in the selected individual myths about this culture hero.