ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Maui commanded the sun to slow down – “No longer will you dictate the length of our days – from now on you will travel slowly across the sky!” After a long and violent fight, and a few more jawbone strikes, the sun finally gave up – and agreed to slow down.

Detailed explanation-2: -According to legend, Māui was a premature baby. When he was born, he was so small that his mother thought he was dead. Devastated, she cut off her own hair, her topknot (tikitiki), and wrapped him in it. She set him down in the sea, in this craft of hair, and let him drift out into the ocean.

Detailed explanation-3: -Māui suggested slowing the Sun down by catching it and travelled East with his brothers to the Māori sun god, Tama-nui-te-ra’s pit, where he rests at night. It took 12 days to reach their destination. Māui and his brothers quietly crept up to the sun god’s resting spot, setting a trap to catch him.

Detailed explanation-4: -Maui told of his mother’s sadness, and then threatened to cut off all the sun’s legs unless he promised to move more slowly across the sky. The sun made a heavenly promise to Maui, and was then set free. So, now you know the legend of how Maui captured the sun and forced him to travel more slowly across the sky.