The Legend of Maui and the Sun

One day the demi-god Maui was returning home and he found his mother toiling over the Tapa (Hawaiian cloth made from mulberry bark) but she was forlorned. She was trouble because the tapa would not have enough time to dry. So Maui told her he would take of this matter. First he made braided ropes from his sister's hair. Then he climbed to the top of Haleakala, " the House of the Sun." Here he waited and hid and at sunrise, he lassoed the sun with the rope. The sun was upset but Maui would not let the sun go. Finally the sun agreed to go more slowly so mortals could dry the tapa, IF Maui would release it. Maui agreed and released the sun. That is why June 21 has more sunshine than any other day of the year.

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