The authoress analysed in this study the most completely recorded variants of the Maui myths concerning the origin of fire in Eastern Polynesia. Those myths show the diversity of form assumed in each island. No two islands have an identical myth about the origin of fire. This diversity is most probably caused by narrative traditions and by individual interpretations made by each tribe. But the figure of Maui which appears in the great majority of noted myths of Eastern Polynesia confirms their common origin.
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