Maui Fishing Up the North Island
Maui's brothers refused to take him fishing, so he hid in their canoe and revealed himself at sea. Using a magical fishhook made from the jawbone of his ancestor Murirangawhenua, and chanting powerful incantations, Maui caught a gigantic fish. He instructed his brothers to wait until he had appeased Tangaroa before carving the fish, but they grew impatient and began cutting. The fish thrashed, forming the mountains, valleys, lakes, and rugged coastline of Te Ika-a-Maui (the North Island of New Zealand). Maui's canoe became the South Island, and Stewart Island became his anchor stone.