Marawa

The spider vui. He is the trickster spirit who tricked man out of his immortality. Friend and foe of Qat, the other potent spirit. Marawa opposed Qat's conquest of the sea by replacing the chips cut from the tree trunk which Qat was making into a canoe. When Qat caught him doing that one night, Marawa agreed to help finish the canoe.

Together, they outmaneuvered Qat's jealous and vindictive brothers. Once, these brothers managed to trap Qat in the hole of a land crab and covered it with a large stone. The brothers returned home and found — much to their surprise — Qat sitting by the side of his wife Ro-Lei. Marawa had assisted Qat in his miraculous escape.

Both Qat and Marawa made a man. Qat makes his live after six days, but Marawa, after bringing his to life, buries him again and he rots, and this is the origin of death.

References

Source

  • Beckwith, Martha Warren. (1940). Hawaiian Mythology. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 61.