Māui’s transformations in modern Māori myth collections

Record summary

Māui traditions, preserved in Māori and wider Polynesian oral and written traditions, include metamorphic episodes, disguise, magical enlargement or diminution, and encounters with beings whose forms change. Collections and educational retellings published during the period made these narratives widely accessible for comparative folklore study. The lead is valuable because ‘shape-shifting’ may describe several distinct narrative devices rather than a single supernatural ability. Regional versions differ substantially, and modern children’s books can simplify or rearrange older source traditions.