Page:Travelling Standing Still (Taggard).djvu/20

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SOLAR MYTH

Maui, the dutiful son and great hero, yields to his
mother's entreaty and adjusts the center of the uni-
verse to her convenience. The days are too short for
drying tapa. He is persuaded to slow down the speed of
the spider-sun with a lasso of sisal rope.

The golden spider of the sky
Leaped from the crater's rim;
And all the winds of morning rose
And spread, and followed him.

The circle of the day swept out,
His vast and splendid path;
The purple sea spumed in the west,
His humid evening bath.

Thrice twenty mighty legs he had,
And over earth there passed
Shadows daily whipping by,
Faster, faster, fast . . .

For daily did he wax more swift,
And daily did he run

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