Ru

Family: the Hervey Islands legends · Role: supporter of the Heavens · First appears: Chapter I · Maui's Home · Part 1

In the Hervey Island legend in Chapter I · Maui’s Home · Part 1, Ru, supporter of the Heavens, married Bua-taranga, guardian of the lower world, and their only child was Maui. In the Hervey Island legend in Chapter III · Maui Lifting the Sky · Part 2, Ru planted stakes to hold the sky above the earth so people could stand and walk freely.

The Manihiki legend in Chapter III · Maui Lifting the Sky · Part 2 tells that Ru and Maui raised the sky away from the earth and smoothed it with stone adzes. In the Hervey Islands legend of that chapter, Ru became angry with Maui and threatened him; he seized Maui and threw him high into the air, but Maui returned unharmed in bird form. In another event from the Hervey Islands legend, Maui lifted Ru and the sky so high that the sky could not return. Ru died after a time, and his vast bones fell to earth.

Relationship record

Life events

• In the Hervey Island legend, Ru married Bua-taranga.(Chapter I · Maui's Home · Part 1)
  • With: Bua-taranga
  • “Ru, the supporter of the Heavens, married Bua-taranga, the guardian of the lower world.”
• In the Manihiki legend, Maui and Ru raised heaven away from earth.(Chapter III · Maui Lifting the Sky · Part 2 · 📍 Manihiki)
  • With: Maui
  • “Then they lifted again, bracing themselves with hands and knees against the earth. They crowded it and bent it upward. They were able to stand with the sky resting on their shoulders. They heaved against the bending mass, and it receded rapidly. They quickly put the palms of their hands under it; then the tips of their fingers, and it retreated farther and farther. At last, ‘drawing themselves out to gigantic proportions, they pushed the entire heavens up to the very lofty position which they have ever since occupied.’”
• In the Manihiki legend, Maui and Ru smoothed the sky with stone tools.(Chapter III · Maui Lifting the Sky · Part 2 · 📍 Manihiki)
  • With: Maui
  • “They determined to smooth the sky before they finished their task, so they took large stone adzes and chipped off the rough protuberances and ridges, until by and by the great arch was cut out and smoothed off.”
• In the Hervey Island legend, Ru raised the sky on stakes so people could stand and walk freely.(Chapter III · Maui Lifting the Sky · Part 2 · 📍 Hervey Island)
  • “So he planted stakes of different kinds of trees. These were strong enough to hold the sky so far above the earth ‘that men could stand erect and walk about without inconvenience.’”
• In the Hervey Islands legend, Ru threw Maui high into the air, but Maui returned unharmed as a bird.(Chapter III · Maui Lifting the Sky · Part 2 · 📍 Hervey Islands)
  • With: Maui
  • “Ru quickly seized him and ‘threw him to a great height.’ But Maui changed himself to a bird and sank back to earth unharmed.”
• In the Hervey Islands legend, Maui lifted Ru and the sky so high that the sky could not return.(Chapter III · Maui Lifting the Sky · Part 2 · 📍 Hervey Islands)
  • With: Maui
  • “Another lift and he hurled them both to such a height that the sky could not come back.”
• In the Hervey Islands legend, Ru died and his bones fell to earth.(Chapter III · Maui Lifting the Sky · Part 2 · 📍 Hervey Islands)
  • “Ru died after a time. ‘His body rotted away and his bones, of vast proportions, came tumbling down from time to time, and were shivered on the earth into countless fragments.’”

Chapter I · Maui's Home · Part 1

• married with Bua-taranga “Ru, the supporter of the Heavens, married Bua-taranga, the guardian of the lower world.”
• child: Maui “Ru, the supporter of the Heavens, married Bua-taranga, the guardian of the lower world. Their one child was Maui.”

Chapter III · Maui Lifting the Sky · Part 2

• enemies with Maui “Ru became angry and said to Maui: ‘Who told youngsters to talk? Take care of yourself, or I will hurl you out of existence.’”
• child: Maui “The Hervey Island myth, as related by W. W. Gill, states that Ru, the father of Maui, came from Avaiki (Hawa-iki), the underworld or abode of the spirits of the dead.”

⭐ Constellation map → · 📖 Read the original → · 🗂 Character index → · 🕰 Chronicle → · 📍 Places →

Extracted from the original text of Legends of Ma-ui. Made with Rho MD.