In Māori mythology, Māui's a culture hero famous for his exploits and his trickery. Māui's birth The offspring of Tū (humankind) increased and multiplied and didn't know death until the generation of Māui-tikitiki (Biggs 1966:449). Māui's the son of Taranga, the wife of Makeatutara. He's a miraculous birth—his mother throws her premature infant into the sea wrapped in a tress of hair from her topknot (tikitiki)—hence Māui's known as Māui-tikiti… (More on Maui-potiki)