Maui's tales of mischief and adventure have been told for thousands of years throughout the islands of Polynesia. A genius and a delinquent, a trickster and a hero, Maui was responsible for inventing many useful crafts for his people. He made the first barbed hook and the first eel trap; he invented the strongest kinds of rope, which he used to slow down the sun. He fished up the North island from the sea; he made the first dog; and he was an expert at children's games such as dart throwing and kite flying.

This version of MAUI AND THE GODDESS OF FIRE, like the the companion book MAUI AND THE SUN, is based on the one told by Wi Maihi te Rangi Kaheke of Rotorua, New Zealand, to Governor George Grey in the 1840's. It is similar to the versions told by the Maori people of the Ngati Awa and Waikato tribes from the North Island of New Zealand, from which come some of the author's ancestors.