One night, Māui put out all the fires in his village, out of a curiosity to learn where it actually comes from. His mother Taranga, the village's , sent Māui to his grandmother Mahuika, the of fire, to retrieve more. She gave him a fingernail, but he extinguished it, so she kept giving him fingernails until she became furious with him, setting fire to the land and sea to attack Māui. He transformed into a hawk to escape, but the fire singed the underside of his wings, turning them red. He prayed that his ancestors Tāwhirimātea and Whaitirimatakataka send rain to extinguish the fire. Mahuika threw her last nail at Māui, which missed and set fire to the , , , , and trees; the dried sticks of the were brought back by Māui to show his people how to make fire for themselves.