In the mythology

Polynesian mythology

Polynesian mythology is the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia, a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian triangle together with the scattered cultures known as the Polynesian outliers...

 of Mangaia

Mangaia

Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga.-Geography:...

 in the Cook Islands

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

, Amai-te-rangi is a sky demon. One day the people of this world are surprised to see a large basket (some say a 'vast fishhook') being lowered from the sky. Some, curious, climb into the basket and are quickly lifted up out of sight, never to return. Amai-te-rangi has taken a liking to human flesh, and has invented the basket and its ropes as a way to satisfy his hunger. He has also heard of the prowess of Ngaru

Ngaru

In a tradition from Mangaia in the Cook Islands, Ngaru was an ancient hero who lived in Avaiki . His mother was Vaiare and his grandfather, Moko . His wife was the beautiful Tongatea...

and is determined to catch him (Gill 1876:234).