In the polynesian myth, the heroic god tane spent time among the humans and became close to them. meanwhile, the god atea was battling for power with tane. in order to tane, the thunder god, fatutiri, gave tane the gift of the power of lightning. he set one condition, though: tane was not to use it against atea until atea was old. tane kept his promise, and waited until atea was gray-haired. at that time, the gods tane and atea battled in a fire-making contest. using the lightning, tane won; his fires couldn’t be extinguished. tane killed the god atea, but set atea’s spirit free. after this battle, fire was given to humans as a gift because it had been made stable. what can you infer about the ancient polynesians and their relationship with the gods. a. the ancient polynesians lived in fear of their gods. c. the ancient polynesians did not believe the gods to be very smart. b. the ancient polynesians saw their gods as wise benefactors. d. the ancient polynesians saw their gods as angry and belligerent.

The right answer is: B) The ancient Polynesians saw (...) wise benefactors. Although many of the exploration myths reflect real travel, they also represent spiritual journeys.

In addition to popular stories or fables, the oldest myths of the region usually refer to nature, specially the stars, and the origin of common places and elements, such fire or animal species. These stories used to form narrative cycles that were expanded and reproduced by storytellers on ritual occasions, thus showing the benefactor character from the gods towards the human kind.

b. The ancient Polynesians saw their gods as wise benefactors. This is the correct option.

Polynesians had a good contact with their gods. The use of these words reflect this close relation: " the heroic god Tane"; "...became close to them (humans) "; "Tane killed the god Atea, but set Atea’s spirit freebattle, fire was given to humans as a gift ..". In this last quotation, the myth tells that Tane was wise and generous - notice the use of but- and , finally , the gods decided to give humans fire  as a gift.

These options are wrong:

a. The ancient Polynesians lived in fear of their gods. The language used does not reflect any fear.

c. The ancient Polynesians did not believe the gods to be very smart.  Tane was smart; he knew how to face Atea.

d. The ancient Polynesians saw their gods as angry and belligerent. Tane was not seen with these negative charactersistics.

i think the answer is c.