Witi Ihimaera - The Whale Rider

The ancient bull whale gave a swift gesture.

‘We must return to the surface,’ he commanded, readying himself for a quick ascent. ‘We must return this new rider back to Whangara. Do we all agree?’

The herd sang a song of agreement to their ancient leader’s decision.

‘Yes, yes, yes,’ they chorused in a song of benign and burn- ished tenderness. ‘Ae. Ae. Ae.’

Slowly, the phalanx of whales began their graceful procession to the surface of the sea, broadcasting their orchestral affirmation to the universe.

Hui e, haumi e, taiki e.

Let it be done.

After Kahu’s departure, Nanny Flowers collapsed. She was taken to the hospital where, five days later, her eyelids flickered open. She saw Koro Apirana sitting next to the bed. Me and the boys were also there.

Nanny Flowers shook herself awake. The nurse and Koro Apirana helped her to sit up. Once she had gotten comfortable she closed her eyes a second time. Then she peeked out of one eye and sighed.

‘Hmm,’ she said sarcastically. ‘If you lot are still here that must mean I haven’t gone to Heaven.’

But we didn’t mind her sarcasm because we were used to her being an old grump. Koro Apirana looked at her lovingly.

‘You have to lose some weight, Putiputi,’ he said to her. ‘Your ticker is too weak. I don’t know what I would have done if the both of you —’

Nanny Flowers suddenly remembered. ‘What has happened to Kahu —’

Koro Apirana quietened her quickly. ‘No, no, Flowers,’ he said. ‘She’s all right. She’s all right.’ He told Nanny Flowers what had happened.

Three days after the sacred whale and its accompanying herd had gone, and after Kahu had been given up for dead, she had been found unconscious, floating in a nest of dark lustrous kelp in the middle of the ocean. How she got there nobody knew, but when she was found the dolphins that were guarding her sped away with happy somersaults and leaps into the air.

Kahu had been rushed to the hospital. Her breathing had stopped, started, stopped and then started again. She was now off the respirator but she was still in a coma. The doctors did not know whether she would regain consciousness.

‘Where is she? Where’s my Kahu?’ Nanny Flowers cried.

‘She’s here with you,’ Koro Apirana said. ‘Right here in this same hospital. Me and the iwi have been looking over you both, waiting for you to come back to us. You two have been mates for each other, just like in the vegetable garden.’

Koro Apirana gestured to the other bed in the room. The boys separated and, through the gap, Nanny Flowers saw a little girl in pigtails, her face waxed and still.

The tears streamed down Nanny Flowers’ cheeks.

‘Push my bed over to her bed,’ Nanny said. ‘I’m too far away from her. I want to hold her and talk to her.’

The boys huffed and puffed with pretended exertion.

‘Now all of you Big Ears can wait outside the door,’ Nanny said. ‘Just leave me and your Koro here alone with our Kahu.’

She was like a little doll. Her eyes were closed and her eyelashes looked very long against her pallid skin. White ribbons had been used to tie her plaits. There was no colour in her cheeks, and she seemed not to be breathing at all.

The bedcovers had been pulled right up to Kahu’s chin, but her arms were on top of the covers. She was wearing warm flannel pyjamas, and the pyjama top was buttoned up to her neck.

The minutes passed. Koro Apirana and Nanny Flowers looked at each other, and their hearts ached.

‘You know, dear,’ Koro Apirana said, ‘I blame myself for this. It’s all my fault.’

‘Yeah, it sure is,’ Nanny Flowers wept.

‘I should have known she was the one,’ Koro Apirana said. ‘Ever since that time when she was a baby and bit my toe.’

‘Boy, if only she had real teeth,’ Nanny Flowers agreed.

‘And all those times I ordered her away from the meeting house, I should have known.’

‘You were deaf, dumb, blind and stubborn.’

The window to the room was half open. The sunlight shone through the billowing curtains. Nanny Flowers noticed that the door was slowly inching open and that the nosey-parkers were looking in. Talk about no privacy, with them out there with their eyes all red and the tears coming out.

‘You never even helped with Kahu’s birth cord,’ Nanny Flowers sobbed.

‘You’re right, dear, I’ve been no good.’

‘Always telling Kahu she’s no use because she’s a girl. Always growling at her. Growl, growl, growl.’

‘And I never knew,’ Koro Apirana said, ‘until you showed me the stone.’

‘I should have cracked you over the head with it, you old paka.’

Dappled shadows chased each other across the white walls. On the window-sill were vases of flowers in glorious profusion.

Koro Apirana suddenly got up from his chair. His face was filled with the understanding of how rotten he had been.

‘You should divorce me,’ he said to Nanny Flowers. ‘You should go and marry old Waari over the hill.’

‘Yeah, I should too,’ Nanny Flowers said. ‘He knows how to treat a woman. He wouldn’t trample on my Muriwai blood as much as you have.’

‘You’re right, dear, you’re right.’

‘I’m always right, you old paka, and —’

Suddenly Kahu gave a long sigh. Her eyebrows began to knit as if she was thinking of something.

‘You two are always arguing,’ she breathed.

The whales were rising from the sea. Their skins were lucent and their profiles were gilded with the moon’s splendour. Rising, rising.

‘Does the rider still live?’ the ancient bull whale asked. He was concerned that the rider was okay, still breathing.

‘Yes,’ the old mother whale nodded. She had been singing gently to the whale rider, telling her not to be afraid.

‘Very well,’ the ancient bull whale said. ‘Then let everyone live, and let the partnership between land and sea, whales and all humankind, also remain.’

And the whale herd sang their gladness that the tribe would also live, because they knew that the girl would need to be carefully taught before she could claim the place for her people in the world.

The whales breached the surface and the thunderous spray was like silver fountains in the moonlight.

Nanny Flowers gave an anguished sob and reached out to hold Kahu tightly. Koro Apirana tottered to the bedside and looked down at the sleeping girl. He began to say a prayer, and he asked the Gods to forgive him. He saw Kahu stir.

Oh yes , grandchild. Rise up from the depths of your long sleep. Return to the people and take your rightful place among them.

Kahu drew another breath. She opened her eyes. ‘Is it time to wake up now?’ she asked.

Nanny Flowers began to blubber. Koro Apirana’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Yes. It is time to return.’

‘They told me not to wake until you were both here,’ Kahu said gravely.

‘Who are you talking about?’ Koro Apirana asked.

‘The whales,’ she said. Then she smiled, ‘You two sounded just like the old mother whale and the bull whale arguing.’

Nanny Flowers looked up at Koro Apirana. ‘We don’t argue,’ she said. ‘ He argues and I win.’

‘Your Muriwai blood,’ Koro Apirana said. ‘Always too strong for me.’