The Whale Rider

The land and sea are filled with suspense as they wait for the coming of man. Before man, “in the years that have gone before us, the land and sea felt a great emptiness, a yearning” (8). The land and sea were not without life or vivacity, but they were waiting—”Waiting for the seeding. Waiting for the gifting. Waiting for the blessing to come” (8). Suddenly, the first of the Ancients arrives on canoes from the east. The land and the sea have been found, and they know their blessing is soon to come.

Ihimaera describes a whale with a “swirling moko pattern imprinted on the forehead” (9) and a whale rider perched upon his back. The whale rider seemed “with all his strength, to be pulling the whale into the sky” (9). The two journeyed toward land, where the man threw spears along the shore. The spears gave life to the land, some turning into pigeons and others into eels. There remained one spear that refused to leave his palm. The man prayed that this spear would remain planted in his hand for years to come until humanity needed it once more. The spear leaped from his hands and flew around the sky for 1,000 years.