The Whale Rider

“We have been found. The news is being taken back to the place of the Ancients. Our blessing will come soon.”

The sea yearns to be discovered by man because then it can exist in oneness and thus be complete. The origins of the reciprocal relationship between man and nature are shown as something necessary for the sustenance of both. Each depends on the other to be its life-giving force.

“Watching, the ancient bull whale was swept up in memories of his own birthing. His mother had been savaged by sharks three months later; crying over her in the shallows of Hawaiki, he had been succoured by the golden human who became his master. The human had heard the young whale’s distress and had come into the sea, playing a flute.”

The ancient bull whale recalls the moment he first met his master. This story recounts the establishment of the first whale rider, where a oneness between man and whale is achieved. This relationship becomes an explicit example of the larger creation and subsequent destruction of oneness.

“The problem was that Koro Apirana could not reconcile his traditional beliefs about Maori leadership and rights with Kahu’s birth. By Maori custom, leadership was hereditary and normally the mantle of mana fell from the eldest son to the eldest son. Except in this case, there was an eldest daughter.”

Koro Apirana is angered by the dismantling of his male lineage after the birth of Kahu. According to tradition, the eldest son receives the mantle of mana, yet Kahu occupies that space in the lineage. Koro Apirana’s strict adherence to traditional customs and his fight against change in Maori culture is showcased.