A story in verse about cultural prosperity and change, love, loyalty, cherishing children and losing Vision.
Long ago there once lived
a magnificent salt water people, the Takaiians.
Their island paradise, Takaii, was located in the South Pacific.
For thousands of years
their ancestors had cultivated and valued their inherent connection
with the Great Ocean, and the many deities above and below
the vast mystical ocean waters.
The Takaiians of old understood their spiritual strength, their Mana,
grew from their relationship with all things around them.
They knew that one or one’s people could not survive without Mana.
Mana was everything.
It encapsulated their journey of prosperity as a people from the past, to the present and towards the future.
The aging, most high ranking and respected chief of Takaii
was Tutu Vasana. His only son, Tutu Lona, was meticulously groomed
to succeed his father when the Gods deemed it right.
Tutu Vasana had taught Tutu Lona that being of chiefly ranking itself,
was not enough to make one a great chief. He had impressed upon him that a great chief should not set himself apart from others,
but give himself wholeheartedly to the Gods and his people.
On his death bed, Tutu Vasana sent for Tutu Lona. He urged his weeping son to remember that the spiritual and physical realms are as integral to each other, as breath is to life.
As Tutu Lona softly chanted a sad song of departure to his beloved father, his ancestors reached out to Tutu Vasana from beyond and gently called his spirit home to rest.
With his last breath, in no more than a whisper, he cautioned Tutu Lona to always remember his Mana. With that said his soul flowed free, away from his blood and bones toward eternity.
The Takaiians mourned deeply for Tutu Vasana for sixty days and sixty nights. Their ceremonies and prayers were powerful expressions of their painful loss. The Ocean Goddess, Waimara, was so
moved by the intensity of their bereavement that she wanted to bless them with part of her spirit to help them heal. Her intuitive energies gave her insight into the fact that Tutu Lona’s devoted but fragile wife, Mere, was unable to conceive children.
By the thirtieth day of mourning Waimara had worked out a divine plan. She would send forth, out of the warm deep, two of her much loved children. Waimara called on Earth Mother to fashion two beautiful human bodies from the best clay, she requested one body for a boy child and the other for a girl.
Mother Earth’s creations were completed on the sixtieth and final night of mourning. To bring them into being, Waimara lovingly guided the spirits of both her children into the flesh.
The next morning as Tutu Lona and Mere walked along the sandy shore, they were astonished to see an enormous multi-coloured fish lying motionless on its side. It was bigger than their largest fishing canoe and the biggest most
colourful fish they had ever seen. Seeking an explanation Tutu Lona sent for Tala, the head fisherman, and Naana, the oldest and wisest spiritual women in the village. Naana was delighted by the presence of the great fish.
The Ocean Goddess, Waimara, had spoken to Naana through her dreams about the arrival of this sacred fish and the blessings it held within. Naana instructed Tala to carefully cut open the belly of the fish and scoop out its entrails onto the sand.
Within moments two tiny babies each wrapped in a tangled covering of seaweed, slipped out into the open air and began to cry. Tutu Lona and Mere shed tears of happiness for these two wonderful gifts of hope.
After singing tender songs of praise to Waimara for the delivery of the children Naana, using her hands carefully, returned the fish innards to the hollow in the fish’s belly and stitched the wound closed with strips of dried flax.
She then instructed Tala to gather seven strong men to help bury the sacred fish deep down in the hallowed soil beyond the village. Naana informed Tala that Waimara had specifically asked this be done to not only demonstrate their gratitude to Earth Mother, but to also strengthen their collective Mana as salt water people.
The village women skilfully wove hundreds of palm fronds together to form a huge blanket of green to which they fastened bamboo poles so the men could drag the fish to the burial ground. Just before they lowered the fish
into the soil, in a bid to become more powerful Tala suddenly slashed the fish open, ripped out its heart and ate it. Shocked by Tala’s actions, the seven men feared what Tala might do to them if they were to tell Chief Tutu Lona that he had eaten the heart.
Instead, they pretended it never happened. Tala’s selfish actions, his lack of respect for things sacred, along with the silence of the others angered Waimara and Earth Mother. Their shared wrath was so fierce that if it was not appeased, its power would slowly reduce the collective Mana of the Takaiians.
Oblivious to Tala’s deeds, Chief Tutu Lona set about choosing names for the tiny blessings that had arrived out of the blue. He reasoned that because the boy child came into being at a moment in time when he and his people were still mourning the loss of Tutu Vasana, he would name him ‘Vision’.
He acknowledged that his beloved Vision had already nurtured a sense of renewal and hope in himself, his wife and his people. He now had a son who would one day become chief.
Tutu Lona named the girl child ‘Surprise’, after the emotion he and Mere felt when she first appeared to them. They believed that Surprise too would bring new joy and light to the entire village. Sadly, they had no knowledge of the curse Tala had brought upon them.
For reasons unknown to her, Naana suddenly began experiencing a growing sense of dread and inner confusion. Opening her heart and mind to clarity, she prayed to her ancestor spirits for insight.
As Naana restlessly tossed and turned in her sleep, Waimara entered her dream and disclosed the unruliness of Tala’s deceit. Understanding the urgency of the matter Naana hurried to Tutu Lona’s hut, where she woke and informed him of Tala’s treacherous actions.
In a state of disbelief, unable to comprehend their betrayal, Tutu Lona immediately sent for Tala and the seven men who made up the burial party. All eight men looked their chief in the eye and denied the truth in Naana’s dream.
Tala on the other hand deceptively convinced Tutu Lona that due to Naana’s age, her mind was now deceiving her. He stopped short of labelling her a suspicious old woman. As Naana left Tutu Lona’s hut discredited, Waimara was further outraged by the chief’s inability to accept the truth.
As time passed, the once fertile soil around their village dried up and cracked, regardless of the enormous amounts of water the village grounds men poured upon it.
Caught up in the day to day physical survival of his people, Tutu Lona failed to remember his father’s request to always remember his Mana. His forgetfulness aggravated Waimara and Earth Mother further.
As it happened, one day an unfamiliar sea vessel arrived on Takaii. The strangers brought gifts; blankets, mysterious beverages, guns and a book of miracles the foreigners referred to as the word. Naana did her best to chase
the strangers away, but Tala and others convinced Tutu Lona that the power and prestige of the strangers could be gained through learning the word. Over time, the sharing of the word became the Takaiians good news as they slowly embraced its promise of salvation and everlasting life.
Daily doses of the word were administered to them from an unused hut. While their heads were bowed in worship and their eyes focused on the light flimsy pages that held the word together, they stopped looking outward
toward the land, the sea, their children, and their ancestor spirits and to each other. The Takaiians soon ceased practising various aspects of their age-old culture. With their senses dulled, they failed to notice the dark haze that hadcrept into their lives. Their children went about being children without the time-honoured guidance of the elders.
The young unsupervised Vision exploited every opportunity to run amok. Even the trees that once stood tall and strong, giving shade to the people were now bowing; bent out of shape by the darkness that encircled Takaii.
Surprise was the only member of the village who was seemingly unaffected. She busily went about tending to the duties the others had let go. Her quieter moments were spent on the shore, communicating with the
spiritual forces that had given her life. The spirits however, were annoyed by this change in the people of the sea and vowed to demonstrate their anger. Eventually a situation presented itself.
Late one afternoon, as Vision wandered along the water's edge he noticed the ocean was ablaze in a brilliant blue; a deep mysterious blue that sparkled and shone in its own glory. Like an alluring sapphire, it beckoned him to
unite with it on a journey. Vision waded slowly into the sea. The calmness of the waters soothed him; its blueness held him, covering him like a giant silken cloak.
At the blink of an eye, the ocean waters that caressed and embraced Vision now fiercely tossed him about. His urgent screams were a siren to his community. In the moments that followed as the Takaiians stood helplessly
on the shore watching Vision, the seriousness of the circumstances became clear. The people of the sea had forgotten how to swim. It was beyond their recollection how to negotiate the ocean.
The strong relationship the Takaiians once shared with the sea no longer existed. Confronted by the enormous rift that had developed between their mortal souls and their ancient traditions, Tutu Lona now understood they had
lost their Mana and in doing so they had also lost their way with the Ocean. As Vision struggled against being swallowed by the ocean, the salt-water people and their chief wept at the prospect of losing their Vision.
Suddenly when Surprise dove into the sea and swam toward her brother, a spark of hope was raised within all. Silently they watched, praying she would reach him. The instant Surprise had Vision safely within her grasp,
a massive wave shaped like a hand arose out of the deep blue and curved gently around the children and carried them beneath the surface. Naana knew the hand was Waimara.
Since Takaiians had long forsaken her, she had emerged as an ocean wave to reclaim the children; the most precious parts of her spirit. As the ocean waters returned to a still calm, Tutu Lona stood on the shore drowning in despair for his loss of Surprise and Vision.
Kia Ora
i enjoyed this story. it made me think about Maori myths and values. i loved the two main characters names, Surprise and Vision. Story reminds me of the power of the gods and nature. We shouldn't muck round with either!!!!
Part Three in the Mu Series - Sarah Thompson reluctantly abandons her desperate search for her soul mate on Maui and returns to her Montana hometown. Her brother has had a terrible accident...
'Coruscated Confabulations' is a collection of stories and experiences, most of which took place in prior decades. They are taken from or based upon real events, with a certain admixture of fictional embellishments.
