Huia Short Stories 10 (13 page)

‘I didn't know that,' Uncle Matt said. ‘What happened?'

‘Well, basically he kicked me out.'

‘Connor could be like that,' said Uncle Matt.

‘I came back again after he died, but she was just as bad. I asked to see the boy, but she refused. At least she kept him and raised him.'

‘She was a good mother,' Uncle Matt said.

Pall-bearers carried Mother to a hearse, and we followed in a big black car. After her burial, we went back to the church hall for a cup of tea, and afterwards Uncle Matt took me back to his place. We had not been home long when there was a knock at the door. It was the people who had been speaking with Uncle Matt at the funeral. Uncle Matt didn't seem surprised they'd called by.

Uncle Matt invited the man and woman, and boy about my age, in to the front parlour. His ancestors lined the walls: stern-faced people, some with tattoos. We all sat down, and Uncle Matt said, ‘Connor, this is your Uncle Koro and your Aunty Waiti, and this is their son Tāmati, your cousin. You will be going to live with them.'

As we drive home after Connor's funeral, I say to Dad, ‘I read his diary again, but I still don't understand what really happened.'

Dad's eyes are looking far away. ‘Remember the old tohunga we met when we went to pick Connor up?' he says.

‘Yeah, I do. Uncle Matt.'

‘Well, he's the one who made peace with your aunty.'

‘Aunty Ngā Manu o te Rangi?'

‘Āe, my sister,' says Dad softly. ‘Her baby was stolen by that old kuia, Nanny Toko, and given to the father. She tried to get Connor back, and so did I, but …'

‘So she haunted them?'

‘That's right. My sister died a bitter, vengeful woman, and wouldn't let it go, even after death.'

Then, with a great sigh, my dad looks sadly into space and says, ‘E Ngā Manu o te Rangi, tōku tuahine, kei a koe tō pēpi ātaahua ināianei, kua tae te wā mō te whakatā.'

Harlow and Father Brian

Jacquie McRae

It took thirty minutes to retrieve Harlow's body from the attic in St Francis Church. Other than the fireman and the policeman, Father Brian was the only one to witness it.

Warren ambled out to his police car and telephoned the station.

‘Hey Maggie, it's Warren. Send an ambulance over to the church on Fenby Street – and tell them we don't need the sirens.' He hung up and leaned back in his car, lighting a cigarette. He dragged on the smoke before flicking through the messages on his phone.

Father Brian slumped on a bench seat as if all the air had been sucked out of him. He rested his elbows on his knees and cupped his face. He hadn't cried since he was a boy, but as grey clouds gathered overhead, tears leaked through the gaps in his fingers.

His thoughts took him back to the day he had met Harlow, thirteen years earlier. He'd literally bumped into him outside the butcher's shop in town, when the boy was five. Before he'd had a chance to apologise, Owen Baker, a member of his congregation, came up behind the child.

‘Hi, Father, this is Harlow,' he said, shoving the boy forward. ‘We only got him today. I keep saying “No more foster kids” to Gretchen, but … you know women. Argh, maybe you don't, but trust me, Father, they just do what they want.'

The child stared blankly up at Owen as he spoke. Father Brian bent down to say ‘Hi,' but the boy backed away and clutched something behind his back. As Owen and Harlow wandered off down the street, Father Brian saw that it was some sort of rag that the boy held.

The Bakers dragged their foster kids to Sunday school and church every week. After his service, Father Brian made a point of mingling with his parishioners on the lawn at the front of the church. He tried to get Harlow to talk to him, but the boy would only stare at his feet or look away. Father Brian made sure he talked to him each week regardless.

Things started to go missing from Sunday school at the same time Harlow started. At first it was the red crayons, then someone's shoe, and then a jacket. When Ms Mavis, the Sunday school teacher, started complaining to Father Brian about the missing items, he managed to convince her that they were the type of things that got misplaced easily.

No one needed convincing of anything when Tony Grin lost his Pokémon card and it was found in Harlow's back pocket.

‘He hasn't had a mum or dad, to teach him right from wrong,' Father Brian told Ms Mavis.

‘Well, neither did you, and you didn't take to stealing.'

Ms Mavis liked to dish out punishments like she was God's right-hand woman. She pried Harlow's fingers open and snatched the rag that he always carried. He never cried or said a word.

A siren and ambulance lights flashing brought Father Brian back from his thoughts. He watched as Warren stubbed a cigarette out on the pavement and marched towards the ambulance. A pimply boy of about twenty stuck his head out of the ambulance window and yelled out to Warren. They got into a loud discussion about the siren. When they stopped arguing, they lifted the stretcher out and wheeled it up the cobblestone path and into the foyer of the church.

‘Be gentle with him,' Father Brian said as they picked up Harlow's body and took it away for an autopsy.

He forced himself to climb the ladder into the attic.

The smell of death still hung in the air. A small mound of clothes was bunched up on the floor. Father Brian squeezed his eyes shut to block out the image of Harlow curled up here in a foetal position, but the vision was etched in his mind.

Nestled among the clothes, he saw a handkerchief that had been embroidered with poppies, a pile of red crayons and a small rag. He picked it up and inhaled deeply.

He thought of that Sunday thirteen years earlier, when Harlow's only possession had been stripped from him. Harlow never arrived the following Sunday.

Father Brian hunted Owen down as soon as the service was over.

‘Hi, Owen. Where's Harlow?'

‘We sent him back. The kid was too wonky for us.' Owen rounded his kids into the waiting minivan. He climbed into the passenger seat and wound down the window.

‘We think we'll get a girl next time,' he yelled as the van pulled away.

The years passed by, but Father Brian still searched for Harlow's face among the crowds. He spent hours ringing all sorts of welfare agencies enquiring after the boy, but the conversations always ended the same.

‘I'm sorry, but if you're not family or a carer, we can't give you any information.'

After a while he stopped ringing, but he included the boy in his prayers.

Just last night he'd prayed that Harlow be kept safe and held between loving arms, and this morning he'd found him.

Father Brian spent most of the day on the phone tracking down the Bakers. He wasn't the only person to have lost contact with them when they moved. He didn't expect them to care about this, but wanted them to know.

‘Oh, I'm sorry to hear that,' Gretchen said when he finally got hold of her. ‘I did ask about him one time, but it seems other families found him hard work as well, and he bounced around a bit … He would have aged out by now.'

‘What do you mean, aged out?'

‘Well, once a kid turns seventeen, the government no longer pays for someone to look after them.'

‘At seventeen, they're on their own?'

‘Yep. All of them. Ours all had to leave, and I'm sure they're doing fine.'

Father Brian clenched his teeth. He said he had to go, but after hanging up the phone he sat in the same spot for the next hour. His Bible lay on the coffee table nearby, but he could only stare at it. Every Sunday he preached words of love and kindness, but he wondered what use these messages were.

The phone rang beside him, and he reluctantly picked it up.

‘Hi, it's Warren. Just keeping you in the loop about that foster boy. Looks like he died from a combo of pleurisy and not eating.'

‘Has anyone come to claim him?'

‘No, but don't worry. If no one does, I'll get the welfare services to deal with it.'

Father Brian bristled at the word ‘it,' and for the second time that day, he felt like smashing something.

‘His name's Harlow. And I'll take care of his arrangements if no one comes to get him.'

He sat through a church meeting that night, but everything he heard seemed to come from a distant place, and he couldn't make much sense from it. The others in the room talked about sending a card to Derek who was recovering from a hip operation, and discussed the possibility of flowers for Eileen as a thank you for organising the gala. They told him that the money for his new kitchen was still waiting to be used, and he managed a nod of his head.

On Sunday, his congregation gathered for their service. He read mainly from the book of Matthew: a selection that spoke of heavenly priorities. He warned about doing charitable deeds only to be seen by others to be doing them, and then read from Leviticus about atonement.

His parishioners had come to expect to be uplifted on church days, and many left that day wondering if Father Brian was perhaps losing it.

That night he couldn't sleep for the fourth night in a row, so got up and typed ‘Aging out' into his computer. There were a couple of links to old articles, and a YouTube clip he could watch, but he was searching for a place that Harlow might have gone to find shelter. A home where all the kids like Harlow ended up.

It didn't exist.

He turned off the computer and stared at the blank screen. Father Brian knew that Harlow, who'd been almost invisible at age five, had simply dropped out of the system and completed his vanishing act.

By the morning, for the first time since he'd discovered Harlow's body, he knew what he had to do. He took out the writing pad with his name embossed at the top and drafted a letter to the church board.

He recommended that the board review their plans for his kitchen: it was perfect as it was. He asked instead that they consider using that money to set up a fund to help children transition from welfare care into society. His long-term dream was a house for that purpose, but this would do for the moment.

A year later, when it was time to place a headstone on Harlow's grave, Father Brian knew exactly what he wanted carved on it.

Harlow

1995–2013

A life that made a difference.

Hei te Tau TÄ«toki!

Zeb Tamihana Nicklin

Ina whānau mai ia ki te whai ao ki te ao marama he mea pīrere noa ia e tana kōkā, ka waiho atu ai ki runga ake i tētahi kaupeka o te rākau tītoki. He mōhio tonu nō te kōkā nei ka nānā Te Hakuturi a Tāne i tana pēpē. Ka pau tētahi wā kāre anō te pēpē kia tangi noa, kāre anō hoki kia moe kia kai rānei. Maringanui ana ko te wāhanga o te raumati kei riro i a Takurua te pēpē nei hai kai.

Ko ngā ropi o te pēpē e titiro mātai atu ana ki te āhua o te rākau tītoki kua huri hai whare mōna. Ka pau tētahi wā anō ka rere mai ai he uha huia he hūhū mātotoru kei ana ngutu tōhihi. Me te mea nei he punua huia te pēpē nei e whanga mai ana ki tana kōkā ka ngāwari noa ai te whāngai atu a te huia ki te pēpē, ā, kua nanea. I te ngarohanga o Huia ki te rapu kai anō mā te pēpē kātahi tonu ka rongo Te Wao Tapu nui a Tāne whānui tonu i te tangi a te pēpē, ka mutu, ka kakama te rere atu a Tūī, a Kōkakō, a Tīeke, a Kererū, mā raro mai a Kiwi, a Takahē a wai atu anō, a wai atu anō o te kāhui manu ki te oriori i te pēpē nei, otirā ka kaha ake anō ai te tangi mai. Nā wai rā, ka hoki mai anō a Huia he hūhū anō ōna hai kai mā te pēpē, kātahi ka tau tōna mauri ka kai ai, me te aha, kua mākona anō. Ina warea ana te pēpē e te moe ka whakakotahi ai ngā manu ki te whakatau me aha kē rātau me te pēpē nei. Ka tūī korokoro ake a Tūī ki a Huia ka rōreka, ‘E tipu haere ana te pēpē nei ekene ia kua rahi kē atu kia mau ki te kaupeka nei, ka whati ai.'

Ka ‘hū' te whakahoki a Huia ka tangi, ‘Ehara, ehara! Me tahuri tātau ki te hanga whare e haumaru ai ia.'

Ka ‘kū' ake a Kererū ka ‘āe' mai. Ka ‘kō kō' te tangi mai a Kōkakō ka tīwaha, ‘Me tono atu koe Kiwi ki ngā uri o te papa, mā rātau te papa o te whare e whakarite.'

Ka ‘hui e' a Tīeke, ka ‘tāiki e' te katoa, ka ‘hī!'

Ao ake he rā, ka tahuri a Ngāi Pēpeke ki te whakariterite i te tūāpapa o te whare, ko tā te kāhui rere rangi rātau ko Kiwi mā he kohikohi i tēnā i tēna kia pai te tū o te whare me te tuanui e haumaru ai tō rātau taina hou.

Ao te pō, pō te ao ka raupā haere ngā ngutu o te kāhui manu me ngā waewae parahutihuti o ngāngara mā i te whakatangetange riaka ki te whakatū i te whare hou mō te pēpē. Tōna taro kau iho nei, ka tū mai he whare ka waiho atu ai e te kāhui manu nei te pēpē kia warea anō ia e te moe ki roto i tōna whare hou. Ka riro mā Katipō hai kaitiaki i te kūaha.

Nō te pēpē e moe ana ka whakakotahi anō te kāhui manu nei, ka whakatau mā wai e toro atu ai ki te manukura nui ki a Moa ki te tono ki a ia māna hai kaikawe i te pēpē hai ngā rā ka pakeke ake ai ia, ā, māna anō te kāhui nei hai rangatira. Ka puta te tīwē whakatarapī a Kererū ka kū mai, ‘Inā te tawhiti o tō tātau manukura e noho ana, e ao kē ana kia riro māku hai kawe atu tō tātau tono ki a ia ina rā aku parirau parahutihuti.'

Ka noho te kāhui nei ka whakaaro iho, kātahi ka puta ake te komekome i ngā ngutu pūoioi pewa nei o Kea me ana kupu whakahē, ‘E hoa, i tō kaha kai miro kua mōmona kē atu, e kore rawa koe e whiti noa i te moana o Raukawa kua tē kē te koitō.' Ka ‘tāiki e' te āe mai o ngā manu katoa!

Kātahi tonu ka whakatopa iho mai ko Toroa i te raki ka tau ai ki te papa e huihui ana ngā manu. Ko tā Toroa, ‘Mō taku tōmuri, otirā inā te whānui o ōku parirau, kotahi rā noa kua tae atu ahau ki a Moa.' Ka noho anō te kāhui manu ka whakaaro. Ko Takahē anake ka whakahē mai i tā Toroa kī, ka takahi-e ai tōna waewae ki te whenua. ‘Tēnā kua tau,' tā Huia
.

‘
Ao anō he rā, takaruretia ka rere atu ai koe,' tā Kiwi.

Ka riro mā Rūrū hai kaitiaki i te pō rāua ko Katipō i te tatau o te whare o te pēpē.

Oho ake ana te pēpē i te hanga o ngā manu korihi i te ata hāpara. Ka titiro whakarunga te pēpē kua mōhio tonu a Huia he kai anō tana mate, ka mutu, ka rere tonu atu ki a ia ki te whāngai i a ia ki te wētā me te hūhū. Ka whiu te puku o pēpē ka haere i tana haere wāwāhi tahā. Ka pana i tēnā toka i tēnā toka kia kite ai he aha kei raro he aha kei runga he aha kē te aha i tōna taiao nei. Nōna e rapu haere ana ko Tīeke tana kaitiaki e taea ana te kite mārika ngā hau kino e ahu mai ana i matara, i tata mai rānei kātahi ka whakaohiti atu ai ki a Hōkio kei te tihi o te rākau kahikatea mō te tūpono ka whakaekea e te taua, ā, ka riro māna hai whakaoti atu. Ka mutu, ko tā Huia he kimi kai, he whāngai.

Ka pau te toru rā ka tau mai anō a Tōroa. Ka whakapiri anō te kāhui manu a Tāne ki te whakarongo he aha te whakatau a Moa. Ka takarure a Toroa i ōna parirau kia ngū te hoihoi a ngā manu ka tangi, ‘E hoa mā, ka maanaki mai a Moa i tō tātau tono, hei te Rākaunui te heke mai nei ia ka tae mai ki a tātau, kotahi anahe tana whakahau, me whakatū whare mōna i mua i tana whakaeke mai kia tika te whakauwhi.'

Kotahi atu anō te Hakuturi a Tāne ki te whakatū whare ki a Moa. Tō atu he rā haramai he pō, parahutihuti ana te mahi a ngā manu, a Ngāi Pēpeke ki te whakaoti pai i te whare i mua i te whakaekenga mai a Moa ki tō rātau kāinga. Mā pango mā whero ka oti te whare te tū ake.

I te pukumahi o te Hakuturi a Tāne ki te whakatū ake i te whare ka whakahapa tā rātau tiaki i te pēpē, ā, ka ngaro atu ai ia.

‘Auē,' te tangi a Pīpīwharauroa, … ‘Kua puta a pēpē i tana kōhanga, karekau he takiwā e kitea ana ia!'

Tarawē ana a Huia, otirā rātau katoa! Kātahi ka rū ai te whenua ka tū…, ka rū anō, ka tū……, kātahi ka turakina ai tētahi rākau e tū pātata mai ana ki te oru manu nei. Ka puta mai ko Moa me te pēpē kei tana tuara e tohutohu ana i a ia. Ka kotore whererei ngā manu, ko ngā whatu ānō ko te Rākaunui, otirā kāre anō kia Rākaunui te marama.

Kātahi ka tīwaha atu a Tōroa, ‘Hei te manukura, kua tōmua koe.'

Ka takahi a Moa i tana waewae ki te papa kia rū anō ai te whenua! ‘Taringa mai tā Moa, nō koutou e pukumahi ana, ka mahue te tiaki mai i te pēpē nei, maringinui ana koutou kua tae nei ahau hai kaitohutohu mā koutou, tēnā, kai hea kē taku whare? Kua matemoe ahau.'

Ka tīpatapata te oma atu a Takahē, he hūhū kei ōna ngutu e mau ana, ‘Hei taku manukura, he kai māu.'

‘Taihoa,' tā Moa. ‘Kua moe au…ka oho ake ana ahau me hui tātau.'

Ka oho ake a Moa ka huihui te kāhui manu ki tō Moa aroaro ka tau ai. Ka tū a Moa me te kī ake, ‘Ko wōku tuākana, tāina kua hinga katoa rātau i te whai a te tangata, ka mutu, ko hau anake hei mōrehu.'

Ka uiui atu a Huia, ‘Ka aroha kē hoki, heoi anō, ka mate ana koe ko wai rā hai kaiārahi, hai rangatira mō mātau?'

‘E hoa mā,' tā Moa… ‘Ehara i te mea me kimi rangatira koutou, ko koutou kē hai rangatira i a koutou anō, ko tēnāi tōna takiwā ake, ko tēnā anō i tōna takiwā ake.' Kātahi, ka rere mai ko Tītī i te tonga ka tīwaha, ‘He poti nui nāku i kite nōku i Whakatū, he iwi kirihou, he iwi tūkino, ka mutu, ka kite i a rātau i te poti rā e kai ana i tētahi momo wai kino i whakapōrangirangi haere i a rātau, ā, ka tīwē haere whakatarapī nei, ka pāengaenga rātau i a rātau, ko te otinga iho he whawhai i i a rātau anō. Ka mutu, ka rongo nei au i te kōrero a tētahi e mau pōtae ana e kimi haere ana rātau he whenua hou hai nohonga mō rātau. Waihoki ka topea ngā rākau katoa o ō tātau motu kia pai ai tō rātau noho me te mahi i te whenua.'

Ka tīonioni te rere mai a Pīwaiwaka ka wahawaha, ‘He māmā te kite he pakanga kei te haere.'

I konā ka topa tonu iho mai ko Kāhu i te Rāwhiti, ‘E hoa mā, kua kitea tēnei iwi kirihou i kōrerotia mai nā e Tītī, i te oneone o Te Māhia, i Nukutaurua. Nā te tohunga nei a Toiroa Ikariki i matakite. Ka tāngia ai e ia mā tōna matimati ki te one, tēnei iwi kirimā e mau pōtae ana he rākau auahi anō hoki kei ō rātau ngutu e kai ana. He kōrero whakatonu āna ki tōna iwi hai ōna rā ka haere mai te iwi rā ka whānako haere ai i ō tātau whenua me ōna taonga katoa, waihoki, ka kite atu au i tētahi momo kiore i te poti nui nei engari he mea tino rerekē ki tā mātau kiore o Te Moana-nui
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a-Kiwa. He mea kaha ki te kai i ngā momo kai katoa ahakoa mārō taioreore te āhua ahakoa he aha te kai….tēnā māta taiki ā tātau hua kei mate haere ko tātau!'

‘E hoa mā,' tā Moa, ‘Me pī tuatahi atu ai tātau ki te pēpē nei, ko ia kē tō tātau nui…me whakamarumaru ia ki te taiao Māori nei, mā mātau, mā ngā rākau, me te wairua o te ngāhere nei ia e poipoi, kia korekore rawa atu nei ia e mahi pērā i tā te iwi kirihou i kōrero mai nā koe, he mahi tūkino i te taiao, he mahi tūkino i a ia anō.'

Ka huri ngā tau, ka pakeke haere te tamaiti nei, me te aha, he pakari anō nō te tinana, he pakari anō nō te hinengaro. I ia pō, i ia pō ka hui ai ngā manu ki te taha o tō rātau taina hai ārahi hai akoako, ko Tūī hai kaiako mōna e akoako ai ia ki te kōrero pērā i tā te tangata. Heoi anō, he mōhio hoki nō te tamaiti nei ki ngā reo katoa o tēnā manu, o tēnā manu o te ngāhere me ngā reo e hia mai nei o Ngāi Pēpeke mā. He mōkai a Tūī nā tētahi rangatira tangata nei o Ngāti Pāhauwera nāna nei a Tūī i tuku i te pō kia whātorotoro i ōna parirau, engari he kore mōhio nō te rangatira nei koia tā Tūī he akoako i tētahi tamaiti i rō ngāhere i ngā pō.

Ahakoa noho ngāhere te tamaiti nei, he tamaiti mōhio anō ia ki ngā mahi a te tangata, me te mōhio hoki ki ngā mahi katoa a ngā manu me te ngahere.

I tētahi rā ka puta te whakaaro ki a Moa kia whakaingoatia te tamaiti nei. Tēnā, ka whakaritea e te kāhui kia haria atu ia ki te awa kia pai ai tā rātau kawe i tēnei tikanga. Oti ana ngā mahi karakia ki runga i te tamaiti nei ka rōreka ake a Tūī ka mea, ‘Ko Te Wao hai ingoa mōhou!'

Ka hora ngā kai katoa o te ngahere me te takutai ki a Te Wao hai kai māna i tēnei rā nui whakaharahara. Ahakoa te nui o te rā, ahakoa te hari o Te Wao he mate tonu ōna kia tūtaki ia ki tōna kōkā.

Ka haere, ka haere, ā, kua tāne a Te Wao, waihoki ko tana hiahia kia tūtaki ia ki tōna kōkā, ka mutu, kua mau tonu i a Te Wao te taonga nā tōna kōkā i waiho ki tōna kakī i ērā tau maha ki muri.

I taua pō ka warea a Te Wao e te moe, ā, ka puta te moemoeā ki a ia, e mate haere ana tōna kōkā. Ao ake he rā ka hui tahi a Te Wao ki a Huia ka meatia e Te Wao tana moemoeā me tana hiahia kua roa nei e huna ana ki roto i tana whatumanawa.

Ko te whakahoki a Huia, ‘Kua mōhio pai au ki tō hiahia, ā, kua mōhio hoki ahau ka tono mai koe ki a au i tēnei take ahakoa kāore au e hiahia oko… Kai taku pekepoho kua eke pea te wā kia kimi haere ai koe i tō kōkā, kia tau tō mauri….waihoki, mea pono te moemoeā kimihia.' Ka auē rāua tahi ka tangi.

Ko te rā whai muri mai ka haere a Te Wao ki te rapu haere i tōna kōkā, ā, ko Moa hei hoa haere mōna.

Mutu ana ngā karakia ka haere te tokorua i tā rāua haere, ki te kimi i te kōkā o Te Wao. Inā hoki kei roto pū i te ngahere tō rātau kāinga ko te whakaaro ka whai atu rāua i te rere o te awa kia tae rānō ki te moana, ā, ka piki whakateraki mā te tahatai.

Tae atu ana rāua ki te ngutu awa kua hiakai rāua, tēnā ka noho rāua ki te kai, ka whakangā. Ka pau tētahi wā ka haere anō i tā rāua ara ki te rapu i te kōkā nei.

Tuatahi ka tae atu rāua ki te maunga kore neke ki Hikurangi me ōna takiwā katoa, otirā auare ake. Ka haere tonu mā te tahatai, ka tae ake ki Raukokore engari ko taua āhua anō he kitenga kore. Ka noho, ka noho, ā, ka tae atu rāua ki ngā tōpito katoa me ngā whārua o ngā motu katoa o Aotearoa engari tē kite nei i te kōkā o Te Wao. Ka ngēngē haere te tokorua nei i te roa hoki e rapu haere ana, ā, ka whakatau kia hoki ki te puihi ki ngā tuākana, tāina noho anō ai me te whakaaro o Te Wao e kore rawa ia e tūtaki atu ki tana kōkā haere ake nei haere ake nei.

Tēnā, ka whakatau kia hoki rāua, ā, ko tō rāua huarahi hoki ki te kāinga mā te Urewera, ka whakawhiti atu ki Waikaremoana, ā, ka takahi i te ara ki Pūtere ka whāia ai te huarahi ki Raupunga, ki tō rāua takiwā noho. Tā rāua takahi i te huarahi i Waikaremoana ki Pūtere ka kite atu i te auahi i te rangi e anga mai i te ngahere me te kī ake a Te Wao ki tana mōkai, ‘He matekai nōku ka tonoa ki te tangata nei kia manaaki mai tāua i āna kai.'

Ka ‘āe' mai a Moa ka whai atu i te auahi. Tō rāua taenga atu ki te ahi, he kuia noho moke i roto i tōna whare e tangi ana tana waiata, ‘Taku rākau' engari i kore te kuia i tae ake ki te mutunga o tana waiata, kua hinga ia ki te papa ka mate.

Kotahi atu a Te Wao ki te kuia nei engari kua tō kē ngā rā ki a ia. Ka titiro whakarunga a Te Wao ki te hanga o te rākau e haumarumaru ana i te whare, ka mutu, he hua whero e puāwai mai ana i te rākau nei engari ko te takurua kē te wāhanga o te tau. Ka taka te kapa ki a Te Wao he rākau tītoki te rākau nei kātahi ka tino pūrangiaho mai ia ko tana kōkā kē tēnei kātahi tonu ka mate.

Ka tarawē te tangi mai a Te Wao ki tana mōkai ka kī ake ia, ‘Kei taku mōkai, ko koe ka haere ko au ka noho nei hei kaitiaki i tēnei takiwā o taku kōkā.'

Ahakoa kāre a Moa i whakaae iho, me pehea kē hoki ia. Tēnā ka noho a Te Wao ki tēnei takiwā o te motu hei kaitiaki i konei. Ko ngā kōrero whakamutunga a Te Wao ki tana mōkai – ‘hei te tau tītoki.'