Sleeps Standing: A Story of the Battle of Orakau by Ihimaera Witi

Author:Ihimaera, Witi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143771128
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand
Published: 2013-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

I te ahiahi o taua rā i te pararē tonu te waha o te pū, tē ai he pārirātanga.

Nā ngā hōia i whakatū tētehi o ngā pūrepo ki runga i tētehi puke i kō atu, ā, i te kaha tonu te pupuhi mai. Pupuhi tonu atu, pupuhi tonu mai ngā taha e rua i te roanga o te pō, ka ū ana te matā ka tangi te auē a te patunga.

Nō te paunga o te rā tuatahi o te whawhaitanga ka kite te pā i te nui o te mate, tōna whā tekau tāngata i hinga i te riri i taua rā. He nui rātou nō Te Urewera.

‘He mahi tāhau,’ ka mea a Te Haa ki a Moetū. Ka tohua ia kia haere i te taha o tōna teina, o Mihaere rāua ko tana tama ko Pukenga ki te āwhina i ngā mea e keri rua ana i te kokonga tonga-mā-uru o te pā hei takotoranga mō ngā tūpāpaku. I reira ngā pouaru e tangi ana, e tono wai ana hei horoi i ngā toto i runga i ngā tūpāpaku i mua i te tanu i a rātou.

‘Kaua e moumouhia te wai,’ ka kōrerotia rātou e Wī Karamoa.

‘Kia iti noa iho,’ ka mea tētehi o ngā wāhine ko Ariana tōna ingoa, ‘hei horoi i ngā mate o te ao kikokiko.’

Ka whakaae a Wī Karamoa, kātahi ka tīmata tana karakia. Nō te whakatakotoranga o ngā tūpāpaku ki roto i te rua, ka tangi hotuhotu a Ariana.

Ka tungou te pane o Moetū. Kātahi ia ka rongo i te ringa o tētehi e kapu ana i tōna: ko Kararaina. ‘Me aroha tonu te hunga ora ki te hunga ora,’ ka mea ia, ‘i a tātou e karakia nei ō tātou mate.’

Koinei ana kupu tuatahi ki a Moetū. Kāore tōna waha i hamumu, ahakoa tōna hiahia ki te korero, i te wawata puku ia me aroha tonu mai a Kararaina ki a tama kaniawhea e rapu ana i te murunga o hara.

3.

I a Moetū e hoki ana ki te wāhi i reira a Rongowhakaata, ka kite ia i a Te Haa e kōrero ana ki a Rewi me te rūnanga kaumātua, i reira hoki a Ahumai Te Paerata, kua tū mai ki te ārahi i ngā wāhine o te pā; i roto i te ao Māori i rite anō tōna rongonui ki tō Rewi nā ana mahi nui i Ōrākau.

Ka tohu tōna ringa ki a Moetū, ka mea ia ki te rūnanga. ‘Arā te tamaiti.’

I kitea e Ahumai te kaha o Moetū ki te manaaki i a Hineatūrama me ērā atu wāhine i te mura o te ahi, kāore i reira ētehi atu hei ārahi i a rātou, ana, ka āwhinatia atu e Moetū. ‘Kia āta whakakīkī koe i te pū, kaua e mahia kaikātia, mā tētehi atu koe e ārai,’ tana kōrero ki a rātou, ‘Ko tāu he titiro ki te wāhi kei mua i a koe, waiho mā ngā tāne ngā wāhi kei ngā taha.’

‘He ngākau atawhai,’ ka mea a Ahumai. ‘I

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