Moke meets Hihi

Forest and Bird, Issue 134, 1 November 1959, Page 8

Moke meets Hihi

In the August issue, Maire told how Moke spoke to Hihi, the invisible sunbeam fairy.

There were a few high, fleecy clouds in the sky as Moke sat on the steep hillside, absentmindedly kicking the loose clay rock away with his heel, and watching the shadows chase each other over the sea, far below. A file of woolly sheep with their well-grown lambs passed around the opposite spur, but Moke’s mind wasn’t on any of those things. He was wondering whether he had really heard a sunbeam fairy, or whether he had just imagined it. Without, thinking, he spoke aloud, “I must have dreamt it,” and then started suddenly as Hihi’s gentle voice replied, “Please tell me what you dreamt, Moke.” Moke was a bit embarrassed and didn’t know what to say, but Hihi seemed to understand, because she continued, “Moke, you will soon learn there are many things human beings don’t know yet. The world is full of great and strange powers. Some of these you will learn about before you grow old, but. many of the most wonderful things you can’t see. For instance, Moke, what is that thing under your foot?” Moke looked down and saw under his foot a dark cordlike stem running along in the surface of the stony soil he had exposed. “Oh, that’s only an old pigfern root,” he said. “It’s not very wonderful and I can see it quite clearly.” “Of course you can see it,” replied Hihi, “but it isn’t a root, it’s a rhizome— sort of stem which runs along. under the ground and sends roots down, and shoots up. Moke, you can see the rhizome but you can’t see the wonderful store of life and food inside it. But it is there all the same. That rhizome is simply full of plant food and moisture. By the way, a better name for the fern is bracken fern, and it is one of those things Mother Nature seems to have produced to make sure these hard, dry hills are covered with protecting plant life. Bracken fern doesn’t grow so well in the bush, and it isn’t a bit easy to grow in your garden, but it produces untold millions of spores which grow when.conditions are right, as they are here. . Also, if bracken

fern is burnt, the rhizome in the ground doesn’t die, but, being full of life and plant food, it soon sends up many new shoots and quickly covers the ground again. Being full of moisture it can live for a long time on hard, dry ground. So you see, that rather dirty-looking thing is really wonderful, although your farmers think it is a great nuisance. My old Maori friends called it aruhe. They dug it up with pointed sticks, dried it for storage until wanted. When it was taken out and soaked in water, then beaten with a club or patu, and the fibrous material discarded, the remaining starchy material was made into cakes and baked over hot embers. Not very appetising, I’m afraid, but it was good food.” Moke had picked up a piece of rock and was rubbing it with his finger. He said, “Look, Hihi, it’s soft outside just like dust, but it’s hard inside. I suppose that’s why it’s called rotten rock.” - “I expect so,” replied Hihi, “although rotten is perhaps not the right term. Once it was mud, now the action of the air and weather is simply turning it back into dust and mud. The real name of that rock is greywacke, and nearly all these hills are made of greywacke, although there is also a little argillite.” “Please tell me how these great hills were made from mud,” asked Moke. “I wasn’t here then,” replied Hihi, “but I know how they were made, and I will try to explain.” There was rather a long silence. Moke watched a harrier hawk - come gliding over the next spur. When it saw him and swerved sharply away, he was wondering what had happened. Then Hihi spoke again. “Moke, I have a much more vivid imagination than you have. When I think of something I can see what I am thinking about. Now if you will not be frightened I will try to let you see through my eyes. Remember, you can’t get hurt, you will simply be seeing through my eyes —would you like that?” .

“Yes, please,” said Moke, “that will be great fun.” “Very well,” replied Hihi. Now these hills were formed ever so many million years ago, and I shall have to go back to the very beginning and search for the right period. There was a time when there was no life. Her voice grew faint. It seemed as though the bright sky clouded over, became grey and gradually changed until it grew quite dark. Moke shivered a little and goose flesh came up on his arms and legs, then he remembered Hihi had warned him not to be frightened. There was a bright flash through the darkness, followed by many flashes, great mists with terrible gales of wind seemed to be tearing past as it became lighter, and then torrents of rain poured down. The mists cleared and he saw far down below a black, rugged land with no plants on it and no houses, but steam coming up from many places, and great sheets of water all steaming round the edges; the sky became overcast again, and there were more gales and rain. Great sheets of fire seemed to streak up through it, and then the sky once again cleared, and Moke seemed to be on the edge of a great lake. There were no plants, but the water seemed to have life in it, and as Moke looked he could see also there was mossy-looking stuff on the rocks.

So it seemed to get alternately dark and light for a long time. Strangely enough,, he remembered the horse trough and he thought the green stuff on the rocks looked like the green stuff he had cleaned from the water in the trough. Sometimes he could see into the water and he saw jellyfish, worms, shellfish, seaweeds. Then he was back on land and now there were plants in the bogs, and ferns in the damp gullies. He saw huge geysers spouting steam, and masses of lava welling up from volcanoes. Sometimes there were dreadful noises and the whole earth seemed to be shaking, then he saw the sea with fish in it, and the land covered with large ferns. These passed and Moke saw creeping and waddling things which were neither fish nor animals. (They were, in fact, amphibians.— Ed.) He saw much greater ferns covering the earth, huge insects and spiders, great swordfish and enormous things with large flippers and giraffe-like necks swimming in the water. He saw great alligators and other strange creatures. Some of them were . very

large indeed. They were flying through the air. He saw one which seemed to be flying straight for him; it had a long tail, a body like a plucked fowl, but enormously bigger, leathery wings and a great beak filled with wicked teeth. He was frightened now and he jumpedthe picture faded back into grey mist and he heard Hihi whisper, “Steady, Moke, we are almost there.” (To be continued.) Editorial Notes. — Bracken fern (JPteridium esculentum') is one of the most common of all ferns. Clearing the bush created conditions much to its liking, and it is much more common now than in pre-settlement times. The Maori had four chief names for the rhizome (pronounced with silent H), aruhepara, aruhe-papawai, aruhe-whatiwhati, and aruhe-paranui. Hihi’s forecast that Moke would later know some of the invisible powers has been fully justified, in wireless broadcasting, radar, atomic power, magnetic recording tapes, and many wonderful medical discoveriesthings Moke hadn’t even dreamt of when he first met Hihi..