He Tuna Waiata

Te Ao Hou, March 1968, Page 58

He Tuna Waiata

‘Tanumia, e Rau, kia hōhonu, kei keria ake anō e te kurī nā. Tīkina atu te hō kei roto o te wāhi-whare nā.’ Ka mutu ēnei kōrero a te Minita nei. Ka hoki atu ia ki roto i te whare. Ka mahue iho a Rau ki te mahi i tāna i whakahau ai kia mahia. A Rau he tamaiti Māori. Ka iwa ōna tau. I te teihana mihana o te Rohe Pōtae o Niu Tireni ia e noho ana. Kua mate ōna mātua i a ia anō e nohinohi ana, nā reira ka riro mai ia mā te Minita nei e atawhai. Tino pai a Rau ki ngā tāngata katoa o taua kāinga nei, ā, tukuna ana ia kia haere i ngā wāhi katoa o tō rātou kāinga. Ko tana tino mahi pai he haere ki te hī tuna i tētahi awa i raro tata iho o tō rātou kāinga. I ētahi awatea, e haere ana ia ki te awa o Ongārue, e hia maero te tawhiti. Ka nui hoki te tuna nunui ki reira. I tētahi rā, kātahi tā rātou manu ka mate. Nā, ka tonoa a Rau kia mauria taua manu kia tanumia. Ka mea atu a Rau, ‘Ae, māku e tanu kia hōhonu.’ Ka tango ia i te pēke pepa i roto o tana koti. Ka kohia te manu ki roto, ā, ka haere ia me te pei ki te tanu i te manu nei ki raro atu o te mahinga. E titiro iho ana te Minita nei ki a Rau e haere ana ki te tanu i te manu. ‘Bury it very deep, Rau, in case the dog finds it and tries to dig it up again. You will find the spade in the tool-shed,’ said the Minister, as he walked inside the house, leaving Rau to do his bidding. Rau was a little Maori boy, about nine years of age. He lived at the Mission Station away in the King Country of New Zealand. His parents had died a few years after he was born so he was placed in the special care of the Minister, at the Mission Station, who seemed to take a great interest in him. Rau was very fond of everyone there and he was allowed special privileges about the place. His chief hobby was eel fishing. Every spare moment he had was spent down at the creek not far from the house and when he had a whole afternoon he would go miles up the Ongarue River to try to catch big eels. Thus it came about that this special Saturday afternoon Rau was asked to look in the bird cage and take out a dead canary to bury it. So he took it out of the cage very carefully and put it quickly into a brown paper bag which he pulled from his pocket. ‘Yes, all right, I bury him very deep,’ Rau answered with a big smile and off he went down to the end of the garden. The Minister watched him from the study window striding down towards the orchard, with the spade on his shoulder and the bird in the bag in one hand.

Ka mutu te kai ahiahi, ka haere te Minita me tana hoa wahine ki te parāni i waho o te whare okioki ai. Nā, kua tae mai a Rau. Ka tū i mua i a rāua, me te pēke huka nei i roto o ana ringaringa. A, ka waiho ki raro, he horihori tonu tēnā pēke. Ka mea atu te Minita nei ki a Rau, ‘He aha tāu mea i roto o te pēke huka nei, e Rau?’ He nui te puku kata o Rau i a ia e whakapuare ana i te pēke nei, ā, ka mea atu, ‘He tuna waiata tāku.’ Kātahi ka whakapuaretia te pēke, me te kōkiritanga ake o te tuna nei ki waho. Ka whakahokia anō e Rau ki roto i te pēke, me tana puku kata hoki. Ka mataku te wahine o te Minita nei. A, ka mea atu te Minita, ‘E Rau, he aha koe i mea ai he tuna waiata tēnā? Hore anō ahau i rongo i tēnā mea i te tuna e waiata ana.’ ‘Kāhore, e Minita, e tino mōhio ana ahau he tuna waiata tēnā. Kei roto o tana puku kī tonu i te waiata.’ Ka mea atu hoki te wahine o te Minita nei, ‘Ae, e Rau, ēngari he aha koe i mōhio ai e waiata ana tēnā tuna?’ Ka titiro atu a Rau, ā, ka mea, ‘He tuna waiata tēnā. Nāku hoki te manu waiata rā i kohi ki roto o te pēke nei, ā, ka pangaa e au ki roto o te awa tuna i roto rā. Kāhore kē i tanumia e au. Kātahi ka tomo mai te tuna nui nei ki roto. Nā reira tēnā tuna, kī tonu tana puku i te waiata.’ I wā Rau anō! He tamaiti iti noa iho anō ia. Kāhore he tino mōhiotanga, ēngari he tino tamaiti mōhio ki te hī tuna. Rau waits a long time Late that same afternoon when everyone had finished the evening meal and the Minister and his wife were sitting out in the cool on the side verandah, Rau came towards them with a sugar sack thrown over his back, grasping firmly the top, which was tied with a piece of flax. His face was just one big smile from ear to ear as he came up to the Minister and placed the sack at his feet. ‘Well, Rau, my lad, where have you been all this afternoon since before tea-time and what have you in this sack?’ he was asked. ‘I catch the big tuna for you—he sings, I catch the singing tuna for you, eh?’ Rau almost shouted, by way of explanation. Rau called any kind of eels tuna, and as he spoke he pulled a long brownish eel with black spots on it out of the sack. It tried to wriggle out of Rau's firm grasp, so he then put it back ino the sack and twisted the piece of flax round the top again. Even then the eel twisted inside the sack, so the Minister's wife moved her chair further away. ‘But Rau, I don't understand. There are no singing eels, or at least I haven't heard of any in our rivers. You must be making a mistake, boy.’ ‘No, Minita, he the singing tuna all right, eh? I know,’ insisted Rau. ‘Very well, but how do you know, Rau?’ asked the Minister's wife, who was looking on bewildered. ‘Well, see, I get the sack, see this one, eh, and I put in the bait and some stone and I tie the long string to the sack and I wait a long time, see, and then my tuna he go in the sack and swallow the bait, yes, he swallow it all at one time and I pull the string and pull up the sack before he jump out and the tuna he inside, see eh!’ Rau explained grinning broadly. They listened quietly to Rau's little speech and then the Minister said, ‘Yes, that is very clever of you Rau, but it does not explain how you know it is a singing eel.’ ‘Oh, yes, you see I'—then Rau hesitated as he looked from one to another and then went on—‘Yes, you see he will sing soon because’—and with another big grin, he went on—‘you see, Minita I put the canary who sings you told me to bury, in the sack, yes, and the tuna he swallow him all up, eh, therefore now he the singing tuna, see, eh! Poor Rau was only a very simple little boy as you may guess, but he was a very clever eel-catcher, don't you think?