Sleeps Standing: A Story of the Battle of Orakau

by Ihimaera, Witi

  When he started to leave, Patu set up a huge wailing and ran after him.

  ‘You have to stay here, Patu,’ Moetū said.

  But Patu could not understand: ‘But I do it,’ he cried, as if he had proven himself to the older boy.

  And when Moetū was riding the old nag along the valleys and across the hills, he could still hear Patu calling, ‘I do it, I do it, I do it,’ his voice echoing after him.

  4.

  The boarding call is made.

  ‘Time for Simon and Amber to get on the plane,’ I tell Hūhana.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Hūhana says in a shrivelling tone, ‘the plane won’t leave until I tell the pilot he can go.’

  Moetū turned north to Gisborne.

  Te Haa, his brother Mihaere and the few other surviving Rongowhakaata warriors had long since returned, and when they saw Moetū leading the horse they welcomed him with pride and aroha.

  ‘You’ve done your job?’ Te Haa asked. ‘We heard about the boy with all the children, and knew it must be you. We took you to war a lad and look at you now! You come back a man with an old horse … and you also come back a father? That was quick work.’

  ‘I will not let you belittle my horse,’ Moetū answered, and there was such a maturity about him that Te Haa and the men nodded in acceptance. ‘And yes, I do come home with a son.’

  Asleep on the horse was Patu. Moetū had not been able to keep riding north without the little boy, so he had turned back to get him. ‘I will take care of Patu,’ he told Patu’s uncle. ‘I’m going to take him even if you don’t want me to.’

  The uncle could see the ferocity of the gangling boy’s love for Patu and the way that Patu loved the boy back. ‘I can see he will be better off with you,’ he replied.

  As they left, Patu pummelled Moetū angrily: Don’t you leave me again.

  ‘And so life resumed; Ōrākau seemed like a distant dream. But over the passing months, Moetū kept thinking of Kararaina. Then one day …’

  Five months later, the kāinga was going about its daily business putting in maize crops when Moetū became suddenly alert: ‘Someone’s coming!’

  Te Haa had elevated him to one of his lieutenants, a trusted sentry and a scout. Now he crouched down, his rifle at the ready.

  A travelling war party appeared at the edge of the clearing. One minute there had been an impenetrable wall of bush, next minute they stepped through it.

  Did they come in peace?

  Since Te Haa’s return, the situation in Tūranga had worsened between Māori and Pākehā, and also between Kāwanatanga Māori and Kīngitanga Māori. Neutrality was over everywhere. The tribe was not to know that in just over a year’s time they would be fighting against government troops in another siege closer to home: at Waerenga a Hika, in November 1865. From out of that siege would arise another rebel leader, Te Kooti Arikirangi.

  Te Haa alerted Rukupō to the war party. Then the Rongowhakaata chief recognised the leader of the approaching group as it moved towards them through the furrows … and stopped.

  Rewi Manga Maniapoto himself.

  The great chief looked exhausted. After their escape from Ōrākau, he and his people had taken to the bush and were still on the run from pursuing militia. He raised an arm and called out to everyone, ‘Rukupō, e te iwi, greetings.’

  He motioned to a young woman among his party to step forward. It was Kararaina. Then Rewi surveyed the crowd for somebody. When his eyes lighted on Moetū, he gave a grunt of recognition, nodded and called out to the elders:

  ‘This girl is a gift from my people to your people … for him, Sleeps Standing, for his service to my people. She comes of her own volition, as well as the tribe’s.’

  Moetū walked up to Kararaina … but Patu was ahead of him and beat him to her.

  Kararaina crouched down and opened her arms to him. ‘Hello, Patu,’ she said, her eyes filling with tears. ‘You have found a new whānau, eh? I’m looking for one, too.’

  She stood up with Patu in her arms. Moetū reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a red ribbon. ‘Your hair has grown,’ he said.

  He had seen Kararaina let the ribbon fall to the ground in the rua, and had carried it with him ever since.

  Rewi and his people stayed long enough to be fed and given water and provisions.

  Then, all of a sudden, there was a disturbance in the forest to the north; birds in confusion rose into the air.

  ‘We have to go,’ Rewi said.

  Moetū looked at Kararaina. ‘We will create a diversion,’ he told Rewi, ‘a campfire up on a ridge that will attract your pursuers to us.’

  Rewi looked at them both, thank you. Then he grinned, ‘Make babies, plenty of babies.’

  He and his people melted back into the bush.

  ‘They married?’ Simon asks.

  ‘Well, would you leave a pretty girl standing alone in the sunlight?’ I asked. ‘They did make plenty of babies, and they named them after the battle and after people who had been at Ōrākau, so that the memory would live on through their names: Whetū, for instance, Ōrākau, Rewi, Hineatūrama, Kākā … seven in all.’

  ‘Their eldest brother was the little boy, Patu,’ Hūhana adds, threading an arm through mine. ‘And … this is why our family honours Moetū. He and Kararaina were loyal and loving whāngai parents to Patu. They shared a bond of deep love that could never be broken.’

  I look at Hūhana: at this moment I am so grateful that we have each other.

  ‘Our line,’ she tells Simon, ‘comes from Patu.’

  Simon grins, and then he and Amber go running across the tarmac to the plane. Or rather, he runs; she waddles.

  ‘Rewi knew —’ Hūhana calls, ‘he knew that in our children is our future.’

  She threads an arm in mine and says grumpily out loud, to nobody in particular, as we watch the plane take off: ‘But they’ll have to be a bit better than this lot.’

  Simon’s cuzzie bros are on to her, they won’t let Hūhana get away with that. As I’ve said before, our family has a quick wit: ‘We love you too, Kui.’

  MOETŪ

  Hēmi Kelly

  Āwhea tō ure ka riri?

  Āwhea tō ure ka tora?

  Ā, ko te tai ka wīwī,

  Ā, ko te tai ka wawā —

  Te Wāhanga Tuatahi

  He ingoa i kitea i ngā pepa hōia

  1.

  Kua tōia atu te kōpapa e Haimona ki te wai kia puta ai māua ki te hī ika.

  He tamaiti pai ia, e kore koe e mahara ake ko mātou mātou, inā kē te tāroaroa me te pakaua o te tangata rā. Ko ōna mata, kikorangi mai ana, ko tōna uru māwhatu, kākaka mai ana. Waihoki he kiritea, manohi anō mātou, mangumangu ake nei. Ka hīkoi haere ana mātou i Tūranga, ka tumeke mai ōna huānga ka tūtaki ki a ia. Hei aha koa tōna āhua, he tamaiti atamai ia. ‘Te āhua nei he tangata kawe reta tō te whānau,’ ka mene ōna pāpāringa. ‘Ā, ko tāna i kawe mai ai i nuku noa atu i te reta.’

  Kia unu ia i tana hāte, anana, mā tonu te kiri me te hukarere, inamata, kua pā te reo o tētehi: ‘E tā, whakaketongia te rama.’

  Hei tāpiri atu ki tēnā, nō Ahitereiria anō te reo. Ko tōna pai, kore rawa atu nei ia e pāmamae, ahakoa ngā whakatoi a ētehi.

  Nā te tangi o te reo i mōhio ai au nō whea mai i tō rāua putanga mai ko tana wahine ki tōku whare. Titiro atu ana, titiro ana mai me te whakaaro ake, He aha oti te tamaiti Pākehā nei me tana wahine e puku mai ana e pātōtō mai nei i taku kūaha?

  Kātahi ia ka ui mai, ‘Ko koe rānei a Pāpā Rua?’

  I tērā, mōhio tonu atu au nō te kāwai pea tēnei i riro ki Ahitereiria; he mokopuna pea nā Wiremu. I Te Ope Kātua i Mareia te tuakana o taku matua, ā, nōna e hoki mai ana ki te kāinga ka peka ia ki Te Urupū, ka noho tonu atu, ka kuhu ki te iwi o reira e karangahia ana e mātou ko Ngāti Kangarū.

  E hia kē nei ngā tau ki muri? Nō te takiwā o ngā tau o te ono tekau.

  Kātahi a Haimona ka kī mai, ‘He take tāku ki te whānau i hoki
mai ai au ki Aotearoa.’

  Tōna tikanga, e noho ana a Haimona rāua ko Amber i tētehi mōtēra pātata tonu ki te one i Waikanae, i Tūranga, engari nāku rāua i tiki i taua rangi tonu, ā, kei tō mātou taha tonu e noho ana i runga i tō mātou whenua. Kia rawe hoki tā mātou hari haere i a rāua ki ō Haimona marae me ngā haere anō i te taha o te kapa haka. He tau a Haimona ki te haka, engari kei te rārangi o muri ia e tū ana. Kia pēnei noa te kōrero, kāore i pērā rawa te roa ōna i te umu. Kua whakamātau anō a Amber i te poi, engari he uaua i te kukunetanga mai o tana puku.

  Āpōpō hoki atu ai rāua ki Ahitereiria, he kaimahi a Haimona i ngā rua kerikeri o reira, ā, ki te roa iti atu te noho mai ka whererei mai tā rāua tamaiti ki konei. Kua mātaitia tōna puku e te tākuta, he tamaiti tāne tā rāua. Nō te iwi taketake o Waanji o Carpentaria a Amber, ā, ka hono ō māua iwi i tā mātou tamaiti.

  Kāore anō a Haimona kia kōrero mai i tana take.

  I a māua e noho ana i runga i te kōpapa, e whiti ana te rā, e kānapanapa mai ana te wai, e rōnaki mai ana te whenua i uta. Kātahi a Haimoana ka kōrero mai i tana take.

  ‘Ahakoa kāore au i tupu mai i te ao Māori,’ e tapepa ana te arero, ‘ā, kāore hoki au e tino mōhio ana ki tōku whakapapa, kua tūpono atu au ki tētehi ingoa i ngā pepa hōia a taku koroua, me te aha, e pīrangi ana māua ko Amber kia tapaina tā māua tamaiti ko Moetū.’

  I taua wā tonu, ka wero mai ngā tara o te rā i aku mata, ka rewha. Ka noho au, ka whakaaro. ‘Nō reira, e hiahia ana koe ki te tapa i tāu tamaiti ki te ingoa o Moetū?’

  ‘He aha te tikanga o tēnei ingoa?’

  ‘He ingoa karanga tērā nō tō tupuna. Ko tōna ingoa, ko Moetū-whakaaraara. Tekau mā ono noa iho te kaumātua o Moetū i te tapahanga ōna ki tērā ingoa. I taua wā, i waenganui i te tau 1850 me te tau 1870, i te whawhai ia ki ngā hōia Pākehā. Ka pūpahi ana tōna ope, ka whakamahia a Moetū e ngā pakeke hei tūtei pō; nā rātou ia i whakanoho ki tērā tūranga he pūkenga nōna ki te whakaaraara i te hopuni kia wawe ai tā rātou whakatakupe kia rere anō rātou ki roto i te ngahere. Engari ehara tērā i te take i ara ai tōna ingoa.’

  ‘He aha kē atu anō?’

  Ka tohu au i a ‘Mona ki te whakatere i te waka. ‘Kia hoki tāua ki uta, māku koe e hari ki te tāone kia kōrero ai kōrua ko tō kuia, ko Hūhana. E tika ana māna koe e kōrero mō Moetū.’

  Te Wāhanga Tuarua

  Te ope o Rongowhakaata

  1.

  Ko Hūhana taku tuahine, he kaumātua ake i a au. He kaiāwhina ia i te kōhanga reo; kua puta atu tōna rongo i reira hei kuia ngāwari, hei kuia atawhai — he aha hoki. Kei Mangapapa ia e noho ana, kei te takiwā o Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa.

  Whakatū kau anō au i te waka, kua huri tonu mai te ihu o kuia ki te whātaretare ki muri. ‘E tā! Kua hoki kirihaunga mai? Tō koretake hoki.’

  Hoki rawa mai ia i te kōhanga reo, ko Hūhana te mutunga kē mai o te whakatuanui, o te ngutu komekome me te waha papā.

  ‘Āe, kia ora anō koe, Tuahine.’

  Ka awhiawhi ia i a Haimona. He mea whakapuhi nāna tā mātou mokopuna nō Ahitereiria. I tōna taenga mai ka mea ia. ‘Mōhio tonu atu au ko tāua tāua. Mei kore ake ahau.’

  Kātahi rā! He poto noa iho a Hūhana, he māretireti, he mangumangu hoki, engari anō a Haimona. Ka aroha hoki tā te kuia kāpō i kite ai.

  ‘E hoki ana koe?’ tāna ki a Haimona. ‘Kāore rānei koe i kīia atu ka tae au ki te whakangahau ka tū ki te hōtēra?’

  Ka titiro atu au ki a ia. ‘Kei te hiahia a ‘Mona ki te rongo i ngā kōrero mō Moetū, ā, kāore noa e riwha i te pō nei.’

  Ka ngū te waha o kuia.

  ‘Kāti, kuhu mai,’ tana kī mai.

  He roimata rānei ērā? He aha hoki, me tino uaua ka heke he roimata i a Hūhana.

  Ka haria mātou e ia ki te rūma noho, kei reira e whākana mai ana tana pīki pouaka whakaata hei mātakitaki i ngā kapa haka i runga i a Whakaata Māori; he mea hoko nāna i runga i te whakaaro ka ngaro ngā kaihaka kei ngā taha o te kapa i te punua pouaka whakaata. E mātakitaki whutupōro ana a Wally, tōna hoa rangatira, ka mapu a koroua i tō mātou kuhunga atu. I mua i tana putanga ki waho ka rēkoata ia i tana kēmu.

  ‘Māu e karakia,’ tā Hūhana mai ki a au. Ka manana ngā mata o Haimona: me kōrero nui e tīmata ai ki te karakia.

  Ka tīmata a Hūhana. ‘He nui te koa o taku ngākau, e ‘Mona, mō kōrua e hiahia nei ki te tapa i tā tātou tamaiti ki te ingoa o tō tātou tupuna, o Moetū. Kia whānau mai, anei ngā kōrero hei oriori atu māu kia whakahīhī ai ia i tōna ingoa, kia mōhio hoki ia ki te hiranga o Moetū ki tō tātou whānau. He kōrero tēnei mō te pakanga i Ōrākau—’

  ‘Ōrākau te pakanga i whawhaitia ai e Rewi Maniapoto me tōna iwi?’ Ka pātai a Haimona. ‘I tūpono au ki tētehi kōrero i ngā pepa a Koro Wiremu. He aha te pānga o te tū whakamutunga a Rewi me Ngāti Maniapoto ki a tātou?’

  Ka ongaonga ngā taringa o Hūhana i te Ahitereiria mārire o te whakahua a Haimona: Oh-ra-cow. ‘He tika,’ ka mea atu ia, ‘ko Rewi tonu te rangatira o tōna iwi. Engari he rangatira anō nō iwi kē i haere ki te tuarā i a Rewi, ā, i haere i ō rātou taha ngā toa me ngā tohunga. Kia mahara tāua, ko ētehi o ngā tāngata i tae ki Ōrākau nō ngā kāwai pūwhewhero o te motu.’

  ‘Ko Wī Karamoa tētehi nō Waikato,’ ka tumeke a Hūhana i taku kōrero — ehara i te mea nōna anahe ngā taringa i te areare ki ngā kōrero a tō mātou pāpā. ‘Ko ia tētehi o ngā kaikauwhau i te rongopai i roto i te pā. I reira hoki a Te Paerata me āna tama tokorua nō Ngāti Raukawa, ā, i tae hoki a Te Rangihirawea nō Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Kotahi rau i heke mai i Te Urewera, ko Paitini Wī Tāpeka tētehi o ngā rangatira o te tira nō Ruatāhuna. Nō Waikaremoana, ko Te Waru me tana apataki.’

  Ka karukaru mai a Hūhana: Ko wai rānei kei te taki i te kōrero, ko ‘hau, ko koe rānei?

  ‘I reira anō—’

  Ko tōna rite ko te kererū ka tīraha ki runga tōna uma i te whakatarapī.

  ‘—tētehi ope tauā iti nō Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa, he mea tuku rātou e tō tātou rangatira o Rongowhakaata, e Raharuhi Rukupō …’

  2.

  I taku rongonga i te ingoa o Rukupō, ka wawara mai te reo o taku pāpā i aku taringa:

  E Rua, whakarongo mai.

  He tohunga whakairo a Rukupō, koinā te hautanga o tōna rongo. I tōna ohinga i āwhina ia ki te whakairo i a Kaitangata, i te wharenui kei te motu o Mana, ā, i whai wāhi anō ia ki Te Toka-a-Tāpiri, ki te waka tauā nui i takohatia ki a Ngāpuhi. Engari, ko te puhikaioreore o āna mahi katoa ko Te Hau-ki-Tūranga, ko te mōrehu whare o te motu i hangā mai i te tau 1842.

  Nā, ko Rukupō te kākākura o Rongowhakaata i ngā tau i taututetute ai te iwi ki te Pākehā, pēnei i a Ngāti Maniapoto. Ko te rerekētanga, i pōhēhē mātou o Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa ka haupapa tonu tā mātou noho, ā, kāore e tae mai te riri ki konei. ‘Hei aha atu mā tātou ngā mahi a ētehi atu iwi,’ te kōrero a ngā kaumātua i taua wā, ‘kia mau te rongo.’

  I aua tau, i kaha tonu te tauhokohoko i waenganui i a Rongowhakaata me ngā Pākehā o te rohe. Kua puta hoki mātou ki waho, ki te mākete nui i Tāmaki-makau-rau, hokohoko atu ai i ngā hua o te whenua nei. He witi, he kānga, he rīwai, he riki, he hipi, he kau, he poaka, he manu anō ngā kai i hokona atu, ā, he autaia hoki ngā utu. E tutuki ai tēnei he waka ō mātou. E whā ngā kaipuke rewa rua, he kaipuke rewa tahi, he waka kē atu anō hoki nā te iwi tonu i whakatere. Ko Te Raaka te waka tere, ā, he pērā anō a Adah rāua ko Te Kūini. He waka anō i whakamahia e te iwi, ko Whitipaea rāua ko Ruawhētuki. Ko mātou anō ō mātou rangatira i taua wā; nā mātou anō ngā utu i whakarite, i ōna wā i hokohoko ngā tūpuna i runga tonu i te wāpu, ā, ka whakaekea ngā utu e rātou kia rite tonu ki ērā i te mākete o Tāmaki. Kāore te Pākehā i tiketike ake i a mātou, i te taumata kotahi tonu mātou me te Pākehā e tauhokohoko ana.

  Engari kīhai i taro, ka huripoki te ao o ngā tūpuna. E ai ki taku pāpā, i tū tētehi hui nui whakaharahara i te marama o Paengawhāwhā, i te tau 1863 — kotahi tau i mua i te pakanga i Ōrāka
u — he whakanui i te whakatapunga o te whare karakia Mihingare Māori o Whakatō, nā Rukupō anō taua whare i whakairo.

  ‘He nui ngā iwi i haere mai’, i mea a Pāpā, ‘i eke mai a Maniapoto, a Waikato me ngā kanohi o te Kīngitanga ki runga i te marae, ā, i haria mai e rātou te kara o te Kīngi. I hari mai anō ngā iwi o Tauranga me Te Wairoa i te kara o te Kīngi. Ko te tono ki a Rongowhakaata kia uru hoki tātou ki te huihuinga o ngā iwi e ātete ana i te Karauna.

  Ka whakahokia atu te tono a ngā pononga o te Kīngitanga, me te kī ake, ahakoa he nui te aroha ki te kaupapa, kāore ngā tūpuna i hiahia ki te wewete i te rongomau. Nā, i runga hoki i te kaupapa o te rā ka puta tā rātou kupu ki te whakaminenga: Kia kotahi tātou i raro i te rongopai, i raro i te ingoa o Ihu Karaiti.

  Ko te kōrero nui o te hui rā ko te Kāwanatanga ki te Kīngitanga — i hinga i taua rā ko te Kīngitanga. Engari kīhai i roa, ka kiripiro a Rukupō ki te Pākehā. Nā te kaha o ngā mihingare me te Kāwanatanga ki te raupatu i ngā whenua o Tūranga i raru ai ia. Nāna te kōrero, ‘E ngaki atu ana a mua, e toto mai ana a muri.’ Ko te aronga o te kōrero nei, nā ngā mihingare te huarahi i para kia kuhu mai ai te Kāwanatanga ki te muru i ngā whenua. Nāwai i kiripiro ka matakawa te koroua rā ki te Pākehā, ā, ka tahuri ia ki te tuarā i a Maniapoto, i a Waikato me Taranaki anō hoki nā te taenga o ngā pononga o te Paimārire ki a ia. I tana rongonga mō te riri i Waikato — mō te hinganga o Rangiriri me ngā pakanga o mua mai — me te whakaaro anō o Rewi ki te aukati i te whakaeke a ngā hōia, ka mōhio a Rukupō e kore e mau te rongo, ā, ka puta tana kupu.

  ‘Ki te mura tonu te riri i Aotearoa, ka pātuki tonu te aroha ki ō tātou kiriwhanaunga.’

  Ka areare anō aku taringa ki ngā kōrero a Hūhana.

  ‘Nā, ka tae te rongo ki a Rukupō e haere atu ana ētehi atu ki Ōrākau, ka karangahia e ia te iwi kia hui mai. Ka tū ia i runga i te marae ka kōrero i tana take, “E mōhio ana ngā rangatira o ngā iwi ki te hinga a Maniapoto me Waikato i te Pākehā, kāore e roa ka whāia mai hoki ko rātou.” Nō reira, e mau ai te mana o Rongowhakaata ka whakarite ia i tētehi ope tauā iti hei kuhu atu ki te ope o Te Tai Rāwhiti e haere ana ki Ōrākau i raro i a Te Waru mā. Ka taka i a Rukupō tōna whakaaro kia haere ki Ōrākau i runga i te marae hei kōrerotanga mā te iwi. Ka mea ētehi, “E pai ana, tukuna rātou, engari ka ngaro hoki i tō rātou taha te rongo taketake, ā, kāore e roa ka tae mai te riri ki konei.” Ka whakahokia e ia, “Kua tae tonu mai te riri.” Ka pātai anō ētehi, “He aha oti koutou e haere nei ki te mate?” “Kia mau ai te mana.”’