The Whale Rider (14 page)
Authors: Witi Ihimaera
I wish I could say the book had a rapturous reception, but it
didn’t. There were very few reviews: none in the
New
Zealand Listener
,
Landfall
or any of
the other literary magazines. The University of Auckland Library database lists only
two, including one by Michael King in
Metro
, but I am
sure there must have been a few in regional newspapers, too. However, from 1987 to 1994
the book had a popular audience; it went through three different editions and was
published in a Maori edition in 1995.
Some very fine people worked on the book, including well known
Maori artists John Hovell and John Walsh, who illustrated covers, and Timoti Karetu, who
provided the Maori translation. The only place you could buy the book was in New
Zealand, but somehow people around the world got hold of it, and they would write me
letters. Not until the film,
Whale Rider
, was
released internationally in 2002, however, was the novel successful in securing overseas
publishing interest — in particular, an American edition (2003), in the very
country in which it was written. For that edition I reversioned the novel; and I also
took the opportunity to make one simple but profound change to something that had always
bothered me. In the first edition of 1987 I had given the final blessing on the girl
hero to the ancient bull whale to say. In the second version, I gave the words to the
elderly female whale: ‘Child, your people await you. Return to the kingdom of
Tane and fulfil your destiny.’
The Whale
Rider
now fully affirms the role of the female throughout the natural world
as well as the human one.
Today the first New Zealand hardback edition is worth a lot of
money. Heck, I haven’t even got a copy myself, and I’d be pleased if
you have one I could buy.
Glossary
| ae yes |
| ahau I, me |
| Ahuahu Mercury Island |
| ao world |
| Aotearoa New Zealand |
| aroha love |
| arohanui great love |
| haere travel |
| haka war dance |
| hapuku groper Polyprion oxygeneios |
| haramai come here |
| Hawaiki traditional homeland of the Maori people |
| hine form of address to a girl |
| Hine Nui Te Po Goddess of Death |
| hoa partner, friend |
| hokowhitu war party |
| hongi press noses in greeting |
| huhu beetle grub Prionoplus reticularis |
| hui gathering |
| hui e, haumi e, taiki e ritual incantation: join everything together, bind it together, let it be done |
| ia he, she, him, her |
| ihi power |
| ika fish |
| iwi tribe |
| kaha strength |
| kahawai fish Arripis trutta |
| kai food |
| kainga home |
| karakia prayer |
| karanga call |
| karanga mai call (to someone) |
| katoa all |
| kiwi small flightless bird, native to New Zealand |
| ko wai who? |
| koe you (one person) |
| kohanga nursery |
| koro old man (affectionate) |
| koroua old man |
| koutou you (pl.) |
| kowhaiwhai scroll painting on rafter |
| kuia old woman |
| kuini queen |
| mai here, this direction |
| mako shark Isurus glaucus |
| mana prestige |
| manaaki hospitality |
| manawanui brave |
| manga barracouta Thyrsites atun |
| mango ururoa great white shark Carcharodon carcharias |
| Maori indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand |
| marae communal point of settlement |
| maua we two |
| mauri life principle |
| mihimihi introductory speechmaking |
| moa large flightless bird, now extinct |
| moana sea |
| moe doze, sleep |
| mokemoke lonely |
| moki trumpeter fish Latridopsis spp. |
| moko tattoo |
| mokopuna grandchild; young generation |
| neke shift |
| neke neke tighten up |
| nga the (pl.) |
| Ngati people of … |
| noho remain |
| nui big |
| ope expedition |
| ora alive; well, healthy |
| pae kare by golly! |
| pai quality; good |
| paka bugger |
| Pakeha non-Maori |
| paua shellfish Haliotis spp. |
| piki climb |
| pito birth cord |
| piupiu flax skirt |
| pohutukawa red-flowering native tree Metrosideros excelsa |
| pounamu greenstone |
| poutama steps |
| Poututerangi star Altair |
| puawaitanga blossoming |
| putiputi flower |
| ra sun |
| rangatira noble |
| rangi sky |
| Rawheoro site of traditional East Coast carving school |
| rawhiti east |
| Rehua star Antares |
| reo speech |
| Rotorua a city in the Bay of Plenty |
| runga upwards |
| taiaha long club |
| taku my (one item) |
| tama boy |
| tamahine girl |
| tamariki children |
| tamure fish Pagrasomus auratus |
| Tane god of man |
| Tangaroa guardian of the sea |
| tangata person (either sex) |
| tangi mourn |
| taniwha water monster |
| tapu sacred |
| tarawhai stingray |
| tatou us (including the one spoken to) |
| tautoko to support |
| Tawhirimatea god of winds and storm |
| tawhiti distance |
| te the (sing.) |
| te mea te mea yeah, yeah |
| Te Pito o te Whenua the Polynesian name for Easter Island |
| Te Whiti Te Ra The Pathway of the Sun |
| tekoteko carved figure on a house |
| tena that (near you) |
| tenei this |
| tipua guardian spirit |
| tipuna ancestor |
| titiro look |
| toa warrior |
| tohora southern right whale Baelena glacialis australis |
| tohu emblem, sign |
| tohunga specialist, especially artist or priest |
| toia drag |
| tomo enter |
| tomo mai join us |
| tu stand |
| tuahine sister, female cousin (of a male) |
| Tuamotu East Polynesian archipelago |
| tuatara ancient reptile Sphenodon punctatus |
| waenganui in the middle |
| wahine woman |
| wai water |
| waiata song poem |
| waka canoe |
| wananga seminar |
| warehou fish Seriolelle brama |
| weka woodhen Gallirallus australis |
| whaiaipo sweetheart |
| whakapapa genealogy |
| whakarongo listen |
| whakatane like a man (a woman) |
| whanau extended family |
| whare kai dining room |
| whare house |
| Whatonga East Coast ancestor |
| wheke octopus O. maorum |
| whenua ground |
| Whironui ancestor |
About the author
Witi Ihimaera was born in Gisborne, New Zealand, in 1944.
He was a pioneer of Maori writing in English: the short-story collection
Pounamu Pounamu
(1972) was
followed by
Tangi
(1973), the first novel by
a Maori. His works include novels, short-story collections, children’s
books, plays and numerous anthologies.
The Whale
Rider
has been made into a successful international film, which won
the Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award in 2002. Ihimaera is a
professor of English at the University of Auckland, teaching creative writing
and indigenous literature.
