a warrior's tale
TRANSCRIPT
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A WArrior’s TAle
The QuesT for The
MAnuTArA egg
“ All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream
by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in
the day to nd that it was vanity: but the dreamers of
the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their
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“All men dream, but not equally.Those who dream by night in the
dusty recesses of their minds, wakein the day to find that it was vanity:
but the dreamers of the day aredangerous men, for they may act ontheir dreams with open eyes, to make
them possible.”
Thomas E. Lawrence
Almost every young manin Rapa-nui dreams of
becoming a warrior. Hereis the story of one.
This is the story of Keva - ayoung man from the Miru tribe
who dreams of becoming awarrior - a dream his father
was not able to realise.
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Training was early, hard andfurious for Keva for as young
as 12 he was already putthrough rigorous training by
his father.
“Tomorrow is your bigday Keva - where boyswill become men and
men become warriors.Tomorrow signals thecoming of the MamariManutara. Stay alert
and focus - I know youcan do it.”
“Thanks father. Iknow I am ready,physically but
mentally …”“I know the feelingKeva - but the mindis the most power-
ful weapon - I foundout the hard way. I
had succumbed to thisweakness and I hadfailed in my quest.”
“I will try my best so asnot to failyou father.”
“No son - youmust not fail
yourself.”
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The Mamari Manutara ritual is anannual event where the bravest
from every tribe on Rapa-Nui needto go through if they want to
become a warrior.
“Your quest is to bring backan egg of the sacred Manutarabirds - only the rare azure-coloured eggs. In this quest
every man is for himself. Apart
from competing against menfrom your own tribe, you needto face challenges from the
other tribes as well. Competi-tion is fierce - most of the time,
greed rules over everythingelse.”
The journey to retrieve the eggsis a treacherous one. Pitfalls aremany and dangers lurk everywhere.To get the eggs, they need to go toany of the three islands where the
sacred birds lay their eggs. Each ofthe islands has its own perils and
pitfalls.
The farthest island is Motu Nui. Herethere are wildcats, quicksand, ven-
omous reptiles and amphibians. Thenesting ground can only be foundin a sea cave near its eastern shore.The only way to enter the cave is by climbing the vines overhanging the
cave’s entrance. The cave’s entrancecan only be seen when the sea level
recedes.
Half way between the shore and theisland of Motu Nui is Motu Iti. MotuIti is less treacherous than Motu
Nui and the nests are scattered onthe beach area. But legend says
Motu Iti is home to a mythologicalanimal, the Drajin - a half-man-halfdragon creature. No one has really
seen this creature, but until now,not one who came back, were from
that island.
The nearest island isMotu Kao-Kao - a rocky vertical island. The nestsare at the highest pointof the island. The only
way to reach the nestingground is to climb up
the steep rocky slopes.One mistake, they willbe doomed to a rocky death as jagged rockformation surrounds
the slope.
“The waters surrounding
the islands are shark-infested but they are theleast to be feared. The
most feared are the seagypsies. They are vicious
and legends say they can bite a man’s head offwhile still in the water.Many headless bodies
have been washed ashore.Each of you will be givenonly three things - pora,
a leather pouch and agolok.”
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“Once you have retrieved the egg,secure it safely in the pouch
given to you. It is best to hangthe pouch around your neck. Re-member only intact eggs will becounted. I wish you all the best
and all the luck. The start signalfor the quest is the arrival ofthe sacred manutara bird. Whenyou see this sign, you may begin
your quest.”
Slightly after dusk, a flock ofbirds can be seen in flight over the
sky. The quest has begun …
Some of the men started their descentto the sea while others, including Keva,waited. They were waiting until the sunsets. Keva’s father had advised him it isbetter to swim at night where the dark-ness will act as a shroud against thesea gypsies. When the last light disap-
peared, Keva made his descent to the sea.
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The water was choppy and cold. Trueenough, as what his father had said,
he felt safe swimming in the dark.However his eyes were always wary - darting left, right, front and back
looking for signs of danger.
Keva made his way to the farthestisland - the island of Motu Nui.
After a grueling six-hour swim, hereached the island. Though still
exhausted, Keva made his way to theisland’s eastern shore where the
nests were.
The cave’s entrance was steeperthan he had imagined. The full moonwas a good omen as the entranceto the cave was seen clearly. Kevatimed his descent with the flow of
the sea water. Inside the cave, it waspitch dark but with every drop of
the sea level, the moonlight is ableto shine into the cave. He grappledto get a grip of the rock ledges
knowing that with one slip, he couldfall into the sea and he will need to
make the exhausting ascent again.
Slowly he managed to reach thenests and after searching the
nests, he found the azure egg. Itwas glowing and looked majestic.
With great care he put the egg in thepouch but not before wrapping itwith a cloth and tied it around his
neck. Once secured, he made his way to the exit.
Before he could make his way through the exit, he felt a sharppain to his head. He turned andsaw a man from the rival tribeof Tupahotu. The man gave him a
cynical smile.
“I willtake this.”
“NOOOOOO!”
Instinctively he reached outfor the pouch around his
neck. The egg was still intact.He felt relieved.
Perhaps he was still on Motu Nuibut the terrain looked somewhatdifferent. Keva saw a hill in thedistance. “Perhaps with height, I
can see where I am,” he thought tohimself. Wearily, he made his way
through the dense jungle towardsthe hill.
Keva woke up finding him-self wedged in between
some rocks. The sunshone mercilessly on his
face. His pora had pre-vented him from drowning.Blood trickled down hisforehead. He realized hehad been hit in the head.
He stood up and tried tofigure where he was. He
walked inland away fromthe beach area. Except fora few sea birds, the island
was inhabited.
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He turned around torun but one of them was
already behind him.
He was forced to lie on the stone table and tieddown. He realized now why there was blood allover. It was a place for sacrifice of some sort.
Keva was rooted. The bigger-sizedmen came close to him and tried tograb his hand. Keva pulled his armand fled, clutching his pouch tight.
But there were too many of them,he was overpowered and was led
back to where the statue was.
At the top of the hill hewas amazed by what he
saw. It was the ruins ofan ancient temple.
The place was deserted.Not even the sound
of insects was heard.It gave him the chills.He walked up the long
steep steps. Dried bloodwas everywhere. At the
top was a quadrangulararea. At the centre hecould see there wereonly a pedestal and a
stone table.
Closer, perched highup on a pedestal was
the sculpture of acreature. It was themost hideous thing
he had ever seen. Buton its forehead he
could see, embeddedan azure-coloured
stone.
The place was deserted. Then he heardfootsteps. The sound became louder and
he saw a group of people walking to-wards him. The tallest is not higher than
his shoulder. They were covered in mud buttheir facial expression was that of anger
and vengeance.
It dawned uponhim he was onthe island ofMotu Iti and
the creature instone was the
Drajin. His eyesdarted left and
right.
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He ran as fast as he coulddown the steep steps. Atthe foot of the temple,
he turned around. He sawstreams of bodies com-
ing down the steps. He raninto the jungle and headed
towards the sea.
Even though he wasvery exhausted, he
swam further. He felt asharp pain on his back
and passed out.
Finally, he was able to open his eyes. Hecould see two persons staring at him,the lady stood closely behind the man.Keva was on some sort of a floating
colony.
From the cliff he jumped intothe sea and swam as fast as
he could away from the shore.He stopped for a while due to
exhaustion. At the shore hecould see the men but none ofthem went after him.
Suddenly he heardsplashing sound, and
realized they wereshooting arrows to-
wards him.
Keva tried to open his eyes but theintense sunlight forced him to shutthem again. He could still feel the
sharp pain. He tried to open his eyesagain. He could see two blurry
figures.
He felt a coolrefreshing
sensation downhis throat - the
water tastedsweet.
Keva struggled but it wasfutile. The priest reached
out for the pouch aroundKeva’s neck. Keva struggledharder to break free, the
ropes loosened a bit but hewas too weak to strugglefurther. The priest opened
the pouch.
All of a sudden the priest fellto his knees and trembled. Kevacould see the terrible shock
on his face.
He placed the egg slowly onto the ground and lay
prostate. The others fol-lowed his action. The suddenopportunity gave him the extra
strength to break free.
Once freed, in lightning
speed, Keva picked up theegg and fled.
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Keva carved a worried look. He be-gan to recall what was said by the
Chief Warrior about the sea gypsies.He wanted to run away but his body was weak. Deun gave him more waterand something to eat. Her kind ges-ture somewhat diminished his initial
thoughts about the sea gypsies.Suddenly Keva remembered
about his pouch. It was gone.He searched frantically forit but it was nowhere to beseen. Keva then gave Kheuna sharp look and gesturedto him by touching his neck.Kheun did not understand
what Keva meant. There wasa deep feeling of anguish inKeva’s heart - after all the
hard work, he now had to re-turn empty-handed. Then Deunproduced Keva’s pouch, poraand golok from basket. Kevalooked into pouch. The egg
was still there to his relief.
Keva went on to stay with the gypsiesfor two more nights. Keva found outthat Kheun and Deun are siblings. He
learnt many things about the seagypsies - their way of life - fromher. He found out that sea gypsiesstayed on a floating colony. Thecolony is a complex network of
many rafts joined together to formone huge floating land mass.
Besides fishing, the amazing thing isfarming and agricultural activities
took place on the colony. Fertile soilis brought to the colony together with
clean water from the mainland. Rain-water is collected in mini reservoirsfound in gaps between the rafts to
supplement the fresh water.
Everyday there will be anavigator in charge who
will make sure the colony does not stray too near
the shore or reefs.
They have a sail system to change thecourse - just like a ship. There are about100 families living on the colony. To pre-vent the colony from sinking, special kindof wood as well as millions of coconut
husks were bundled below the rafts.
The man gestured Keva to look at hisback. He could feel the bandage. Theman then showed Keva an arrow. Kevarealized that he had been hit by thearrow. The man then introduced him-self as Kheun and the lady as Deun.Keva realized they were sea gypsies.
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When Keva reached the place ofassembly for those successful,there was only his father. They
embraced and a warrior was born.
Keva soon got better and itwas time to leave. He bade
Deun farewell. He then wentinside a small canoe where
Kheun was waiting.
They paddled away towardsRapa-Nui. Before reaching the
shore, Keva thanked Kheun foreverything. He then slipped intothe water and swam towards
the shore.
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