An Excerpt from Chapter One:
“Grandpa?”
Temaru asked as he knocked on the door of his grandfather’s small hut...
“What
is it, my boy?”
“I’ve
been out exploring the island again,” Temaru explained. “I finally found
something new I haven’t seen before. I wondered if you knew about it.”
“I’m
sure I do,” Herenui replied. “What did you find? Another sea cave, a
waterfall?”
“No.
Something interesting in a grove of plumeria trees.”
Herenui’s
eyes widened as he sat up and looked into his grandson’s face. “So, you have
been to the grove of Plumerias and Ferns, the Meliaʻaʻtuptupu, have you?
“Yeah,
that grove near the marae of Taʻaroa-tapu you have taken me to. But we have
never gone inside the grove before. Guess what I found in there?”
“Hmmm,
let me guess,” Herenui proceeded carefully. “A lot of ferns, old branches and a
big flat rock?”
“Yes…”
Temaru responded, waiting for more.
“And
you found the old Kanaloa Tiki, laying on its side, near the rock, under
several branches. Not many well preserved tiki left around here. Yes, that is a
great thing to find.”
“Yes,
and…” Temaru paused. “So, you must have been there, or how would you know that
it was laying on its side, underneath branches?”
“Because
I laid it there and covered it up several years ago, to hide it from the
curious and untrustworthy people raiding rocks from the marae. There are many
here who don’t understand their heritage and have lost respect for the kapu, those things considered sacred.”
“Yes,
Grandpa, it was great to find this old tiki. But that’s not the most exciting
part. Come out on the porch, Grandpa. Come see what I found.”
Normally
fairly slow in getting up and moving around, Herenui now displayed an unusual
amount of agility. No, he couldn’t have.
Or did he? Herenui wondered.
To find out what Temaru found, read the book Huaka'i: The Lost Legends of Kanaloa, available in Kindle or paperback formats at Amazon.com.
