Roaring Grey

Roaring Grey

Whakaharuru Kiwikiwi

It was the middle of a dark and stormy night. The only sign
Wawana-wai was coming were the faint bubbles appearing on the
water. Uira (lightning) struck, illuminating his dark, raging black
scales. The sailors on the boat didn’t even have time to even yell a
warning before Wawana-wai struck. Within a few minutes the boat
had sunk to the bottom of the awa (river) along with the sailors.

Wawana-wai was cursed over 2 centuries ago. His curse was that he
has to live out the remainder of his life in the Mawheranui River
(Grey River). Wawana-wai spent the first 50 years sleeping, then
when he woke up he was very very very RIRI!! (angry). He couldn’t
believe that he had let himself be cursed to spend the rest of his
life in an awa (river) instead of the glorious moana (sea). He has been
angirly taking out his frustration on passing boats ever since.

One day Wawana-wai was rapidly swimming up and down the river
when his massive grey scaly tail  stuck fast in between two huge
boulders. Wawana-wai furiously tried to pull his tail out but it didn’t
work. He roared in pain as he tried again and again. A group of young
boys were standing directly above Wawana-wai on the old wharf and
heard his ear piercing roar. One of the boys went the edge of the
wooden wharf and slowly peered over the edge and saw Wawana-wai
trapped. He got his friends and they leapt  highly into the indigo water
and swiftly swam over to where Wawana-wai was and tried pulling his
tail out of the rocks. But they weren’t strong enough. Wawana-wai’s
roar was so loud that it shook the earth which moved the massive
boulders which his scaley fat tail was trapped between.

Once Wawana-wai got his tail free he swam away as fast as he could.
He was in shock. Humans could be nice? Wawana-wai didn’t believe it!
He had to go back to the rickety wharf to make sure he wasn’t
imagining everything that had just happened. When he got back
to the jagged wharf sure enough everybody that had tried to help
was sluggishly climbing out of the water now. Wawana-wai slowly
climbed out of the awa and up the massive boulders onto the wharf
and said, “Thank you for trying to help me”.  Everybody’s mouth's fell
tuwhera (open) one of them took a trembling step forward and said,
“Y..y….you c..c..can talk?”, “Yes of course!” Wawana-wai replied and
with that Wawana-wai went and dived into the wai (water).

As Wawana-wai rapidly entered the crisp water he felt a change.
He suddenly had no fury inside of him. His scales had changed from
a dark raging black to a bright, vibrant blue which glistened in the
sunlight. He briskly swam into the (moana) sea. That was the last time
anybody ever saw of him.

-Mackenzie