A Warrior's Tale

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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



“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.



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.”



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.”



“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.



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.



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.



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.



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.



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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A Warrior's Tale

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