“Oh Lord Tane, most of your great forest has gone, the land has gone, and man whom you created has changed the order of things. Please bring to man the understanding that he needs to save himself and his world.”
The sky began to lighten, the sun’s first rays shimmering across the dome of Heaven. Then it struck the twin mountains.
Birdsong. The mara o Tane.
The birds of the forest strained their throats in celebration. The wild music was like small bells. The sounds, pure and full like those of a glass harmonica, rose in a crescendo of sweetness. It was a melodious chorus. A triumphal ode. A hymnal to Tane. A gloria to light.
Hoki flew back and landed on Bella’s head. “Oh, I’m going to ruin your reputation now!” she carolled. “The first time we go down to Tuapa I’m going with you. Everybody will say, ‘Look at that Maori lady with the bird on her head!’”
The birdsong swelled with indescribable beauty.
The dawn flooded across the sky.
About the author
Witi Ihimaera is descended from Te Wha-nau A Kai, Te Aitanga A Mahaki, Rongowhakaata and Ngati Porou tribes and has close affiliations with other Maori tribes.
His novels include The Uncle’s Story, the award-winning The Matriarch, winner of the Wattie/Montana Book of the Year Award in 1986 and its sequel, The Dream Swimmer. He has won the Wattie/Montana on two other occasions — for Tangi in 1974 and Bulibasha, King of the Gypsies in 1995. His other fiction includes Pounamu, Pounamu, Whanau, The New Net Goes Fishing, The Whale Rider, Dear Miss Mansfield, Kingfisher Come Home and Nights In The Gardens of Spain. Ihimaera has also edited a major five-volume collection of new Maori fiction and non-fiction, called the Te Ao Marama series. His first play, Woman Far Walking, premiered in 2000 at the International Festival of Arts, Wellington. He was associate producer on the film Whale Rider, which premiered to international acclaim in 2003. Sky Dancer is his ninth novel.
Ihimaera is a former diplomat who has served with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Canberra, New York and Washington. He now lives in Auckland and lectures in the English Department at the University of Auckland, specialising in creative writing and the literatures of New Zealand and the South Pacific.