This is the narrative Harmony, Anthony and Gerry have worked on this term. It has been entered into the Young Authors Challenge

Taniwha To The Rescue!!!

On a normal Hokianga day, a father John and his two sons, Arama and Hohepa, were  fishing. They were fishing in the Hokianga Harbour. There were two taniwha. On the left there was the  taniwha, Arai-Te Uru in the huge cliff. On the right side there was Niniwa. Niniwa is a big sand-dune. If you look out to the sand-dune you can see that its big, golden colour. According to legend, in the middle of the two heads you will sometimes see choppy waves. That is the mouth of the harbour, and to get across you would have to say a special karakia.

“Dad the water looks delicious don’t you think? It is really really hot .  I’m dying to have a swim. Can we please go for a swim?” asked Arama using his cutest face. “The chances are higher if we all fish at the same time.” John replied So they put some more bait on their lines and kept fishing. After a few minutes dad had caught a fish but…something very strange started happening. As he was tugging at his fishing rod he had spotted the boat going backwards on the sea. Quickly,   he looked at his children and then looked back.  He glanced back and forward as he tried to think but it still didn’t come to his head…

There was one huge killer tsunami coming their way! While Arama and Hohepa  were in the middle of of having fun they heard thunder crashing and saw the big wave. "Hold on boys!!” yelled John. “Hurry, before you die like your mother did in the other tsunami when you boys  were 3” yelled dad with urgency. BRMMM!!! screamed the boat, it was on full steam and they still wouldn’t move “Dad, what is this?!” screamed the boys. “Pray to God, quick!!” rushed John. “Hi there God we would like you to wake up the two taniwha and tell them to bring us to shore and please stop the tsunami and save the lovely life we all have please, please, please.” prayed the two boys.  

Eventually they got closer to shore. With a huge rumble the taniwha coming together! There was a rumble and a crack and the cliff on the left and the sand dune on the right extended and came together. Arama and Hohepa couldn’t believe their eyes when the two taniwha came together. “Whoa, that was cool." They said as they looked in astonishment.

Just then it happened, the huge wave hit the taniwha cliffs. “That was lifesaving” the two boys said in astonishment. As it hit the closed heads the boys noticed they were moved out a bit further. “Can you see that?" said Arama to Hohepa. One big layer of wave still overflowed into the Hokianga harbour.

Then when the tidal wave flowed back out to sea, the two taniwha opened back up and went to where they were before.  Life turned back to normal again, until the next natural disaster...