Whale Rider

Kahu moves along the massive body of the whale, fighting against the crashing waves. Then she starts singing to the whale. She tells it that she is coming to it, and that she is Kahu, Ko Kahutia Te Rangi—which is the same name as her ancient ancestor, the whale rider. She starts to climb the back of the whale and when she reaches the top and as she does so the whale becomes extremely joyful. She hears it greeting her as its lord, and then handholds appear and then she finds a natural saddle and so she sits there. Rawiri sees all this as he calls out in desperation, attempting to bring Kahu back. But then the narrative structure shifts to a third person description focused on Kahu. Kahu, on the back of the whale, weeps out of fear, and loneliness, and weeps because she misses her family and weeps for her people. But in the end, she builds up her courage and then signals to the whale to move out to sea and leave the island behind. She leads her whale and thus all the other whales back and to sea, and she commands that they let her people live.