‘The Whale Rider’ Chapter Summaries 

Prologue: The Whale Rider 

One 
Creation story and introduction to the ancient, sacred whale. First use of the welcome 
call ‘Karanga mai’ and the shared refrain ‘Hui e, haumi e, ​taiki e​. Let it be done’. 

Spring: The Force of Destiny 

Two 
The ancient whale reflects on his relationship with his master​. 

Three 
Kahu is born. Nani Flowers is introduced as stubborn and strong willed; Koro Apirana is 
introduced as being unable to reconcile his traditional Maori beliefs about the role of 
women. 

Four 
Kahu is named Kahutia Te Rangi after the Whale Rider. Nani Flowers insists on Kahu’s 
birth cord being buried on tribal land, opposite the meeting house which bears a statue of 
the Whale Rider. 

Summer: Halcyon’s Flight 

Five 
The ancient whale remembers the whale rider. 

Six 
Kahu’s mother dies. Legend of Kahutia Te Rangi and the spears. Kahu visits Whangara for 
a holiday. As Koro Apirana recounts the strange quests set by his old tribe leader, Kahu 
mimics the quest by biting Koro’s toe. 

Seven 
Kahu is two years old. She first calls Koro Apirana ‘Paka’ after hearing Nani Flowers call 
him this name. Importance of the whale to Maori culture. Rawiri takes Kahu to the 
cinema to watch a film about whales - Kahu cries when the whales die in the film. On the 
way home, Rawiri and his friends see whales in the ocean and Kahu seems to be 
mimicking their cry. 

Eight 
Kahu is three years old. Koro is teaching lessons on Maori culture to local boys in the 
hope of finding a new tribe leader. Koro tells the boys about the connection between 
Maori and the life in the sea, and how that connection has broken. He recounts hunting 
and killing a whale. Kahu overhears and cries for hours. The next morning she is at the 
beach; Rawiri notices whales in the distance. 

Autumn: Season of the Sounding Whale 

Nine 
The ancient whale mourns the death of seven young, killed as a result of geothermal activity in 
the ocean. 

 
Ten 
Kahu is four years old. Rawiri decides to travel to Australia to see more of the world. He 
meets lots of Maori ‘cousins’, some of whom are living a very different lifestyle in 
Australia. Rawiri meets Jeff, who convinces him to go to his home Papua New Guinea to 
help work on his family plantation. 

Eleven 
Two years pass in Papua New Guinea. Rawiri sees the embedded racism in the society, 
still ruled by the European colonists who care little for the lives of the ‘natives’. Rawiri’s 
friend and worker Bernard is killed in a road accident when Jeff was driving. Clara, Jeff’s 
mother, dismisses the death as Bernard is only a native and the body is left in the road. 
Rawriri decides to leave and head back to New Zealand. 

Twelve 
Kahu is now seven years old. She tells Rawiri all about school, but how Koro Apirana 
deems education unnecessary for a girl. Koro Apirana’s search for the next male tribe 
leader has become an obsession. Kahu presents the speech that won the East Coast 
primary schools speech contest. It is all about Koro Apirana, but he does not attend. 

Thirteen 
Koro Apirana administers a test to the boys of the tribe. He drops a carved stone into the 
ocean and asks them to fetch it from the ocean floor. None of the boys are successful. 
Later, Kahu visits the spot with Rawiri and Nani Flowers. She successfully retrieves the 
stone; Rawiri believes he sees her communicating with dolphins. Nani Flowers decides 
not to tell Koro Apirana about the stone. 

Winter: Whale Song, Whale Rider 

Fourteen 
The Whale Rider lands at a place called Whangara where he dismounts and starts a 
family. He bids the ancient whale to leave without him. ​The ancient whale is lost in his 
dreams of the whale rider and begins a journey which the rest of the whales fear will end in 
death. 

Fifteen 
A herd of whales beach on Wainui beach, not far from Whangara. Koro Apirana and 
Porourangi are down on the South Island settling a land dispute; they return to Whangara 
when they hear about the whales. Koro Apirana fears it is an omen. Rawiri’s biker gang 
are among the crowds that try to save and protect the whales. 

Sixteen 
Koro Apirana thinks the beached whales offer a sign to the Maori people. More whales 
beach at Whangara, including the sacred, ancient whale with tattoo. The call ‘karanga mai’ 
is repeated as the whale appears. Koro Apirana explains about how the sacred union 
between Maori and the sea has been broken, and the whale is a sign. ‘If it dies, we die’. 
The tribe try to move the whale but he resists. 

Seventeen 
Kahu slips away into the water. She climbs the whale and rides him out to the sea. She 
calls ‘karanga mai’. The whale believes he is carrying his rider, the original Kahutia Te 
Rangi. She is carried into the sea by the whale. 

 
Eighteen 
Kahu becomes the whale rider. Nani Flowers reveals to Koro Apirana that Kahu retrieved 
his carved stone from the ocean, and he realises that she is the chosen one. 

Epilogue: The Girl from the Sea 

Nineteen 
The ancient bull whale returns to the tribe. He tells the other whales that he is carrying the 
whale rider. The elderly female whale makes him realise that this is not the original whale rider. 
The whale understands that this rider is the last spear, which was to flower in the future. The 
ancient whale decides to return Kahu to Whangara. 

Twenty 
After Kahu leaves, Nani Flowers collapses and is taken to hospital. Three days later, Kahu 
is found floating in the ocean. She is also taken to hospital to recover. Nani Flowers 
wakes up and is told about Kahu. Koro Apirana admits he should have know that Kahu 
was special. T​ he ancient whale rises from the sea to check Kahu is returned to the tribe. He 
lets the partnership between and and sea, whales and Maori, remain. 

Twenty One 
Kahu opens her eyes in hospital. She reveals she has been communicating with the 
whales and compares Nani and Koro to the ancient bull whale and the elderly female 
whale. The novel ends with Kahu declaring to Koro Apirana that the whales are singing.