“Mine, mine, mine, mine”
taunted Hine as she skipped over to the pohutakawa tree where her uncle Popo was asleep.
“Look here’ s another one, gimme that one back”
shouted Rata chasing after her and thrusting a brown pebble in her face.“Don’t want it, it’s not green” said Hine scornfully...“mine mine mine mine !”
Popo sat up...“You children sound like squabbling Keas, fighting over nothing” and as quick as a flash he grabbed the stone from Hine and threw it into the river.
“Now, no one has it and what difference does it make to you... in a few minutes you’ll forget all about it, because if you have to have something,” he continued, “it has a hold over you. Who needs more than the sun in the sky, the earth under your feet and the rivers and sea and a little food in your belly ?”
The children laughed at their fat uncle Popo, he always made them smile and they loved nothing better than to snuggle up and listen to one of his stories. He was the loveliest storyteller in the village.
“You promised us a story Popo” said Hine, “one of your special stories ... you promised us last night.”
“Ok, Ok...” said Popo and the children sat down beside him.

“To hear you squabbling like that reminds me of the time, the people of New Zealand forgot who they were and what a magical place New Zealand was. They had begun to slip into the ways of the rest of the world, worshiping money almost as a god.

The Maori and the Pakeha were quarreling over land, every body wanted more money to buy more things, when almost everybody had much more than they needed or could possibly use. Parents began to neglect their children in search of more money. They no longer had time to play with their children, enjoy them growing up or even the beauty of where they lived, and family was no longer the most important thing in their lives. People had lost respect for each other : Father for son, son for father, husband for wife and wife for husband. Even the children became unhappy, wanting more of everything they laid their eyes on, as they copied their parents. Instead of love, their mothers and fathers bought them this or that, because deep down they felt guilty about neglecting them. Some children were so lost that that took there own lives and went to the spirit world rather than stay in a world where they couldn’t find their place.”

“You mean they never went swimming or walking in the forest ?” said Hine
“Or throwing sticks or eeling ?” said Rata.
“A few people did, but most often it was only a couple of times a year.” replied Popo
“Why didn’t the elders talk to them ?” said Hine.
“Well,” said Popo, “that's the saddest thing of all. The elders had lost their place in this world too. They were no longer the carriers of knowledge. They were seen as having no use and were not given the task of teaching the children anymore. Because of this, the Elders, with no sense of purpose or real tasks, became sick, and feeble and were
allowed to go into the spirit world without passing on their knowledge.”

“So what happened ?” chorused the children. >>