The Tyrannical Taniwha from Timaru

Sebastian wants to go and play down at the river, by the bend with the giant willow trees. His mum doesn’t want him to go there, she warns him of the taniwha who lives there in the deepest part of the river. It is a terrible beast, a monster with a long neck and teeth as sharp as carving knives. It has rows of spines down its back, and eats people.

Sebastian’s dad laughs and says there is no such thing as a taniwha, that his mother is just trying to scare him away from the river.

So Sebastian sets off to build a taniwha trap and find out for himself.

Catching a Taniwha

Sebastian packs a bag with some snacks, a sharp knife, a length of rope and a torch and heads off towards Mr Reid’s house. Mr Reid used to work at the fisheries and always has a lot of netting and useful things in his back shed. Sebastian was hoping that he could take some netting to make his taniwha trap.

He knocked on Mr Reid’s door and politely asked if he could have a whole heap of netting to catch a taniwha. “A taniwha eh?” Mr Reid asked, “back home in Scotland, we used to try to catch the Loch Ness Monster. I never did get hold of old Nessie”

Sebastian left Mr Reid's house with his netting and headed off to see Mr Li. Mr Li’s shop always had a lot of bamboo sticks, Sebastian thought these would be great to set the frame inside the net for his trap. When he explained to Mr Li what he was wanting to do, Mr Li said that he thought perhaps a taniwha is a bit like a Chinese Dragon, because they are the rulers of the water. Ruler of waterfalls, rivers and seas.

Sebastian left Mr Li's shop with his trap building supplies. It was a difficult bunch of supplies to carry. Mrs Georgious passed him on the street and asked if he needed a hand to carry the huge amount of netting and long bamboo sticks. Sebastian was very thankful for the help, it was a heavy and awkward shaped collection he was carrying. As they walked he let Mrs Georgious know of his plans to catch a taniwha. She listened with interest, and then told him of the Gorgons from Greece. They were three terrifying creatures, sisters named Stheno (strength), Euryale (wide-leaping), and Medusa (ruler or queen). Daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his sister and wife, Ceto, they lived in the west near the setting sun. “Perhaps,” Mrs Georgious said “that is what you will catch in your taniwha trap?”

When they got to her house, Mrs Georgious bid Sebastian farewell and he continued his journey to the river with his awkward supplies. As he dragged his netting the final few metres to the river bend, he saw Ms Johansen. She hopped up from her position in the shade under the willow tree and helped Sebastian with his load. Once again, Sebastian explained that he was there to build a trap to catch a taniwha. Ms Johansen thought it was a great idea and helped Sebastian as he offered direction on how the trap should work.

While they cut rope, tied knots and threaded the bamboos sticks through the netting, Ms Johansen told Sebastian of all of the different trolls in Norway, and contemplated if perhaps there was a Huldra at the river bend? Maybe that is what he would end up trapping?

After they had managed to set the taniwha trap and eat their respective lunches in the shade of the willow tree, Ms Johansen headed back towards her house and left Sebastian to watch his taniwha trap.

Sebastian sat, and watched, and waited.

Catching a Robot

Sitting and watching and waiting turned out to be dull. Sebastian was tired, hungry and BORED!

Maybe his dad was right. A taniwha was just a story, just make believe. He looked around and noticed the afternoon shadows growing longer, if he was going to be home in time for dinner, he would have to catch a taniwha soon - if they even existed that is. So he picked up the biggest stone he could lift, and threw it into the deepest part of the river.

Nothing happened.

After what felt like an eternity, Sebastian dragged his taniwha trap back out of the river and up the bank. He kept dragging the heavy trap to put up behind the large willow tree, so he could use it again.

As he was finally done pulling the trap behind the tree, he heard the river swish and the automatons came. There was a strong wind-like whirring, but no wind. Sebastian looked out from behind the tree towards the river, and saw an army of Ajatasatru’s mechanical servants move out of the water, up the bank and off into the distance.

No sooner had Sebastian had time to take a deep breath, when a giant bronze Talos strode up the river bank and stomped past in the same direction at the automatons. From his hiding spot behind the tree, Sebastian apprehensively looked back towards the river, perhaps a taniwha would appear next?

All of a sudden, a T-800 model 101 cybernetic android wearing black leather and dark glasses arose from the depths of the river. The android strutted past looking for Sarah Connor.