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The Legend of the Kea
A magical myth for young children ages 6 to 10.
Philip Temple and Chris Gaskin have combined their skills to produce some of New Zealand’s finest picture books for children. Here is a revised and updated editions of one of their most popular books, the only book of its kind available about the popular kea.
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
About the author
Philip Temple
67 books6 followersPhilip Temple is a multi prize-winning New Zealand author of fiction, non-fiction and children's books. His latest book is the adventure novel 'The Mantis' which explores why people risk all to be the first to reach the summit of an unclimbed mountain. Another new novel is due mid-year. He is also currently researching for a major biography of NZ author Maurice Shadbolt.
Philip was born in Yorkshire and educated in London but emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 18, becoming an explorer, mountaineer and outdoor educator. With Heinrich Harrer, of 'Seven Years in Tibet' fame, he made the first ascent of the Carstensz Pyramide in West Papua, one of the seven summits of the seven continents, and later sailed to sub-Antarctic Heard Island with the legendary H.W. ‘Bill’ Tilman to make the first ascent of Big Ben.
Philip's first books reflected this adventurous career and 'The World At Their Feet' won a Wattie Award in 1970. After a period as features editor for the New Zealand Listener, he became a full time professional author in 1972. Since that time he has published about 40 books of all kinds and countless articles and reviews.
In the fiction field, his nine novels include the best-selling 'Beak of the Moon', an anthropomorphic exploration of the mountain world seen through the eyes of the mountain parrot, kea. This, and its successor 'Dark of the Moon', are rated as unique in New Zealand literature. In more recent times, his Berlin-based novels 'To Each His Own' and' I Am Always With You' controversially tackle issues around German guilt and historical experience.
Philip’s non-fiction range is wide, from books about exploration and the outdoors to New Zealand history and electoral reform (MMP). His book about the Wakefield family and the early British settlement of New Zealand, 'A Sort of Conscience', was NZ Biography of the Year in 2003, and won the Ernest Scott History Prize from the University of Melbourne. Philip’s award-winning children’s books, in collaboration with wildlife artist Chris Gaskin, are unique to the genre.
Over the years, Philip has been awarded several fellowships, including the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship (1979), the Robert Burns Fellowship (1980), the 1996 NZ National Library Fellowship, a Berliner Künstlerprogramm stipendium in 1987 and the 2003 Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers Residency. In 2005, he was invested as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for Services to Literature and given a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement. Following examination of his work, Philip was granted the higher degree of Doctor of Literature (LittD) by the University of Otago in 2007.
Philip Temple lives in Dunedin with his wife, poet and novelist, Diane Brown.
Philip was born in Yorkshire and educated in London but emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 18, becoming an explorer, mountaineer and outdoor educator. With Heinrich Harrer, of 'Seven Years in Tibet' fame, he made the first ascent of the Carstensz Pyramide in West Papua, one of the seven summits of the seven continents, and later sailed to sub-Antarctic Heard Island with the legendary H.W. ‘Bill’ Tilman to make the first ascent of Big Ben.
Philip's first books reflected this adventurous career and 'The World At Their Feet' won a Wattie Award in 1970. After a period as features editor for the New Zealand Listener, he became a full time professional author in 1972. Since that time he has published about 40 books of all kinds and countless articles and reviews.
In the fiction field, his nine novels include the best-selling 'Beak of the Moon', an anthropomorphic exploration of the mountain world seen through the eyes of the mountain parrot, kea. This, and its successor 'Dark of the Moon', are rated as unique in New Zealand literature. In more recent times, his Berlin-based novels 'To Each His Own' and' I Am Always With You' controversially tackle issues around German guilt and historical experience.
Philip’s non-fiction range is wide, from books about exploration and the outdoors to New Zealand history and electoral reform (MMP). His book about the Wakefield family and the early British settlement of New Zealand, 'A Sort of Conscience', was NZ Biography of the Year in 2003, and won the Ernest Scott History Prize from the University of Melbourne. Philip’s award-winning children’s books, in collaboration with wildlife artist Chris Gaskin, are unique to the genre.
Over the years, Philip has been awarded several fellowships, including the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship (1979), the Robert Burns Fellowship (1980), the 1996 NZ National Library Fellowship, a Berliner Künstlerprogramm stipendium in 1987 and the 2003 Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers Residency. In 2005, he was invested as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for Services to Literature and given a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement. Following examination of his work, Philip was granted the higher degree of Doctor of Literature (LittD) by the University of Otago in 2007.
Philip Temple lives in Dunedin with his wife, poet and novelist, Diane Brown.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 5, 2011
Philip Temple has serious issues. I think he needs to see someone about them. Maybe a priest, if that tingles his spidey senses, or a psychiatrist. I'll do it myself. Let's call it law of the jungle. Why would a sane person decide that a god-like figure, Ka, had to punish all of these gorgeous birds just for being their gorgeous bird selves? One kakapo (I LOVE kakapos!) was "too fat" so Ka took away flight from all kakapos. Those poor kakapos! What if they wanted to fly? Oh wait, this is some guilt bull shit and kakapos don't fly because kakapos don't fly.. Falcons are condemned to be shunned by other birds. Falcons are too good to listen to the noisy shrieking of little birdies that tell people stupid gossip that is totally not true. Wrens have to eat insects because they ate too much fruit. Philip Temple, I've seen your author photo (I should use my goodreads librarian status to upload it onto his goodreads author page). You're fat. Do YOU eat only insects? Maybe he does. The insect eating character in The Lion King was fat. So the kea (my favorite birds!) goes off to listen to music. It's such a sin to have something better to do? He wrestles with falcons in "The Great Quarrel". He doesn't kill like all of the other bad birds (asshole!), though.
You're going to make me produce youtube evidence again, aren't you? kea parrot pulling a baby bird out of its nest and killing it as it eats it. For food, not fun, I think. Of course I can't read bird minds in high and mighty moral judgement like the fat judgey Nz author. Ka takes away song and speech from keas for all times. If they could sing like a mockingjay maybe they wouldn't have been slaughtered! Birds are supposed to be useful to stupid humans. They also have to live in the cold mountains and are the only parrots in the world to do so. Maybe keas just like to live in the mountains? Maybe for the same reason they are the most prehistoric of all parrots? Totally dinosaurs! (The kakapos are also kick ass in this way.) It happened that way. They aren't being punished for being innocent. Fucker! What kind of bull shit is this?
But the illustrations are beautiful. It is worth reading just for those. So many beautiful birds! Chris Gaskin was either kidnapped and forced to illustrate for Philip Temple who both loves and despises kea parrots (like Ike Turner, maybe), or he had no idea that his illustrations would be used for these insane purposes. He drew these pictures and then Philip Temple stole them and inserted a back story part from Beak of the Moon onto it? That's my guess. I asked my hairdresser, as I always do, and she said totally. I tried to take pictures of the book with my cell phone and they came out not too good. So I will describe the photos like a man eating a delicious meal in front of a starving kid. "Mmmmm these french fries are sooooo good! I'm going to wash it down with a chocolate milkshake. You can eye fuck my apple pie all you want but you aren't getting a bite."
P.s. Going back later and writing the folk tales told by the birds was totally Watership Down! The ending is how they ended up with "star cave". In Dark of the Moon they don't even know why it is called star cave because there are no glow worms left. Is Philip Temple EVER going to write about how the humans destroyed the resources and food for those keas because they wanted to make lots of money farming sheep? I don't think he will. He probably eats sheep and tells his wife he found it on the side of a road already dead from kea attacks. Tell your god about THAT. I have got to stop writing these kea reviews. It is too upsetting. Those hateful men killed all of those lovely birds! I also wrote three reviews to say it ripped off Watership Down. I'm gonna beat this woman like I'm Ike Turner.
You're going to make me produce youtube evidence again, aren't you? kea parrot pulling a baby bird out of its nest and killing it as it eats it. For food, not fun, I think. Of course I can't read bird minds in high and mighty moral judgement like the fat judgey Nz author. Ka takes away song and speech from keas for all times. If they could sing like a mockingjay maybe they wouldn't have been slaughtered! Birds are supposed to be useful to stupid humans. They also have to live in the cold mountains and are the only parrots in the world to do so. Maybe keas just like to live in the mountains? Maybe for the same reason they are the most prehistoric of all parrots? Totally dinosaurs! (The kakapos are also kick ass in this way.) It happened that way. They aren't being punished for being innocent. Fucker! What kind of bull shit is this?
But the illustrations are beautiful. It is worth reading just for those. So many beautiful birds! Chris Gaskin was either kidnapped and forced to illustrate for Philip Temple who both loves and despises kea parrots (like Ike Turner, maybe), or he had no idea that his illustrations would be used for these insane purposes. He drew these pictures and then Philip Temple stole them and inserted a back story part from Beak of the Moon onto it? That's my guess. I asked my hairdresser, as I always do, and she said totally. I tried to take pictures of the book with my cell phone and they came out not too good. So I will describe the photos like a man eating a delicious meal in front of a starving kid. "Mmmmm these french fries are sooooo good! I'm going to wash it down with a chocolate milkshake. You can eye fuck my apple pie all you want but you aren't getting a bite."
P.s. Going back later and writing the folk tales told by the birds was totally Watership Down! The ending is how they ended up with "star cave". In Dark of the Moon they don't even know why it is called star cave because there are no glow worms left. Is Philip Temple EVER going to write about how the humans destroyed the resources and food for those keas because they wanted to make lots of money farming sheep? I don't think he will. He probably eats sheep and tells his wife he found it on the side of a road already dead from kea attacks. Tell your god about THAT. I have got to stop writing these kea reviews. It is too upsetting. Those hateful men killed all of those lovely birds! I also wrote three reviews to say it ripped off Watership Down. I'm gonna beat this woman like I'm Ike Turner.
June 11, 2023
“A long, long time ago the land was covered by one enormous forest. It had every kind of tree. There were rimus and totaras and beech trees and kauris. And there were countless other trees which were taller or shorter, wider or bushier and covered with flowers of every colour you could imagine. The flowers gave so much nectar that the forest was constantly filled with the singing and chuckling of birds. There was no night and no winter. The sun shone always and the flowers and berries were everlasting.”
So begins The Legend of the Kea, an inventive world origin myth for young New Zealanders, telling how Kritka stole the best beak from Ka, the great bird of all birds, and took the keas to live in the highest mountains.
All New Zealanders, or anyone who has visited those beautiful islands, knows the keas. Cheeky little parrots who beg for food, and if they don’t get it, steal and destroy whatever they can with their sharp strong beaks. Nowadays they tend to hover around car parks. In this charming tale Krikta the kea and his friends are always playing practical jokes on the other birds. They live in a paradise where the sun shines all the time and there is neither night nor cold. The land is covered by one enormous forest, and all the birds sing in harmony.
But one day, some of the birds become greedy and want the forest for themselves. A great shadow then falls on the land. So begins the terrible time of quarrelling that threatens the forest. Ka, the great bird and keeper of the forest, is angry with the birds and punishes them:
“You have almost destroyed the forest,” Ka roared, “And you have begun to destroy one another. I brought night to teach you silence. Now I will give each of you a different tongue.”
The birds would never be able to argue with each other again, and they all had different jobs to do. But Krikta, the mischievous kea was too impatient to wait to see what his job was, and decided to climb up and find out what sort of songs, beaks, claws and wings Ka had hidden under his feathers, ready to hand out.
As he was doing so, each bird was given their task, told what food they must eat and where they must live and given their different plumage, claws and beaks. First came the tom tit and the wren. Kritka secretly found the claws and beak he thought were the best and cheekily stole them. “They fitted perfectly!”
Next Ka gave the kiwi his instructions. Because he had been the noisiest quarreler, he was now only allowed to come out at night. Ka shrank his wings and thickened his legs, so that the kiwi could not fly. But meanwhile Kritka had found an amazing song under Kritka’s feathers. He stole that too, and flew away to sing it to his sweetheart Starwing, while Ka was dealing with the parrots. All the parrots were annoyed that Kritka was so vain, and called him names: Little Ka, or “ka-ka” or kaka.
Another parrot the kakpo, was also in trouble, and was not allowed to fly any more, and only feed on roots and grass. The falcon and the gull did not do much better, and among other things were banished from the forest. Then Ka heard Kritka singing, so Kritka boasted about all the things he had stolen from Ka. Ka was furious. He took back his song, and gave it to the bellbird and the tui, because they deserved it more:
“And now you will have no song at all. Keas will shriek and croak and cackle forever.”
Years ago I fell in love with New Zealand. I only spent 3 weeks there, but this lovely picture book brought back memories of a lot of the bird life I had seen on my tour, the indigenous plants and trees, and the stunning and mysterious glow worm caves. For a country with no mammals, the bird life has developed to an extraordinary variety. New Zealand is a unique and magical place.
This book will obviously speak more to those who are familiar with all these different birds, and is most suitable for 7-9 year olds. Philip Temple has captured the tone of an origin myth very well, and cleverly uses the story to describe the features and habits of several of New Zealand’s indigenous birds. Chris Gaskin’s subtle coloured pencil drawings are lovely, and very naturalistic. The individual bird species are accurate, and those illustrations featuring Ka are most atmospheric. It is a largish paperback, so these are displayed to their best advantage.
The Legend of the Kea was first published in 1986, but has been reprinted several times, the most recent being in the 2000s. The author and illustrator have also cooperated to write “Beak of the Moon” and “The Story of the Kakapo: Parrot of the Night”, which sound as though they might be written in a similar vein.
So begins The Legend of the Kea, an inventive world origin myth for young New Zealanders, telling how Kritka stole the best beak from Ka, the great bird of all birds, and took the keas to live in the highest mountains.
All New Zealanders, or anyone who has visited those beautiful islands, knows the keas. Cheeky little parrots who beg for food, and if they don’t get it, steal and destroy whatever they can with their sharp strong beaks. Nowadays they tend to hover around car parks. In this charming tale Krikta the kea and his friends are always playing practical jokes on the other birds. They live in a paradise where the sun shines all the time and there is neither night nor cold. The land is covered by one enormous forest, and all the birds sing in harmony.
But one day, some of the birds become greedy and want the forest for themselves. A great shadow then falls on the land. So begins the terrible time of quarrelling that threatens the forest. Ka, the great bird and keeper of the forest, is angry with the birds and punishes them:
“You have almost destroyed the forest,” Ka roared, “And you have begun to destroy one another. I brought night to teach you silence. Now I will give each of you a different tongue.”
The birds would never be able to argue with each other again, and they all had different jobs to do. But Krikta, the mischievous kea was too impatient to wait to see what his job was, and decided to climb up and find out what sort of songs, beaks, claws and wings Ka had hidden under his feathers, ready to hand out.
As he was doing so, each bird was given their task, told what food they must eat and where they must live and given their different plumage, claws and beaks. First came the tom tit and the wren. Kritka secretly found the claws and beak he thought were the best and cheekily stole them. “They fitted perfectly!”
Next Ka gave the kiwi his instructions. Because he had been the noisiest quarreler, he was now only allowed to come out at night. Ka shrank his wings and thickened his legs, so that the kiwi could not fly. But meanwhile Kritka had found an amazing song under Kritka’s feathers. He stole that too, and flew away to sing it to his sweetheart Starwing, while Ka was dealing with the parrots. All the parrots were annoyed that Kritka was so vain, and called him names: Little Ka, or “ka-ka” or kaka.
Another parrot the kakpo, was also in trouble, and was not allowed to fly any more, and only feed on roots and grass. The falcon and the gull did not do much better, and among other things were banished from the forest. Then Ka heard Kritka singing, so Kritka boasted about all the things he had stolen from Ka. Ka was furious. He took back his song, and gave it to the bellbird and the tui, because they deserved it more:
“And now you will have no song at all. Keas will shriek and croak and cackle forever.”
Years ago I fell in love with New Zealand. I only spent 3 weeks there, but this lovely picture book brought back memories of a lot of the bird life I had seen on my tour, the indigenous plants and trees, and the stunning and mysterious glow worm caves. For a country with no mammals, the bird life has developed to an extraordinary variety. New Zealand is a unique and magical place.
This book will obviously speak more to those who are familiar with all these different birds, and is most suitable for 7-9 year olds. Philip Temple has captured the tone of an origin myth very well, and cleverly uses the story to describe the features and habits of several of New Zealand’s indigenous birds. Chris Gaskin’s subtle coloured pencil drawings are lovely, and very naturalistic. The individual bird species are accurate, and those illustrations featuring Ka are most atmospheric. It is a largish paperback, so these are displayed to their best advantage.
The Legend of the Kea was first published in 1986, but has been reprinted several times, the most recent being in the 2000s. The author and illustrator have also cooperated to write “Beak of the Moon” and “The Story of the Kakapo: Parrot of the Night”, which sound as though they might be written in a similar vein.
December 24, 2024
The pitfalls of greed and power are the loss of peace and light as seen in the Time of Quarrelling where birds screeched and screamed instead of sang and trees suffered. But the great bird of all birds, Ka, arrived to dish out consequences making all birds accountable for their actions and responsible for the revival of the forest. True to form, the kea is a bit cheeky, but still manages to land on its feet.
December 29, 2017
Kea is a jerk.
We already knew that.
We already knew that.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews