Call It Courage by Sandi Somers

When I was a teacher librarian, one of the books I read to my students was Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry. 

On the island of Hikueru in the South Pacific, Mafatu was terrified of the sea and the sea god. When he was three years old, his mother had taken him out past the lagoon in a canoe to search for urchins.

But an unexpected storm swept them into the pounding waves and overturned their canoe. Cast up on shore, his mother had just enough strength to feed Mafatu from a cracked coconut before she died. He was rescued, but this trauma left him terrified.  

He had been named “Stout Heart” by his father, but most people called him “The Boy Who Was Afraid”. On an island where the sea was all-important, where the skills of swimming and fishing and killing sharks proved one's manhood, he stayed at home making spears and nets and shark lines for the other boys. He was mercilessly teased and mocked. 

There was only one thing to do. He must go out to the sea and prove his courage to himself and others. Men should never again call him “The Boy Who Was Afraid”. And his father should say with pride, “Here is my son, Stout Heart”. 

So one dark night when he was 15, he crept out of the village, and taking his faithful dog Uri, he stole away in a canoe. Kivi, the albatross he had befriended, flew overhead, guiding him out into the open sea. Out where he feared everything. He almost turned back until he remembered his best friend's voice, “Mafatu is a coward”. 

After days of sailing and being whipped around by a storm and having his canoe torn to pieces and clinging to its floating wood, Kivi guided him to an uninhabited island. Immediately he began preparing for the necessities of life. He built a hut and a fish trap and prepared food from fruits. With a knife ground from a whale bone that he found, he killed a shark and an octopus. He also began building a canoe, for he knew that one day he must return to his own island.  

On exploring the island, he discovered a great statue, and he knew this was the sacred site of the feared man-eaters. Man-eaters who might someday come from their own island and discover him. He stole a spear from the statue—something in itself which called for great courage to oppose their god.  And with this spear he killed a boar, making a necklace of its teeth, so prized in his community. 

 He felt great pride rising up in him. But most importantly, he knew he was winning a great victory over himself. He had feared much, and now he was discovering a newfound confidence. The taste of victory salted his lips. 

Once his canoe was finished--for it had taken many days to build—he was ready to sail home. He stocked it with food and drink, ready to leave in the morning. But the man-eaters had come to the island and discovered him. As he fled from his pursuers, courage blazed from his eyes. He outpaced them, reached his canoe and sailed away that night, again accompanied by his dog Uri and guided by Kivi the albatross. He recognized the sea might destroy him on his journey home, but he shouted, “Sea god, I am no longer afraid of you!”[1] 

As writers, we can sometimes see ourselves in Mafatu. We must challenge the voices that say we can't do it, that we're cowards. When we sail away into fear, we are accompanied by God who inspires and calls us to be strong. We challenge ourselves with our skills to create something new. As we do so, courage rises in us. We race toward our destination, outpacing the evil that pursues us. And guided by God’s Spirit, we accomplish our journey.    

“Place your strength in the transcendent power of the Lord”

(Ephesians 6:10 Mace NT)

Image by Southern Living

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[1] Armstrong Sperry, Call it Courage, New York: Simon Pulse, 1940, 1968)