雙語讀電影 《海洋奇緣》第01章 :總有一天，特菲提之心會被找回

The old tapa cloth, made from the bark of trees, had a simple image of the ocean painted across it. For the audience of the story, the waves seemed to come to life in their imagination each time the storyteller told the ancient tale.

“In the beginning, there was only ocean,” the storyteller said as the little waves rose and fell, “until an island emerged: the mother island, Te Fiti.”

Upon the tapa, the listeners could almost see the appearance of an island goddess, rising up from the ocean and growing in size as the storyteller continued. “Her heart had the power to create life itself. And she shared that power with the world.” The lovely goddess lay on her side, the curves of her body becoming mountains and valleys. It appeared to be the birth of a perfect world. A spiraling heart blazed at the very center of the island and a force radiated from it, sprouting beautiful trees and plants.

“But in time,” the storyteller continued, “some began to covet Te Fiti’s heart, believing if they could possess it, the heart’s life-giving power would be theirs alone.” A variety of wicked creatures appeared below the image of Te Fiti, eyeing her heart. “And one day, the most brazen of them all voyaged across the vast ocean to take it.”

A small boat appeared upon the tapa, sailing across the rippling waves with a giant man, full of muscles and carrying a fishhook, at the helm. The man jumped off the boat, leapt into the sky, and magically transformed into an enormous hawk. Soaring through the sky, the hawk flew toward the lush island of Te Fiti with great purpose and determination.

Once it landed on the island, the hawk turned into a chunky green lizard. It quickly and quietly scampered through the dense foliage, its tail slithering behind. When it reached large rocks, it transitioned into a tiny bug to remain unseen and squeezed between them. The bug emerged on the other side and turned back into the man. Behind the shadows, the man anxiously eyed the spiral surrounding the pulsing heart at the island’s center.

“He was a demigod of the wind and sea,” said the storyteller. “A trickster, a shape-shifter with a magical fishhook. And his name was Maui.”

Gripping his enormous fishhook, Maui stuck its point beneath the heart and pried it from the spiral. He proudly flipped it into the air before catching it. Then, to Maui’s surprise, the ground began to shake.

In the listeners’ minds, the trees on the tapa withered and died as life drained from the land, and the island began to turn to dust. Maui somersaulted off a rocky outcropping and raced to the island’s edge. High above the ocean, he jumped off a cliff and, in mid-air, transformed back into a hawk. With a few mighty flaps, he reached his boat.

“Maui tried to escape, but he was confronted by another who sought the heart: Te Kā, a demon of earth and fire!” said the storyteller. Her voice grew deeper and more dramatic. She took a moment to savor making her audience wait.

Te Kā, a massive lava monster, rose up out of ash clouds with great fury, screaming and screeching in anger. Bright volcanic lightning flashed all around, and bits of hot lava spewed from its top as it started toward Maui. Maui brandished his hook and leapt at Te Kā. The two collided, causing a blinding explosion.

“Maui was struck from the sky, never to be seen again. His magical fishhook and the heart of Te Fiti were lost to the sea ... ,” the storyteller said.

The drawing on the tapa showed Maui’s hook and Te Fiti’s heart as they fell into the rippling ocean waves and disappeared.

Gramma Tala, the storyteller, stood, holding the tapa cloth up for her audience of children to see. Her eyes peeked mysteriously over the tapa, and as she continued with the tale, her voice got louder and louder, building to the finish.

“... where, even now, a thousand years later, Te Kā and the demons of the deep still lurk, hiding in a darkness that will continue to spread, chasing away our fish, draining the life from island after island, until every one of us is devoured by the bloodthirsty jaws of inescapable death!”

Silence fell as most of Gramma Tala’s toddler audiences looked up at her with tears in their eyes, terrified. A small boy in the front row sighed and fainted, collapsing to the floor! But one of the girls leaned forward, thrilled by the story. She clapped her hands and smiled excitedly, as if begging for more. The little girl’s name was Moana.

“But one day, the heart will be found,” continued Gramma Tala, “by someone who will journey beyond our reef, find Maui, deliver him across the great ocean to restore Te Fiti’s heart ... and save us all.”

Just as Gramma Tala prepared to launch into another story, Chief Tui hurried in. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Mother, that’s enough.” He scooped up Moana and gave her a hongi, lovingly pressing his nose and forehead against hers.

“No one goes beyond our reef,” he said, reminding the children of the island’s most important rule. “We are safe here. There is no darkness; there are no monsters—” He accidentally knocked into the side of the fale, a hut with a thatched roof, causing the tapa screens with the images of monsters painted on them to unravel and wave around. The kids shrieked with fear and jumped on Tui, knocking him over.

“Monster! Monster!” they screamed.

“It’s the darkness!” shouted one of the many frightened kids.

“This is how it ends!”

“I’m gonna throw up!”

They continued to scream and pile on top of Tui, kneeing him as they panicked.

“No, no! There is no darkness,” Tui said as one of the kids kicked him in his side. “As long as we stay within our reef”—another little knee slammed into his gut—“we’ll be fine!” Tui grunted, catching his breath and attempting to calm the children down.

“The legends are true; someone will have to go!” shouted Gramma Tala, feeding the frenzy of fear.

“Mother, Motunui is paradise,” said Tui, breaking free from the pileup of toddlers. He dusted himself off and finished his thought. “Who would want to go anywhere else?”

Off in the corner of the fale, little Moana stood in front of the tapa with her big eyes fixed on the image of Te Fiti. As the cloth blew in the wind, Moana could see the vast ocean sparkling between the palm trees in the distance.

It seemed that the ocean was calling to her as the waves danced and waved before breaking on the shore. Moana smiled and stared, mesmerized by the beautiful blue water. Then, without anyone noticing because of all the commotion, she quietly slipped out of the fale.