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<div style="text-indent: 49em;">Come child,
<div style="text-indent: 47em;">I have a story to tell,
<div style="text-indent: 48em;">will you hear it?</div>
<div style="text-indent: 49.3em;">[[Yes]] or [[No]]</div>
(t8n-depart: "dissolve")
I (link-reveal: "love")[(replace: ?dogs)[But not as much as dogs]] cats.
|dogs>[]
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(live: .8s)[(align: "=======================><=") + (t8n:"dissolve")[For thousands of years,
Li’i and her people cared for their home with love.
They lived peacefully, in (t8n-depart: "dissolve")[harmony] with the land,
the sky, and the sea, for the people of Nui
believed that their land was sacred,
a gift from the spirits who guarded the island
and its people.](stop:)]
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(live: .8s)[(align: "=======================><=") + (t8n:"dissolve")[For thousands of years,
Li’i and her people cared for their home with love.
They lived peacefully, in [harmony] with the land,
the sky, and the sea, for the people of Nui
believed that their land was sacred,
a gift from the spirits who guarded the island
and its people.](stop:)]
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="bottom-right">(live: .8s)[(align: "=><=") + (t8n:"dissolve")
[For thousands of years, Li’i and her people cared for their home with love.
They lived peacefully, in (t8n-depart: "dissolve")[harmony]
with the land, the sky, and the sea,
for the people of Nui believed
that their land was sacred,
a gift from the spirits who guarded the island
and its people.](stop:)]</div>
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Hello there! I am the Keeper of Whispers.
I tell stories from my people’s past. I have a story today, but I warn you. This tale is not for the weak of heart. Do you think you are brave enough to hear my tale?
<< [[>>->brave]]
](stop:)]</div><div class="containerr">
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Excellent! Let us begin.
[[<<->Untitled Passage 1]] [[>>->begin]]](stop:)]
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Once upon a time there lived
upon a beautiful island
in the village of Nui
a girl named Li’i.
[[<<->brave]] [[>>->Li’i.]]](stop:)]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="bottom-righttttt">
For thousands of years,
Li’i and her people
cared for their home with love.
They lived peacefully, in harmony
with the land, the sky, and the sea.
[[<<->begin]] [[>>->harmony]]</div><p>
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<p>
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Just outside the village, the Banyan Tree stood, home of the ancient spirits of the island,
who had given the island to Li'i's ancestors long ago.
[[<<->Li’i.]] [[>>->spirits]]](stop:)]<p>
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<p>
<p>
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Everyday, Li’i’s Mother visited where the Banyan tree stood,
and Li’i would help her tend to its roots.
[[<<->harmony]] [[>>->roots]]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
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In those days, Li’i would play with her friends by the ocean,
collect shells on the beach,
and climb the coconut trees to see the stars at night.
[[<<->roots]] [[>>->well.]]</div><p>
<p>
<p>
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<div class="centered">
But when the western winds came one day, they brought something strange.
[[<<->tree]] [[>>->well2]]</div><script>
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Some villagers called them “The People from Afar,”
but others who did not trust the new arrivals
called them “Pale Faces” because of their light skin.
They were led by a great, tall man
the villagers called “The Man in Black”.
[[<<->well2]] [[>>->arrivals]]
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Many of Li’i’s people did not trust the newcomers,
but the elders of the village commanded the village
to welcome the People from Afar as guests.
[[<<->canoe]] [[>>->Elders]]</div><p>
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As time went on,
the People from Afar proved they were friends.
They brought gifts and offerings
and told great stories of their travels across the ocean.
Some of the villagers began to see the visitors as friends,
rather than strangers.
[[<<->arrivals]] [[>>->friends]]</div>
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[And soon, the Man in Black began to teach some villagers
about his beliefs.
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Li’i heeded to her mother’s warning. She
kept her distance from the visitors, until one day,
while she was playing,
a voice from behind her asked:
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Li’i turned to see a boy whose light skin shone under the sun.
She did not answer right away.
“You aren’t afraid of a Pale Face boy like me, are you?” the boy asked.
[[<<->wary2]] [[>>->Pale Face]]</div><p>
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"I'm not afraid of anything!” Li’i responded.
[[<<->“Can I play with you?]] [[>>->Pale Face2]]
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"I’m Philip,” the boy said.
“I’m Li’i,” Li'i said back.
They were best friends after that.
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[Li’i learned much more about Philip after that, including who Philip’s father was. </div>
“The Man in Black is your father?” Li’i asked.
[[<<->sun]] [[>>->Man in Black]]](stop:)]</div>
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“Yes. He is our great teacher.
He makes sure that no matter how far we are from home,
we never forget where we came from.”
Li’i thought about how her mother did the same thing.
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“Where’s your father?” Philip asked.
“Gone” Li’i answered, and it was true.
Li’i’s father was a great elder in the village.
One day he went fishing and never returned.
[[<<->Man in Black]] [[>>->baby]]</div>
<div class="container">
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[As the friendship grew stronger,
Philip taught Li’i many things about his people:
where they traveled from, what kind of food they ate there,
and even how his father came to be
the Leader of the People from Afar.
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Yet even as the children grew closer, the village grew more divided.
The Man in Black had begun to try to convince the village to cut down the Banyan Tree.
[[<<->baby]] [[>>->stir the people]]</div>
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“This tree has flourished for so long,”
the Man in Black preached.
“But under it lies the richest soil I've ever seen!
We could grow enough food to feed us for ages,
and it would only take one harvest.”
[[<<->we have each other]] [[>>->richest soil!]]](stop:)]</div><script>
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“If we chop this tree down we'd never worry about hunger again,”
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Many young men from the village
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“More food? What could be more important?" they would say.
Yet the village’s elders forbade such action:
“That tree belongs to the spirits!
It is more sacred than food.”
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Li’i’s mother agreed with the elders.
“The tree is sacred to us," she told Li'i.
"The People from Afar must respect that.”
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Li’i tried to explain this to Philip,
but Philip's disagreed.
“It's just an old tree." he said.
[[<<->belongs to the spirits!]] [[>>->father]]</div>
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[One night, as Li’i was outside about her chores,
she caught a glimpse of a dim light coming from the jungle.
[[<<->around]] [[>>->hope2]]](stop:)]
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[The Man in Black stood at the head of the crowd with an axe in his hands. “We must show the village there is nothing to fear," he said.
[[<<->tree at night]] [[>>->great garden]]](stop:)]
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[
The wind howled, the ground shook,
and the sky rained.
[[<<->strange noise]] [[>>->mourning]]](stop:)]
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The Man in Black began to cut the tree down...
[[<<->great garden]] [[>>->crowd cheered]]
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Chop...
[[<<->mourning]] [[>>->Chop1]]](stop:)]
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[By the time Li’i alerted the elders of the village, it was too late.
Many wept, others wanted to fight, but the elders would not allow it.
“We have lost our tree,” they said, “we cannot lose our lives.”
[[<<->Chop3]] [[>>->lost]]](stop:)]
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Some of the young men of the village worked alongside the People from Afar without shame. They planted food where the tree once was.
[[<<->lost]] [[>>->the great field]]
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That night, the Man in Black and his followers went to sleep excited for the future, but Li’i twisted and turned all night. She knew something was wrong.
[[<<->intensified]] [[>>->felt]]
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The next morning brought terror to the village. The crops planted the day before had been torn up from the earth, leaving all to wonder who could do such a thing.
[[<<->the great field]] [[>>->wonder]]
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<p>
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Some said it was the wild boars to the south who had come to wreak havoc in the night.
[[<<->felt]] [[>>->wild boars]]](stop:)]
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[The villagers searched for the missing children all day, but found nothing.
[[<<->field]] [[>>->but none could find]]](stop:)]
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[Their mothers’ cries rang throughout Nui as night began to fall.
The village elders gathered the people together to decide what to do, but no one dared speak.
None, except one.
[[<<->Four children are missing]] [[>>->mothers’ cries]]](stop:)]
<span style="color: white;">The Old Woman who lived outside the village
was said to have been a witch.
She lived alone in her hut by a cliff,
and few dared to venture there
to catch a glimpse of her face.
But she was here now.
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The Old Woman who lived outside the village
was said to have been a witch.
She lived alone in her hut by a cliff,
and few dared to venture there to catch a glimpse of her face.
But she was here now.
[[<<->but none could find]] [[>>->electricity]]
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Much of the village seemed to shout in agreement with the Man in Black. In the midst of the cheering, the Old Woman melted away into the crowd and vanished.
[[<<->shouted]] [[>>->see2]]](stop:)]
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[That night most of the village did not sleep.
Mothers held their children close as fathers circled the village
armed with machetes and spears.
[[<<->see2]] [[>>->shadows]]](stop:)]
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<p>
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<p>
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The elders of the village walked from hut to hut encouraging the fearful,
but Li’i felt something in the air.
[[<<->divided]] [[>>->air]]
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(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[And waited...
[[<<->air]] [[>>->waited]]](stop:)]
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<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-leftt">
(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[And waited...
[[<<->awoken]] [[>>->waited1]]](stop:)]
</div>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-leftt">
(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Until...
[[<<->waited]] [[>>->Until]]](stop:)]
</div><script>Sound.play('https://keeperofwhispers.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/three-great-shadows-intense-percussion.mp3');</script>
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<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-righttt">(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")
[Li’i saw them with her own eyes.
Three great shadows
that emerged from the jungle with eyes like fire and roars like thunder.
Some villagers tried to stand and fight.
Most ran for their huts.
But it did not matter.
[[<<->waited1]] [[>>->three great shadows]]](stop:)]</div><script>
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<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-righttt">
Two of the beasts
crawled upon the ground as at the speed of wind,
while the third swooped down from the skies
swallowing up all within its reach.
[[<<->Until]] [[>>->three great shadows2]]</div><script>
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<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-righttt">They both ran,
but Li’i could see from the corner of her eyes
that one flying beast had followed them.
[[<<->three great shadows2]] [[>>->followed them]]
</div><script>Sound.play('https://keeperofwhispers.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/trampled-traditions-unsettling.mp3');</script>
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<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
More people had been taken.
[[<<->effort2]] [[>>->weeping]]
</div>
<script>
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<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
Those who had been left by the monsters gathered at the village center. The elders spoke, “They will be back! We must leave this place!”
“What about the children?” one mother asked.
“We cannot risk more being taken,” was the elders’ reply.
[[<<->so had mother]] [[>>->children]]
</div><script>
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<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
Many families left that day, but all Li’i could think about was Mother. Li’i could not leave, not without Mother, but where to begin?
[[<<->weeping]] [[>>->Not without mother]]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
Li’i had never been to her hut, but she passed the path on the way to her chores some days. She would find the way.
[[<<->Not without mother]] [[>>->near a cliff]]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Li’i took one last look at the village before she left.
](stop:)]
</div><p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
“A tree cannot grow without good roots,” Mother would say,
“Just like you and me. We must always remember our roots and where we come from.”
[[<<->spirits]] [[>>->tree]]
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</div>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="centered">
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
He spoke of the sea as something to be conquered,
and as the island as something to be used.
[[<<->friends]] [[>>->conquered]]</div>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="centered">
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
The young men from the village grew excited by these sayings,
but when Li’i was alone with Mother,
she was told to be careful.
[[<<->beliefs]] [[>>->careful]]</div>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="centered">
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
“Be kind” Mother would say,
“but remember where you come from.”
[[<<->conquered]] [[>>->wary]]</div> <script>Sound.fade(0,3000);</script>
<div class="container">
<div class="top-left">
As the friendship grew stronger,
Philip taught Li’i many things about his people:
where they traveled from, what kind of food they ate there,
and even how his father came to be
the Leader of the People from Afar.
“Where is your mother?” Li’i asked.
“I never met her,” Philip admitted.
“She died when I was just a baby.”
[[<<->spirit]] [[>>->baby]]</div>
<div class="container">
<div class="top-left">
Philip taught Li’i many things about his people:
where they traveled from, what kind of food they ate there,
and even how his father came to be
the leader of the People from Afar.
“Where is your mother?” Li’i asked.
“I never met her.” Philip admitted.
“She died when I was just a baby.”
Li’i understood his loss. “I have no father,” she said
,“and you have no mother but now we have each other.”
[[<<->great teacher]] [[>>->we have each other]]</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="top-rightt">
Li'i found it hard to talk to Philip after that.
[[<<->Sacred]] [[>>->parted ways in silence.]]</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centered">
"We can disagree without hating," Mother said, "Perhaps he'll come around."
[[<<->father]] [[>>->around]]</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centered">
“I hope so,” Li’i said sadly.
[[<<->parted ways in silence.]] [[>>->hope]]</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Chop...
Chop...
[[<<->crowd cheered]] [[>>->Chop2]]](stop:)]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Chop...
Chop...
Chop...
[[<<->Chop1]] [[>>->Chop3]]](stop:)]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="centered">
But there would be no peace now. The Man in Black and his followers had divided the village permanently.
[[<<->Chop]] [[>>->intensified]]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-lefttt">
The Man in Black claimed it was the elders who had grown jealous of his influence over the village.
[[<<->wonder]] [[>>->jealous]]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-lefttt">
Others suspected something far more sinister.
Li’i’s Mother was among them who believed that a curse had come upon the village,
“The spirits are angry” she whispered.
[[<<->wild boars]] [[>>->field]]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="centered">
But the Man in Black didn't care. He replanted the field. That night, three men stood watch over the crops with machetes.
But it was no use. In the morning, the three guards were nowhere to be found and the field was ruined again. The village, however, didn't have a chance to wonder what had happened this time, for something far worse had occurred.
“Four children are missing, two from the village and two from the Man in Black’s camp,” Mother said to Li’i. "We must help the parents look.”
[[<<->jealous]] [[>>->Four children are missing]]</div><p>
<div class="container">
<div class="bottom-left">(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")
[“Children,” she said.
“a curse has come upon us.
The spirits of the island are angry,
you have insulted them,
and the children will not be returned
until the Banyan Tree is replanted.”
[[<<->mothers’ cries]] [[>>->disloyalty]]](stop:)]</div><p>
<div class="container">
<div class="bottom-left">
The Old Woman then scanned
the crowd until her eyes fell upon Li’i.
“We need a hero to send on this journey."
[[<<->electricity]] [[>>->shouted]]</div><script>
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<div class="centered">
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
“Enough!” The Man in Black shouted.
“This woman is mad. There is no such thing as curses and tonight we will prove it.
We will all stay up through the night,
and we will all see who really has taken our children.”
[[<<->disloyalty]] [[>>->see]]</div><script>Sound.fade(0,3000);</script>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-leftt">
Something had awoken.
Li’i felt it as she stood with her mother outside of their hut.
The stars shone down on them both as they waited.
[[<<->shadows]] [[>>->awoken]]
</div><p>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-righttt">
Li’i’s mother saw it too,
and in one last great effort she threw Li’i
headlong into a bush.
[[<<->into the jungle]] [[>>->effort]]
</div><script>Sound.fade(0,3000);</script>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")
[Li’i fell with a thud and looked up just in time to see her mother be swallowed whole.
“NO!” Li’i screamed, but the beast was gone, and so was Mother.
[[<<->followed them]] [[>>->effort2]]](stop:)]</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
Then Li’i remembered the eyes of the Old Woman just two nights ago. Surely she’d know how to get Mother back.
[[<<->children]] [[>>->Old Woman]]
</div><p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="top-left">
A large canoe had landed
with a strange people from beyond the sea.
[[<<->well.]] [[>>->canoe]]</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centered">
(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")["Can I play with you?"
[[<<->wary]] [[>>->“Can I play with you?]]](stop:)]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="top-left">
(live: .8s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[The boy smiled. Li'i smiled back. They played till the sun set,
and then carried on laughing and chasing each other
well into the night.
[[<<->Pale Face]] [[>>->sun]]](stop:)]
</div><script>Sound.fade(0,3000);</script>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-leftt">
She followed it until she came to the place of the Banyan Tree.
What she saw shocked her.
[[<<->hope]] [[>>->strange noise]]
</div><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
"She's gone!" Li'i shouted in surprise. "Because we will not listen," was Mother's reply.
[[<<->see]] [[>>->divided]]
</div><p>
<div class="containerr">
<div class="bottom-righttt">
Li’i was frozen.
Her legs would not move,
but Mother grabbed her by the hand
and pulled her into the jungle.
[[<<->three great shadows]] [[>>->into the jungle]]</div>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
Li’i wandered the jungle all night trying to find Mother.
When she finally found her way back to the village, what she found broke her heart.
[[<<->effort]] [[>>->so had mother]]</div>Double-click this passage to edit it.<script>Sound.fade(0,3000);</script>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<div class="container">
<div class="centeredd">
...and with one final swing it was done.
“Now let’s get to work,” the Man in Black roared.
[[<<->Chop2]] [[>>->Chop]]
</div>Double-click this passage to edit it.Double-click this passage to edit it.