The kite flier, a Hawaiian legend

yifei

放风筝者(The kite flier, a Hawaiian legend)

Once upon a time, the god Maui cast a fishhook（钓鱼钩）into the sea and pulled up the islands we call Hawaii. Maui was small but very strong. He was also a mischief maker（恶作剧的人）, with boundless energy and never-ending curiosity. His mind was always at work, inventing（发明）and discovering（发现）new things.

One day he was walking near his home on the island of Hilo. As usual, he felt restless. \"I need to do something brand-new（全新的）,\" he thought.

Maui was searching for adventure when he saw his mother carrying a roll of paper cloth known as kapa.

\"That's it,\" Maui thought, and when his mother laid her kapa on the ground and turned her back, Maui snatched（夺取）a piece of the cloth. He hurried to the riverbank.

There he sat, folding the cloth this way and that. Before long he had invented the kite（风筝）.

\"Now what?\" he wondered as he studied his new invention. He tossed it into the air and caught it, and then he noticed a special plant growing nearby. His eyes lit up as he stripped off a piece of loose bark, braided（编辫子）it and created a long, strong cord. This he tied to his kite.

Holding the cord, Maui launched his kite into the sky. Summoning his magical powers, he cried, \"Fly, kite, fly!\"

The kite rose slowly and bounced along, floating forward, dipping down gently. Maui shook and tugged at the cord, blowing as hard as he could, but his kite moved as if it were a wounded bird, tumbling forward and tripping backward.

\"I need wind!\" Maui exclaimed, and he knew just where to find it.

Long before, the priest Kaleiioku had opened a giant gourd（葫芦容器）and trapped the winds inside.

\"I must set the winds free,\" Maui said, so he stood upon the riverbank far from the big island, many miles from the priest's home. Maui gazed across the water and said, \"Let the gourd be opened; let the winds be set free.\"

The winds, freed from their trap, rushed out and sailed toward the coast. They swept across the ocean, on their way to Hilo Bay.

As they swept toward the river, the winds spotted the kite. To the winds, the kite looked like a monster. They rumbled（隆隆响；辘辘行驶） toward it, eager to destroy it.

Maui stood upon the lava rocks（火山熔岩）, holding the cord of his kite, and when those winds attacked, even the little god had to brace himself against their force.

The winds pummeled（用拳头打；重击）that kite, pushing it higher and higher, and Maui's feet gripped the lava rocks where he stood as the cord stretched and stretched. The kite struggled as the fierce winds attacked. Maui loved to match his strength against the powerful. He was never happier than when he was engaged in a contest（比赛）.

Back and forth the winds blew, and Maui strained against them. But Maui was determined to win this contest.

Day after day he flew his kite, entertaining（娱乐） himself, until one day the people began to notice the kite. They realized that when the kite soared in the sky, the weather would be dry. When they didn't see the kite in the sky, they knew they had to be prepared for the furious（狂暴的）winds and coming storms.