3·lo pelori

Two small tools in this chapter. The word lo before a noun makes it many. And a describing word placed before a noun describes it. You met thiku and whalo as things a sentence says; now watch them walk up and stand beside a noun instead.

SceneI

pelori meliho.lo pelori meliho.lo pelori wapi.lopia lo pelori nila.

One bird sings; the birds sing; the birds fly; the child watches them go. One small word, and the garden fills with wings.

SceneII

thiku pelori meliho.whalo lohau nulae.welao phao nuora pilewa.lo thiku pelori wapi.

No new words. Look instead at where the old ones stand. Before a noun: thiku pelori, a small bird. The describer announces; the noun delivers. You have been reading this order since chapter one without being told.

SceneIII

lo shiro whalo nai.lo peloru thiku nai.lo peloru welao nai.thepalu welao nai.

The trees are large, the flowers are small, and all of it is good. Notice peloru and pelori: flower and bird differ only in their final vowel. Give that last syllable its full sound; the garden depends on it.

SceneIV

lopia mua thepalu nai.Say it and keep walking; the little word mua is chapter five's secret, arriving early so your ear knows it when it is named.lopia lo peloru nila.wheo lo shiro nila.lohau lo pelori nila.lo pelori wapi.waero whalo nai.

Everyone looks at what suits them: the child at flowers, the elder at trees, the dog at birds (who decline to be looked at). Above all of it, the sky is large.