One Small Girl Lyrics - Once On This Island Soundtrack

STORYTELLERS
One small girl
In a tree
Torn from her mother
Crying in fright
One small girl
Tossed by sea
And left to face
The stormy night
Once small girl
Holding tight

STORYTELLERS(Spoken in rhythm)
At last the storm subsided.
And the morning sun glowed.
And two old peasants
came cautiously
down the road.

TONTON JULIAN
Mama Euralie!

MAMA EURALIE
Tonton Julian!

MAMA(spoken)
Asaka is smiling again, Julian.

TONTON
This morning she smiles. Last night she tried
to blow our heads off.

MAMA
Ah, Julian, just listen to those birds.

BIRDS
Coo coo coo coo coo
Coo coo coo coo coo

LITTLE TI MOUNE
Aaaahh!

TONTON
What kind of bird is that?

MAMA
Look! There!

MAMA
One small face
Two small knees

TONTON
Why are you up there?

MAMA
What is your name?

MAMA
The girl can't speak

TONTON(Gesturing up)
And they're to blame
Agwe probably meant to kill her

MAMA(spoken in rhythm)
The she'd be dead

TONTON
It's possible he forgot

MAMA
The god's don't forget

TONTON
Then they had some reason to spare
Her life

BOTH
It's best that we don't know what
One small girl...
Better not.

TONTON(spoken)
But we are too old for children

MAMA
We have no room, and no food...

ERZULIE
And not knowing why, they followed
their hearts back to the tree, gently lifted
the terrified child down...

LITTLE TI MOUNE
Noo!!!

ERZULIE
And discovered that she could speak after all.

MEN
One small girl

WOMEN
In the way

MAMA
Constantly hungry

TONTON
Learning too quick

ALL(but little Ti Moune)
One small girl
Hard at play

TONTON
She makes me smile

MAMA
She scares me sick!

ERZULIE
And they scolded and teased
And held her
And mended the clothes she tore

ALL(but Mama, Tonton and Little Ti Moune)
And the hut was crowded
And food was scarce
And somehow, their lives held more
One small girl
To live for.

A STORYTELLER
They named her Desiree Dieu-Donne or
God-Given Desire. But in their affection, they
simply called her Ti Moune.

LITTLE TI MOUNE
What does Ti Moune mean, Mama?

MAMA
It means little orphan. Saved by the gods for
something special!

LITTLE TI MOUNE
What is it?

MAMA
Ti Moune, if we knew why the gods did the
things they do, we would be gods ourselves!

LITTLE TI MOUNE
Someday I'm going to ask them, Mama!

ALL(but Mama, Tonton and Little Ti Moune)
Sweet as a eucalyptus
And terrible as a tempest
Banging a drun
And humming a tune...
Ti Moune
Falling
And running
And calling
And growing
And growing
And growing
And growing...up too soon...

TONTON
One small girl

MAMA
Not so small

TONTON
Lost in those daydreams

MAMA
Day after day

STROYTELLERS
Ooh way ooh

TONTON
Call her name

MAMA
No, don't call

Ooh way ooh

BOTH
Her ears
Don't hear
She's far away

TONTON
And I know that
She's getting older

MAMA
I know that it's
Meant to be

BOTH
And my arms
Can't hold her
And keep her small
But all that my
Heart can see...

Aaahhh

MAMA, TONTON
Is one small
Girl

One small
Girl
One small
Girl

MEN
One small
Girl
One small
Girl
One small
Girl

WOMEN
One small
Girl
One small
Girl
One small
Girl

MAMA, TONTON
In a tree

ALL
Ooh, ooh way ooh
Ooh, ooh way ooh...