The Crow, the Gazelle, the Turtle and the Mouse

play by Ruth Salles

Jean de La Fontaine, a 17th century French fabulist, put into beautiful verse many of the fables told by the famous and semi-legendary Greek slave Aesop, who is said to have lived in the 6th century BC. This play was based on the fable as translated from French by the Portuguese writer Francisco Manoel do Nascimento, known by the pseudonym Filinto Elísio (18th century). Because its language is quite elaborate, I recreated the verses in Brazilian language and appropriate for children, in order to assemble the play.

CHARACTERS:
Chorus, Crow, Gazelle, Turtle, Mouse, Hunter.

ALL (sing):
“The crow flies always high,
and the Gazelle takes a leap,
and the Turtle goes,
to step
slowly,
with the Fall-don't-fall house.
And through everything runs the Mouse
without making a fuss.
You have to be careful.
The Hunter lives next door!”

CHOIR:
- These four,
the Raven and the Gazelle,
the Turtle and the Mouse,
made a contract
to live together in the same den,
one helping the other in return.

RAVEN:
– I will fly and fly.

GAZELLE:
– And I will run and I will jump.

MOUSE:
- And I will quickly look for
something for dinner.

TURTLE:
– You, Gazelle, be careful,
that the Hunter lives next door.

CHOIR:
– The three of them go for a walk.
The Turtle wanted to stay
setting the table for dinner. (lays a towel on the floor)
Here comes the flying crow
and around the table he sits. (the Mouse comes after)

TURTLE:
– Come soon, Mouse, you too.

MOUSE:
– And where is the Gazelle that doesn't come?

RAVEN:
“I saw the Hunter around.
She was arrested for sure.

TURTLE:
– Then the contract must be fulfilled!
The Crow looks for her and then the Mouse.
I keep the burrow, for safety,
because the house in the back tires me.

CHOIR:
- Fly the Crow in the dash
and sees the Gazelle well tied up.
He calls the Mouse, which gnaws, gnaws, gnaws
and the thick rope thus destroys.

TURTLE (coming out of den):
- I walk very slowly.
But I made a contract and I will help.

HUNTER (arriving):
– Who released my prey so beautiful?

CHOIR:
– But the Mouse and the Gazelle are already far away.

HUNTER (seeing the Turtle coming):
- A turtle! Oops, oops!
Will do for my soup! (puts the Turtle in the bag and ties the opening)

CHOIR:
– Poor Turtle! It's stuck in the bag
just because I wanted to fulfill the contract.

CROW (flying):
– Gazelle! Gazelle! Save the Turtle!
Fool the hunter, but run on the run! (The Gazelle passes by the Hunter)

HUNTER:
- It will be possible? There's the Gazelle!

CHOIR:
- The hunter…
Drop the bag and go after her.
The Gazelle…
hides in the hole, and the Mouse comes
and gnaws the string of the bag too. (the four hide in the den; the Turtle can ride on the Mouse's back)

HUNTER (returning):
– Where's my soup? I was tricked!

CHOIR:
- And the four together are already having dinner
in their den very quiet.

End