The kite

 

 

play by Ruth Salles

This play is based on the eponymous short story by Dr. Udo de Raes, translated by Professor Edith Asbeck. The kite, releasing itself and rising in the air, goes through several experiences that symbolize the development of the will. The crow, which is a bird that flies very high and, in Norse mythology, gives news of everything that happens, represents learning in the world; the seed is already the beginning of the unfolding of the being; the cloud represents the height reached; the stars, the light that clears the soul; and the Archangel Saint Michael even represents the highest will, which the human being finally achieves.

CHARACTERS:
Choir, Kite, Boy, Wind, Crow, Seed, Cloud, Stars, the Archangel Saint Michael, the boy's Father.

CHORUS (sings, while the boy and the father work making the kite):
“A boy will one day,
helped by father,
will make your kite,
crosses the two slats well,
put some colored paper
and a very long tail.
And the boy says to his father:
– Look at the Go-No-Go kite!”

PIPA (running and jumping):
- There I go by air,
I'm going up in cabrioles.
I'll get there in heaven,
tailing the tail!

BOY (to father):
- I already gave the whole line.
The kite is far away,
so tiny…

WIND (runs by):
– Zzz, vvv, vupt!

KITE:
– Oh, the line broke!
It was that wind whizzing by…
And now, where will I stop?
I'm going aimlessly,
very loose in the air.

CROW (bowing):
– Good morning, colorful bird,
with shiny wings and a long tail!

KITE:
– Good morning, crow, I'm not a bird, no.

RAVEN:
- Who are you? And where did it come from then?

KITE:
“I came from downstairs, from a little boy.
He made me with all affection.

RAVEN:
– And where are you going now?

KITE:
– I don't know. I'm going to fly through the sky.

RAVEN:
“I've seen that you don't belong here.
Here everyone knows where they are going.
As it is winter or summer, my luck
is to fly south or north.
You must go back to that boy.
One can lose those who do not know their destiny.

KITE:
– What a thing! Goodbye, I will fly again!
(finds the seed)
– Good morning, seed!

SEED:
- Good Morning!
You are a different seed,
with root and all flying in the breadth?

KITE:
- No! I came from the boy
which is there on the floor.

SEED:
– And where are you going?

KITE:
– I don't know.
All I know is that I want to fly through the sky.

SEED:
“I've seen that you don't belong here.
Here everyone knows where they are going.
I go with the wind that flies from the east… to the west.
With him, the heat of the sun in me ends.
When I'm really hot,
I go down to earth.
And the earth, receiving so much heat,
then make the beautiful flower bloom in me.
If here you don't know what to do,
must return to earth. It must go down.

KITE:
– What a thing! I'm going to fly even more!
(finds the cloud)
– Good afternoon, cloud!

A CLOUD:
- Good afternoon! what a beautiful cloud
with the red glow of the setting sun!

KITE:
– I'm not a cloud, no. I was made by people
for the boy who is there on the floor.

A CLOUD:
– And where are you going?

KITE:
– Out there, in the widest…

A CLOUD:
“I've seen that you don't belong here.
Here everyone knows where they are going.
I gather the red of the setting sun
and make your light shine again
in the red flame of dawn.
I make it rain and bless the earth,
and the sun comes later and carries me
to the top of the sky. That's how I live.
But you, if you have no aim,
must return to the boy. Go down.
Then you can get lost.

KITE:
– What a thing! What nothing! I'm already going…
I see a more beautiful glow up there!
(finds the stars)
- Good night, stars!

STARS:
– Good night, traveller!
What news does it bring us from the distant land?

KITE:
– I come from the boy, who sleeps, dreaming.
And dream with me until I come back.

STARS:
– Then bring him our blessings of light.

CHOIR:
– What light! What light shines in the sky!
Ah, it's the Archangel Saint Michael!
(The archangel throws the star towards the kite.)

KITE:
– Oh, with this fire, it went to the ground that I
slipped!

BOY (waking up, rubs eyes):
– What a strange dream… I even woke up! (see the kite)
My kite! She returned…
But… his role fell apart…
And the wooden stick changed to this one,
that looks like a celestial iron cross!

THE FATHER:
- Do not be sad. thank luck,
for celestial iron is light and strong.
And so, with iron instead of lath,
we will make a new kite.

CHORUS (sings, while the kite is made and goes flying):
“And the kite went up and in the sky visited
all those he once met.
And, along with the stars, the archangel São Miguel
caused her to come down from heaven again.
His cross grew brighter and brighter.
For years it rose, strong and resistant.
And when the boy became a boy,
his cross was transformed even more.
Now the old toy
it is a sword of light that came from the sky.
And then, with her in hand,
the young man went out into the world without fear,
as a knight of Saint Michael.”
(Everyone comes out singing the song at the beginning.)

 

End