Unity
| Characters: 5 narrators, 2 brothers, a flock of birds, and a rat. |
| Narrator 1: Once in a village in India there were two strong handsome
brothers. They had been working hard plowing their field and finally today was the day
they would plant it with grain. They walked together to the field. (birds chirping) When
they got there they scattered seeds until the whole field was covered. As they walked home
that day they dreamed together of the grand harvest they would have. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes after the brothers left that a flock of doves flew over the field. They spied the seeds and in one grand swoop they landed on the field. In no time at all they had gobbled up every single seed! |
| Narrator 2: The next afternoon the brothers strolled out to the field.
When they got there they couldn’t believe their eyes. No matter how hard they looked
they couldn’t find any seeds! Not a single one! Scratching their heads in confusion
they returned back home. The following morning they returned to the field and again scattered seeds on the whole field. When they had finished, they hid in the bushes along the edge of the field. After a short wait that same flock of doves flew over. Imagine the doves’ delight when they saw that the field was again covered with seeds! They flew down and again gobbled up every seed! After the doves left, the brothers came out of hiding and as they walked home they made a plan. |
| Narrator 3: Early the fourth morning they came to the field. One brother was carrying a bag of seeds and the other brother had a light rope net. The first thing they did this day was to spread the net on the ground. After that they scattered the seeds as they had done two times before. When they were finished they stepped back into the bushes and watched and waited. |
| Narrator 4: Like clockwork, the flock of doves came to see if their
banquet had been served again. From up high the field looked just the way it had looked
the day before and the day before that! They could not turn down such a delicious feast so
they again swooped down to the field and began to gobble up the seeds. The farmers in the
bushes pulled the chord that threw the trap and before the doves knew what happened they
were all caught in a net. You can imagine how they tried to get free. Finally, after they had thrashed about for a long time, an old wise dove spoke up. He said, "We cannot get out of this trap if we continue to try as individuals, but the trap is not a heavy one. If we all fly at the same moment I believe we can lift the trap together and fly over the ridge to the temple where our friend the rat will chew us free." The doves listened to what the old dove said and they agreed that it sounded like a good plan. |
| Narrator 5: One of the younger doves piped up now, saying, " I have
an idea how we can all fly at the same moment. We all know how to clap don’t
we?" All of the doves nodded their heads. The young dove went on: "Why
don’t we clap tintal and on the second sum all fly together into the
air?" This sounded like a winning plan to the doves, so before the astonished eyes of the two farmers, the captured doves began to count tintal and on the second sum they flew up into the air carrying the trap with them! The doves flew over the ridge and their friend the rat did chew them free. And the doves, so happy with their freedom, danced a tarana to celebrate. - The End - |
| Note: Tintal rhythm is a repeated 16-beat rhythmic cycle. The
first beat, the main beat, is known as sum. Beats 5 and 13 are secondary downbeats.
Beat 9 is the empty beat (no sound, like a rest). Clap the rhythm as a group as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (loud clap ) (clap) (wave)
|
| 11 12
13
14 15 16
1 .... (clap) (loud clap) |
| Adapted by Annie Penta from The Panchatantra, a collection of traditional stories from India. |