(no subject)

[rivka]

Okay, by request: the script for the Christmas pageant I wrote.

"The Friendly Beasts"
A Unitarian-Universalist Christmas Pageant

Note: The carol verses can be sung by the congregation, or by a chorus of children. That depends on how much interest there is in being part of the pageant. The carol verses are in bold text in the script.

Scene: A stable. Cow and Sheep are in the background as the Innkeeper enters with Mary, Joseph, and the Donkey.

Jesus, our brother, kind and good
Was humbly born in a stable rude
And the friendly beasts around him stood
Jesus, our brother, kind and good.

Innkeeper: Here you are. Cleanest stable in Bethlehem.

Joseph: This is the best you can do?

Innkeeper: Sorry. You aren't the only strangers looking for a place to sleep tonight. My inn is full from top to bottom.

Mary: We'll make it work. Thank you.

(Innkeeper leaves. Mary and Joseph stable the donkey and move back into shadow as the other Animals come forward.)

Donkey: (to other animals) What a disaster!

Cow: What's wrong?

Donkey: This poor woman is about to have a baby. They've been traveling all day - something about having to pay their taxes in Bethlehem. And now she has to have her baby in a barn. She can't even go inside to rest.

Sheep: So? All of *us* were born in a barn.

Donkey: It's different for humans. They're used to having other humans to help them. And they need *things* for the baby.

Cow: She walked all the way to Bethlehem when she was about to have a baby?

Donkey: No. Actually, I carried her.

(Other animals pause, look Donkey up and down.)

Sheep: You're awfully small to carry such an enormously big woman.

Donkey: I didn't know what else to do. She was in pain. I just had to do something to help.

I, said the donkey all shaggy and brown
I carried his mother uphill and down
I carried her over to Bethlehem town
I, said the donkey all shaggy and brown.

Cow: I've been thinking. Where are they even going to put the baby? It's just animal stalls, in here.

Sheep: What do you mean? We've all seen babies. They're born into the straw, they stagger to their feet, and a minute later they're following their mothers around. You don't have to put them anywhere special.

Donkey: Not human babies - they can't walk at all. They're pretty helpless.

Sheep: That's weird.

Cow: Someplace raised up, I guess? So his mother can sit next to him? ...We could use my manger.

Sheep: If we use your manger, what will we do with your hay?

Cow: I was going to leave it there.

Sheep: But then you won't have anything to eat.

Cow: I can wait until breakfast. The hay will make a softer bed for the baby.

I, said the cow all white and red
I gave him my manger for his bed
I gave him my hay to pillow his head
I, said the cow all white and red.

Cow: You know, it's pretty cold tonight. What's going to keep the baby warm?

Sheep: He'll have fur, right? All babies have fur.

Donkey: No, human babies are born naked. We need to cover him up with something. Hmmm. (All search the stable.) Straw? No, too prickly.

Cow: Um, um, oats? No, they'll just slide right off him.

Sheep: (long pause) Okay. Give me a hand with my wool. Just... pull it off... okay, there. (Cow and Donkey remove fleece from Sheep's costume.) It's the warmest you'll find anywhere. And soft. He can wear my wool.

I, said the sheep with curly horn
I gave him my wool for his blanket warm
He wore my coat on Christmas morn
I, said the sheep with curly horn.

(Mary brings forth the baby, wraps him in the sheep's wool, and lays him in the manger.)

Donkey: I think we're all set. Transportation... a bed... clothes... his mother can feed him. That's all we need, right?

Cow: What if he cries? Born in a stable, far from home - he's going to be pretty scared and confused.

Sheep: Maybe we could sing to him. (Animals moo, bleat, and bray, loudly and discordantly.)

Donkey: (pause) ...Maybe we should ask the doves instead.

(Littlest kids come out in dove costumes, fly around the stable, and then sing one verse of "Silent Night.")

I, said the dove from the rafters high
I cooed him to sleep so he wouldn't cry
We cooed him to sleep, my friends and I
I, said the dove from the rafters high.

Sheep: Look outside! I've never seen a star that big before. And I think that's an angel flying through the air! You don't see that every day. Hey, is there something special about this baby?

Donkey: Yes, there sure is!

Sheep: What is it? What is it?

Donkey: There has never been anyone like this baby ever before, and there will never be anyone like this baby ever again. This baby has the potential to do great things! He might teach the whole world about love and peace.

Cow: And this baby gave us a chance to show how we can help someone who really needs it. We learned to be more caring, because of this baby.

Sheep: Wait a minute. You could say the same things about *every* baby.

Donkey: Yes! That's exactly right. *Each* night a child is born is a holy night.

Cow: Wow. We got to be part of a holy night.

Doves: I'm glad we helped.

Cow: I hope he remembers us, when he grows up. I hope his life will show that we started him out with love.

Donkey: You know what? I think it will.

Thus every beast, by some good spell
In the stable dark, was glad to tell
Of the gifts they gave Emmanuel
The gifts they gave Emmanuel.

Comments

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

This totally made me tear up, and I am not a Christian. I love this. It's lovely! I especially love the flock of doves. Just beautiful :)

N.

[ladyotterfae.livejournal.com]

I don't even like the vast majority of Christmas pageant type things, and I'm sniffling and smiling. I think you may have a winner here. :)

[juno.livejournal.com]

Made me cry. This will be awesome.

[geminigirl]

I'm sitting here with a fussy six month old, who is probably doing something amazing like getting teeth, and I can't stop crying.

It kind of makes me think of my two favorite books to give to parents to be...

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

I'm crying, too.

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

Very sweet and meaningful. Plus, it skips over the part of the patchwork legend that ticks me off; that twelve days later Joseph *still* couldn't find a room for his newborn baby and post-partum wife even though the census would have been long over.

[charlottezweb.livejournal.com]

No crying at work!!! *snif* Dang it!

[mizchalmers.livejournal.com]

"*Each* night a child is born is a holy night."

My Claire was born at 4.30am on December 25 2002.

Best Christmas ever.

(My Julia was born at 11am on November 14, three years later. Best... publication of Ulysses anniversary... ever...)

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

Aw, that is really lovely. (I'm just about the least religious person ever, AND pretty unemotional, and I'm even getting a little teary over here.) And now I want to pull out my Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums. Well, put them on my iPod. :)

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

(PS: no lobsters?)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I feel like I should recognize the lobsters reference, but I don't.

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

I guess it is a bit obscure. The Christmas pageant in "Love, Actually" features a number of sea creatures. Leading to one of the best lines of the film, when the daughter informs her mother that she's cast as Lobster #2: "... there was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?"

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

How wonderful. Yeah, I'm crying too.

It fits with the canonical story, and it fits for a more inclusive view of the significance of the story, and it even includes the "helping" curriculum you've been doing in your class.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I love it! and yes, I too have teared up. Wonderful.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

wow, that's beautiful

[aendr.livejournal.com]

It's lovely, and made me cry (which I originally blamed on my 38 weeks pregnant hormonal state, till I read the other comments) though in a good way.

[ewein2412]

ok, i'm not crying. but i'm thinking about my kids' sunday school. what's your feeling on international copyright...?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It's, um, not a very Christian pageant.

If that's okay with you, have at it. You know my legal name to credit the authorship, right?

[ewein2412]

do you go by your maiden name? if so, yes.

I'd like to send it in with Sara just to see if they're interested. The woman who runs the show was complaining about how difficult it is to pull stuff together(Tim and I aren't involved with the sunday school as we're the church bell ringers--the activities happen at the same time!)

my email is ewein2412 [AT] yahoo . co . uk

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but it strikes me as close enough that, for example, a small cast member's visiting Baptist grandmother wouldn't be horrified.

[acceberskoorb.livejournal.com]

Neener Neener, I told you so! (Is that rude?) : )

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

I love this! This is great!

[kate_nepveu]

That's adorable.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Very well done! Good apportioning of parts, easy lines, and it's not too sweet.

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

That is so sweet. I love how you worked in the various verses of the song.

[castiron.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful. I wish I could see it.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

So cute! (I didn't bother to request, as I knew there would be a clamor.)

[namedphoenix.livejournal.com]

absolutely wonderful! I'm glad I read it tonight.