Children's Classics in Dramatic Form, A Reader for the Fourth Grade

WIFE. Ah, better still! We have just enough grass for a sheep.--Ewe's milk and cheese! Woolen jackets and stockings! The cow could not give all those. How you think of everything!

THE CALIPH. THE GRAND VIZIER. FIRST CHILD, _who plays he is the Cauzee_[Footnote: A Mohammedan judge.] SECOND CHILD, _who plays he is the officer_. THIRD CHILD, _who plays he is...

WICKED UNCLE (_nodding; mysteriously_). I followed her back to the castle; through the marble halls and up to the little cave room. I saw her break up the nettles. Then I saw he...

RABBIT (_not heeding the Alligator_). No thanks are necessary, Brother Man. I haven't forgotten the good turnips thou didst give me last winter when the ground was covered with...

PIERRE. Yes, sire, to the river. There were traces of them in the grass, in the mud, in the dust, on rocks, and in still water. I am certain they had passed but a short time bef...

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. SCHOOLMASTER. CARLOS. ROQUE.[Footnote: Pronounced _R[=o]'k[=a]_.] PANCHO.[Footnote: Pronounced _Pän'ch[=o]_ (_ch_ as in _ch_urch.)] KING JOHN. COURTIERS. J...

ISABEL (_not heeding_). Mother, a song has come to me,--'t is a song to the beautiful trees. Let me stop to write it down, while my heart is full of it.

SECOND COUNTRYMAN. I cannot say that I have. There is, however, certainly something wonderful about me. I have noticed it for a long time. Hast thou not felt it when in my company?

NOTE TO TEACHER.--This play conforms to the spirit of the traditional story of Columbus, but the dramatization has made it necessary to condense into one scene the somewhat prol...

PRINCE (_interrupting_). Nay, nay, mother! The songs please me better than the flat-foot and the hanging-lip and the broad-thumb of the spinners. Come, Isabel, you shall be my p...

OLD SOLDIER. You shall dance in your red shoes till you are pale and cold! By night and by day you shall dance; in sunshine and in rain; in snow and in sleet. Over highways and...

ALLIGATOR. I speak the truth. A great waterspout lifted me out of the river. Then a fierce wind caught me and blew me about as if I were a feather. Finally, I was dropped here w...

SECOND WAG. Each of you must take a gourd from his basket there and tie it around his ankle. Then, in the morning, when you awake, you will each know that it is yourself and non...

GOODMAN. A horse is of more value than a cow, but I don't care for that. A cow will be more useful to me; so if you like, we'll exchange.

MOLE. You have not the voice of a duck. You do not speak with the quack of which they are so proud. And then, if you are truly a duck, why are you not with your family?

EMPEROR (_turning to the boys_). My lads, go through the forest southward, till you come to the river. You may then return. Captain, see that guards go with them. My lads, you m...

PEASANT. Aye, and the day before, and all winter long, for that matter. Yesterday I saw him try to join the wild ducks on the river, but they drove him back to the pond.

SECOND NEIGHBOR. No, Grandmother, Karen is not ill. She is ashamed. She was not thinking of the beautiful music nor of the sermon this morning. Is that not true, Karen?

FAIRY. Break the nettles into pieces with your hands and feet, and they will become flax. From this flax you must spin and weave eleven coats with long sleeves. If these eleven...

INGÉ. I care not for your pretty things! I go to fetch wood for my mother. I go to walk in the mud if need be. Away with you! I'll have none of you! Away, away, I say!

MERCHANT. Certainly he must be dead, since he has not returned in all this time. Give me a plate; I will open the jar, and if the olives be good, we will eat them.

LUDWIG. No one saw me. I kept a sharp lookout. When I came to a clear space I went to one side, hiding behind trees, to look ahead. Then I ran across.

SPARROW. No, no! I can never say that again. The peasant's heart is full of kindness and love and friendship. I will sing of it! 'T will be my Christmas song!