Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
LITTLE DRAMAS FOR PRIMARY GRADES
PREFATORY NOTE
The use of dramatic readers has passed beyond the experimental stage. Their value in arousing interest, in stirring the imagination, in quickening literary appreciation and power of interpretation, has been so clearly demonstrated as to make them permanent textbooks in the elementary schools, and more particularly in the primary grades. The present difficulty consists, therefore, not in uncertainty of the value of dramatic literature, but in the inadequacy of the supply. The need of suitable literary material in good dramatic form for the primary grades is still very great. This little book has been compiled as one step toward meeting this need at least in one particular school, but it is hoped that it may prove of service in many other schools. It is intended for use at the end of the first, and at the beginning of the second, year.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For permission to use copyright material in this volume, acknowledgments and thanks are proffered to authors and publishers, as follows:
To Laura E. Richards, for the adaptation from her story, “The New Year”; to Dodd, Mead & Co. for “Mabel and the Green Lizard,” adapted from “The Adventures of Mabel,” by H. T. Peck; to G. P. Putnam’s Sons, of New York and London, for the selection by Judge Parry from “The Golden Staircase”; to Longmans, Green, & Co. for “The Odd Man and the Dog True”; and to John Lane Company for “Return of Spring,” by Dion Clayton Calthrop.
CONTENTS
BUNNY RABBIT AND THE LION
Scene I—The Forest
Mother Deer. Brave Lion, give me back my little deer.
Lion. I will not. The deer is mine.
Mother Deer. O Lion, it is the only one I have. I beg of you, give it back to me.
Lion. A lion does not give back what he has taken. Be off, or I will eat you.
Scene II—Another Part of the Forest
Mother Deer. Can you not help me, animals? The lion has taken my little deer, the only one I had.
Elephant. I am sorry for you. But the lion is the king of the forest. He takes what he will and keeps what he likes. I cannot help you.
Mother Deer. [Goes on.] Can you not help me, Camel? You are always kind and gentle.
Camel. The lion did wrong to take your deer. He did a great wrong, but I cannot help you.
Mother Deer. [Goes on.] Surely, little jackal, you will help me.
Jackal. Sh! Sh! I’m afraid of the lion, myself. We’ve never been very good friends. I wish I could help you. Let me see. I have it! Go to Bunny Rabbit. He’s a little creature, but he’s wise and brave.
Mother Deer. You say he’s wise?
Jackal. He is.
Mother Deer. And brave?
Jackal. He is.
Mother Deer. Then I will go at once.
Scene III—In Front of Bunny Rabbit’s Burrow
Bunny Rabbit. Good morning, Mother Deer. What is the matter?
Mother Deer. Bunny Rabbit, that wicked lion stole my little deer and will not give it to me. I asked the forest animals to help me, but none was brave enough to do so.