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Part Two |
| The audio is from a live radio show with students from Santa Rita Elementary, Egan Junior High and Los Altos High School in Los Altos, CA and KZSU of Stanford University in Stanford, CA. |
| The How Six Men Got On In The World on-line script matches what the students actually performed. So what you hear and what you read will match. (This is a great way to learn English and to learn how to read.) It is NOT the same as the PDF script. I.E. As usual, our young actors changed a few of their lines while performing. |
If you do not see the How Six Men Got On In The World (6.8 MB) mp3 controller below, you need to enable plug-ins.
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NARRATOR The King was very unhappy. KING Rats! Now what am I going to do? I can’t go back on my wager or the peasants will draw and quarter me. PRINCESS Father, you can’t let me be married to a lowly soldier. KING I know, I know. PRINCESS Well then, do something! Find some way to get rid of him! NARRATOR The King frowned and thought as hard as he could.
KING I’ve got it! We’ll invite this soldier and his friends to come and celebrate their victory with a meal in the castle. I’ll put them all in a room with a floor made of iron. PRINCESS And then what? Make them eat themselves to death? Hope they lick the floor, get iron overload, and die of hemochromatosis? KING No, I’ll have the cook make a fire beneath the floor. It will get so hot in the room that all the air will disappear and then they’ll suffocate to death, one by one. PRINCESS That’s a great idea! NARRATOR The King called for the six men to come forward.
KING Come, gentlemen. We shall celebrate your victory with a feast in my castle. SOLDIER Oh boy! We get a princess and some food! SIX MEN Hoorah again! NARRATOR Once the six men were shut in the room -
NARRATOR - the King had the cook begin the hottest fire he could make.
KING Throw on as many logs as you need. I want an inferno beneath them. NARRATOR The six men began to sweat. SOLDIER Ahem - Isn’t it getting a little warm in here? STRONG MAN It’s the food and the wine that are making you hot. Eat! Eat! NARRATOR But it grew hotter still. The sharpshooter went to the windows to open them.
SHARPSHOOTER Hey! The windows are all bolted closed from the outside! NARRATOR The strong man went to push open the door.
STRONG MAN And the doors are bolted closed from the other side also! SOLDIER We must do something quick or we will suffocate and die! NARRATOR The man with the cap over his one ear jumped up from his seat and pulled the cap off. The runner cheered him on. RUNNER Yes! Look now, everyone! That wicked King! Well, he’ll not succeed. With our friend’s cap off his ear, this room will freeze down right away. Our friend here will make a frost so great that the fire beneath us will be ashamed and creep away. NARRATOR Two hours later, the King believed that all six of the men had perished, so he ordered the doors to be opened.
NARRATOR The six men came strolling out. PRINCESS Father, they live! NARRATOR The King was very unhappy. KING Rats! Now what am I going to do? We used up all our spare logs making that fire. PRINCESS Buy them off! Give them gold! Father, you can’t let me marry a lowly soldier! NARRATOR The King frowned and looked at the floor. KING When’s the last time this floor was washed? NARRATOR And then made up his mind.
KING I know what I’ll do!
KING Soldier! If I give you gold, will you renounce your claim on my daughter’s hand and leave my kingdom forever? NARRATOR The soldier paused, looked at the strong man for a moment, and then said - SOLDIER Certainly. Give me as much gold as my friend here can carry, and I will not demand my right to take your daughter’s hand in marriage. KING As much as your friend can carry? NARRATOR The King knew how heavy gold was and laughed to himself at the soldier’s foolishness. KING It is agreed then. You will have as much gold as this one man, standing here next to you, can carry. And then all six of you shall leave my kingdom forever. SOLDIER Good. My friends and I shall return in fourteen days to fetch our gold.
NARRATOR The six men left. But, the strong man was worried because, though he was strong, he had only two arms with which to carry the gold. STRONG MAN Soldier! What is this you have agreed to? NARRATOR The soldier smiled at his friend. SOLDIER Do not fret, my good man. NARRATOR However, the runner was also worried. RUNNER Yes, what are we going to do? SOLDIER Trust me, my friends. I have a plan. NARRATOR The next day the soldier sent word summoning all the tailors in the kingdom to their door. SOLDIER Dear tailors, sew us the largest, strongest, most enormous sack you can make. NARRATOR The tailors got busy with their work.
NARRATOR Twelve days later they finished the giant sack, and the soldier called the other five men together. SOLDIER Now everyone, we are ready to go back to the King and pick up our gold. SIX MEN Hoorah for us!
NARRATOR So the next morning they began their walk back to the castle. The King and the Princess both spied the strong man first through their breakfast window. KING Who is that man coming towards us? And what is that huge pile of cloth on his back that looks as big as a house? PRINCESS He looks like one of those men we were trying to get rid of, father. KING You're right! And there are the other five men following behind him. NARRATOR The strong man, who had exceptionally good hearing, said - STRONG MAN Yes! It is I! A very strong man who is a friend of the soldier, who is exceptionally brilliant. The very same soldier you treated so unfairly when he returned from service in your war. I have come to carry away all the gold you have now promised him. We’ll start with a ton! KING & PRINCESS Oh my! NARRATOR The King had no choice but to have a ton of gold brought.
NARRATOR But the strong man was not satisfied. STRONG MAN This barely covers the bottom of my sack. Bring more! NARRATOR The King emptied his treasury -
NARRATOR - but still the bag wasn’t even half full. The King was very unhappy. KING Rats! I’ll have to collect all the gold in the kingdom for them.
NARRATOR Seven thousand carts of gold were gathered and brought to the six men. The strong man put all the carts and the oxen pulling them, into his bag. STRONG MAN Any more gold, your Majesty? My bag still isn’t full. NARRATOR The King and the Princess were both sobbing.
KING Just a few dishes and trinkets. PRINCESS And our crowns. STRONG MAN Put them all into my sack and then we six men will be on our way, even though the bag still isn’t full. NARRATOR The strong man threw the enormous bag of gold over his shoulders and walked away as though it were light as a feather. PRINCESS Father, you must send our fastest regiment to capture those six men and make them give us back all our gold! KING Yes, my daughter! I must do this or we shall be the poorest kingdom of all! NARRATOR So all the best horsemen were sent -
NARRATOR - to hunt down the six men. SHARPSHOOTER Look! The King has set his regiment on us! RUNNER And they have us surrounded! STRONG MAN They say we are their prisoners! NARRATOR The soldier disagreed. SOLDIER Oh no we’re not! That regiment and their steeds will dance in the air! Just you watch. NARRATOR The soldier then nodded to their friend, the fourth man who had joined them, and he began to blow his breath out -
NARRATOR - as he did for the windmills. He caused such a wind that the King’s regiment was carried away into the sky and scattered all over the mountains.
NARRATOR One by one they came crashing down.
NARRATOR One horseman cried for mercy for his steed. So the six men took pity, and allowed them both to come to a rest more gently upon the ground. SOLDIER Go home to your King and tell him to lay off. If he sends any more men, we shall have them all blown into the air just as the others. NARRATOR The horseman saluted the six men -
NARRATOR - and returned to the King, who was now thoroughly miserable. KING Rats and then some. They must have magic on their side.
NARRATOR : And so the six men divided up all the gold and went away to their separate homes at last. And there they each lived, very happily, for the rest of their lives. ©1997-2007 Lishka DeVoss/Kranky Kids®
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