Raven Steals the Light
Inuit, North America
Readers:
Narrator 1 (which includes the voices ofTupilak, his daughter, and the People)
Narrator 2 (which includes the voices of Ravenand Tupilak’s wife)
Pantomimers:
Tupilak
Tupilak’s wife
Raven
Tupilak’s daughter
Several people (3-6?)
Possible props:
Sky (Ribbons, cloth suspended somehow)
Two bags for the sun and moon, tied with rope
Helium balloons to be sun and moon – or paper on sticks
Bag for Raven to pack
Jug for water
Rock (?)
Black “feathered” cape for Raven (and maybe a beak/mask)
Script:
Narrator 1:
Have younoticed in the Winter we have shorter days and longer nights? It getsdark here even before dinner at this time of year. But in the summer, the sun will stay out past dinner, even past your bedtime.
Some of us are going to act out a story about people from a long time ago who lived way up north in Alaska. When it is winter there, the sun only shines for a few hours each day. It’s dark when the children walk to school. It’s even dark at lunchtime. And it’s very dark by the time they walk back home again at the end of the school day. Each winter, when the sun went away, the people wondered where it went. And they created wonderful stories to explain it. This is one of those stories.
Narrator 2:
One very cold winter -- a long, long time ago -- the magician, Tupilak, put on his magic hat and shoes. He walked up to the sky, and used his magic to cut a hole in the sky. Then he climbed through and built himself a house on the other side.
His wife argued with him. “What are you doing?” she cried. “All our friends are on this side of the sky. If we live on the other side, we will be completely alone!”
Narrator 1:
Tupilak responded, “You can go back to visit.”
Narrator 2:
His wife said, “I don’t want to visit. I want to be here right next to everyone. I don’t want to live alone!”
Narrator 1:
“What do you mean, live alone? You’ll be living with me! And we’ll have children, and the whole thing will be much more comfortable. Why everyone will want to visit you!”
Narrator 2:
“But no one has your magic, Tupilak,” cried his wife. “They won’t be able to come.”
Narrator 1:
“Oh, probably some of them do.”
Tupilak was stubborn. He persisted in his plan. He carried all his magical tools through the hole he had made in the sky. His wife, sighing with resignation, carried a stash of frozen seal meat.
After they had settled as best they could, and even had a beautiful daughter, Tupilak could see that his wife was still sad. In order to please her, he decided to steal the light from the other side of the sky. He climbed back through the hole he had made so long ago and walked in his magic shoes straight to the very top of the sky. Then he crammed the moon and the sun each into a strong bag, wrapping the necks of the bags tight with rope. He pushed the bags back through the hole and hooked them high on the ceiling of his house, letting out the light only when he chose to do so.
Narrator 2:
Now, the world on this side of the sky had no light at all. And the people became puny and tired because they had no light. And that meant they also had little food. They didn’t even have the strength to wonder anymore where Tupilak and his wife had gone.
Finally, the people came to ask for Raven’s help. Raven was a wise and tricky old bird. He had some magic of his own. The people came to his hut and called weakly at his door, waking Raven from his sleep. He poked out his head.
Narrator 1:
“Raven, the sun never comes out anymore – and there’s no moon either. We’re running out of food.”
Narrator 2:
Raven heard the despair intheir voices. He thought to himself, “I’ll bet Tupilak is behind all this.” Aloud, he said, “I make you a promise. I will try to find the sun.”
Narrator 1:
“And the moon,” the people added.
Narrator 2:
“Yes, the moon, too,” agreed Raven.
To find the sun and the moon, Raven knew he would have to take a long journey. So he packed as big a bag of food as he could carry. And he put several good-sized rocks in another bag. Then, getting more and more excited at the idea of tricking that old magician, Tupilak, Raven pulled down his beak, drew on his black-winged coat, and soared into the freezing night sky.
Whenever he needed to rest, Raven dropped a rock from his pack into the endless dark waters below. The rock magically changed – kerplash! – to an island on which Raven could perch, gobbling down suppers huddled in his warm feather coat, until he was ready to fly again.
Narrator 1:
Finally, he discovered the hole in the sky made by Tupilak’s magic. When Raven stepped through, he found himself dazzled by the sunlight on the other side of the hole, for Tupilak had let the sun out of its bag for the day. The sky was blue. A pool of water glistened, and plants poked green, red, and pink from the brown earth. Raven saw Tupilak in the distance. He was easy to identify in his tall hat, soaking up the yellow heat.
Narrator 2:
To get Tupilak’s attention, Raven coughed a bit. [coughing sound]
Narrator 1: [squinting, looking]
“Is that you, Raven? asked Tupilak.
Narrator 2:
“None other,” replied Raven
Narrator 1:
Tupilak was very suspicious. “What do you want?”
Narrator 2:
“Just the sun and the moon,” Raven stated firmly.
Narrator 1:[laughing]
Laughing, Tupilak said, “Not a chance, Raven. They are mine now.”
Narrator 2:
“You’re a thief, Tupilak!”
Narrator 1:
“Takes one to know one.” And with that, Tupilak quickly stuffed the sun back into its bag. Everything was suddenly dark again.
Narrator 2:
Raven called out, “I’m going to get them back, Tupilak!”
Narrator 1:
Tupilak let out the moon and the sun several times while Raven, munching and dozing nearby, tried to form a plan. Then in the midst of the sunshine, Raven was startled by the appearance of a strong, lovely maiden making her way down to the pool with a water jug in her hand. “This must be Tupilak’s daughter,” thought Raven. All at once, he knew what trick he would use to get back the light.
He quickly balled up his black-winged coat, pushed it under a rock, and turned himself into a tiny feather floating on the still waters of the pool.
Narrator 2:
Tupilak’s daughter sat at the pool’s edge. Raven, now Raven Feather, trembled with expectation. He had a long time to wait, however, because the young woman sang softly to herself, bathed her feet and face in the pool, and then combed out her long black hair. She finally dipped her jug in the water and Raven swirled himself inside it with the water. When the young woman took a drink from the jug, Raven Feather slipped down her throat. His plan was working!
Narrator 1:
Some months later, Tupilak’s daughter gave birth to a huge baby boy. The baby’s mother, grandmother, and grandfather were all overjoyed. All three of these people, alone for so long on the other side of the sky, poured love and tenderness into the new little boy, who unbeknownst to them, was really Raven in disguise.
His mother nursed him and played with him. His grandmother doted on him. Tupilak adored him. Raven inside his baby form was careful to cry and pester for lots of things so that his little family would get used to giving him exactly what he wanted. He bided his time, however, before he asked for the bags of light that hung from the ceiling.
One day his mother noticed a bump on the baby’s forehead. “Ooooo! You’ve fallen, little one,” she crooned, and she nuzzled him and pressed ice to the bump.
But Raven knew that the bump was his beak beginning to bulge out. He knew he didn’t have much more time to capture the sun and the moon before they would realize who he really was.
Narrator 2:
That day he cried for the moon bag on the ceiling.The baby boy (who we know was really Raven) cried and cried. “Whaah, whaah, whaah.”
Narrator 1:
“Shh, baby, shh, that’s grandpa’s bag,” said his mother, and she dangled tasty bits of food before him. Raven, of course, ate them happily.
But soon he again began to wail, waving his chubby little hands upward, pouring out rivers of tears.
This time, his grandmother fed him and bounced him, but his sobbing began again, his little finger pointing at the bag with the moon inside.
“Papa’s out,” said Tupilak’s daughter to her mother. “Let’s let him have it. What can it hurt? It’s tied tightly enough.”
Narrator 2:
Tupilak’s wife rolled her eyes. “It would serve the old man right anyway if the thing got out.”
So Raven, hiccoughing with joy, was given the moon bag to play with. His mother and grandmother enjoyed the sweet silence and the happiness of their little one. But the minute they looked away, Raven unknotted the ropeholding the bag closed. The baby clapped and screeched with joy as the moon sailed out, bouncing about the house and finally escaped through the smoke hole near the ceiling.
Narrator 1:
Tupilak came rushing back to the house when he saw the moon rolling away through the tear in the sky. Angrily, he shouted, “Who touched my bag?”
He stopped shouting when his wife and daughter pointed to the baby, who shrieked with joy upon seeing his grandfather.
Narrator 2:
“Dada!” the boy called sweetly. And then the boy reached for Tupilak’s hand.Tupilak’s face softened. The baby cooed and patted his grandfather while Tupilak beamed with pride. The two women looked at each other and shook their heads.
Raven wisely waited a little bit. But then he cried for the sun bag to play with. When Tupilak had settled down for a nap, Raven Baby began howling, waving his hands as if he was trying to pull down the sun bag.
Narrator 1: [groaning, sleepily]
“Oh, give him anything he wants. Just make him be quiet,”whined Tupilak.
Narrator 2:
The two women shrugged and pulled down the sun bag. But first, they each wrapped and knotted the ropeholding the bag closed twice more.
Their knot was so effective that Raven could not open the bag while still disguised as a baby. Knowing he must act quickly, he looked sadly at his mama’s back, then spedout the door, with the sun bag in his fist. He raced to the rock where he had hidden his black-winged cape so long ago. His beak plunged through his forehead, and Raven took bird form once again. Grasping the sun bag, he dove through the hole in the sky and flew away to the people, whose eyes had grown accustomed once again to the light of the moon but who still lived without the light of the sun.
Narrator 1:
Raven felt hunger pangs as he flew. On he flew, but his stomach growled for food. By the time Raven spied the people below fishing in river by the light of the moon, his wings were weak with effort and he was starving.
Narrator 2:
Raven called weakly, “Ga, ga. Give me some fish.”
Narrator 1:
“Get your own fish, Raven,” said the people. “We hardly have enough for ourselves.”
Narrator 2: [begging]
“Please!I’ll let out the daylight!” he begged.
Narrator 1:
“You don’t have daylight, Raven,” said the people, forgetting that they themselves had asked him to bring the sun.
Narrator 2:
Raven cawed with exasperation. He dropped the sun bag, and with his remaining strength, rammed at it three times, pecking in it tiny holes out of which sizzled particles of the sun, tumbling into the sky. Those little bits of light became sparkling spinning stars.
Narrator 1:
“He does have something in his bag!” exclaimed the people. They rushed to provide Raven with fish.
Narrator 2:
Raven gorged and sucked every bone slick. Then, full of strength and power once again, he tore open the bag. Out exploded the sun, while people screamed and covered their eyes. In a very short time, they adjusted to the bright light and gratefully prepared an enormous and delectable feast for Raven, thanking him for bringing back the sun and the moon.
Narrator 1:
Meanwhile, on the other side of the sky, Tupilak and his family mourned. Some say they got so lonely they came back to this side of the sky. Others say if they came at all, it was to steal the light again. But Tupilak was never able to take the light for as long as he did that first time. Whenever it disappears and returns again, whenever people watch the moon roll into the sky among the bits of sun that are the stars, they think fondly of Raven. And whenever people hear a baby crying, they remember Raven’s trick on Tupilak.