Twelve brother-months
Characters: 12 months, Step-daughter, Squirrels, Hare, Story-taller, Queen.
SCENE
Story-teller:
Once upon a time in a faraway northern land there lived a queen. On New Year’s Eve she wished for a basket full of snowdrops to be brought to her palace.
Queen:
I promise a lot of gold for the basket of snowdrops.
Story-taller:
In the kingdom there lived a woman with two daughters. One of them was her own daughter and she loved the girl dearly. Another was her step-daughter and the step-mother didn’t love her. The cruel women sent her step-daughter to the forest to pick snowdrops.
In the forest
Step-daughter:
Hello, hare! Hello, squirrels!
Hare:
Hello! We’re glade to see you here.
How are you?
Step-daughter:
I am very cold.
A chilly wind is blowing.
It’s snowing.
Squirrel I:
You’re not dressed for the weather.
Your coat isn’t warm enough.
Squirrel II:
We aren’t cold with our fur-coats on.
Hare:
Hush! I see some people around the fire.
(Near the fire.)
Story-teller:
January with cold is set.
February is chill and wet.
March wind after ranges,
In April weather changes.
Pretty flowers come in May.
Sunny June brings longest day.
In hot July the skies are clean.
Then August with corn is here.
For fruit September opens the way.
October sweeps the leaves away.
Next enters grey November,
And lastly snowy December.
Step-daughter:
Good evening.
January:
Good evening, little girl.
Step-daughter:
May I sit near the fire and keep warm?
March:
Come up, little beauty.
June:
What are you doing here at night?
August:
Aren’t you picking mushrooms?
July:
Aren’t you picking berries?
May:
Aren’t you picking flowers?
12 months:
Ha-ha-ha!
Step-daughter:
It isn’t a joke.
My step-mother has sent me to pick snowdrops.
The queen promised a reward for them.
What shell I do?
May:
Everything is good in its season.
April:
It isn’t time for snowdrops yet.
December:
I know that she is a good girl.
I met her last winter.
She went to the forest to gather dry sticks.
It snowed, the cold wind blew, but she was always merry.
August:
I saw her in summer.
She picked berries, but she never did any harm to the forest.
October:
She came here in autumn to pick mushrooms.
It rained cats and dogs.
No wonder, October in a autumn month.
But the girl remained cheerful.
November:
You’re right, brother.
Winter brings us snowflakes,
Spring green buds and shoots,
Summer brings us berries,
Autumn golden fruit.
February:
I saw her feeding birds in winter.
Grey was the sky
And the wind was chill,
Icicles hung from
The window-sill.
Only the robin
With a breast of red
Sat and waited
For crumbs of bread.
January:
Well, darling, we’ll bring you spring
If you solve the riddle:
“A little old women
With twelve children:
Some short, some long,
Some cold, some hot.
What is this?”
Step-daughter:
I’ve guessed! It’s a year.
Squirrel:
Look! The snow is melting.
The wind isn’t blowing.
The streams are running.
The sun is shinning.
The birds are singing.
The spring is coming.
Step-daughter:
Oh, dear! Lots of snowdrops!
I’ve never seen so many flowers.
You’ve saved me, Brother-months.
September:
Hurry up, hurry up, dear.
Make hay while the sun shines.
March:
But don’t tell anybody about it.
Step-daughter:
I promise to keep it a secret.
I’m so grateful to you.
I want to thank you for the spring you’ve brought during
the winter, and for the snowdrops.
April:
We’re sorry, little girl.
It’s time for you to go home.
May:
We like you very much.
Take this magic ring, put it on your finger.
If you need out help again, drop the ring
And say,
12 Months:
30 days has September,
April, June and November.
All the other have 31.
But February is a month with 28
And one day more
It always has one year in four.
June:
And you’ll have a chance to see all of us and to talk to us.
July:
Good luck to you now!
12 Months:
Goodbye, honey!
Step-daughter:
Goodbye, brother months!
(Curtain.)