BACK ABILITY1 8' A peasant girl has special abilities Once upon a time a long time ago in a land far, far away lived a peasant girl named Michelle. She had special abilities that noone else understood. She could see things that other people couldn't see and she could hear things that other people couldn't hear. As a result of her special abilities, she was very good at playing games, so good, in fact, that noone wanted to play games with her, because she always won. During the game of hide and seek, for instance, she could tell where people were hiding without going to look for them, because she could see through walls and rocks and trees. Noone in her village could keep a secret, because she could hear what people were saying even from far away, even if they whispered. Because Michelle was so different, people poked fun at her and called her names like "witch" and "sorcerer". As a result, she was always alone and lonely. One day, however, Michelle's special abilities became useful. Some thieves stole the mayor's signet ring which was the symbol of his power as a mayor. The thieves demanded a ransom of one hundred gold coins for the ring. But the mayor's village was poor and there weren't one hundred gold coins in the entire village. So, the thieves argued with the mayor over the amount of the ransom. 50 gold coins. No. 40 gold coins. No. 30 gold coins. No. While the mayor and the thieves argued about the ransom, Michelle used her special ability to see into the pockets of the thieves. But the ring wasn't in any of their pockets. So, she went outside to look through the saddlebags on their horses. There in one of the saddlebags was the mayor's ring! Looking all around, Michelle saw that noone was watching. So, she reached in and pulled out the ring as the arguing over the ransom continued inside. 20 gold coins. No. 10 gold coins. "I'm sorry," replied the mayor, "Our village is very poor. I don't have even 5 gold coins." "Then we'll sell the ring in the city!" replied the thieves as they rode away from the village on their horses. After they rode out of sight, Michelle held out her hand and opened it in front of the mayor. "My ring!" exclaimed the mayor, "How did you get it back?!" "I found it." replied Michelle, "I'm good at hide and seek." After that, the whole village changed their minds about her. Whenever anything in the village was lost, Michelle's keen eyes found it for them. And soon, Michelle became known throughout the kingdom as the one with the keen eyes. As a result, the king himself often sent for Michelle to come to the capital city to help him find lost things there. While in the city, Michelle became good friends with the king's daughter who was very smart -- so smart, in fact that she could beat Michelle at "hide and seek". But Michelle was a smart girl too. When she discovered that the princess could hide in places Michelle couldn't see through, she used other special ability to listen for whispers when the princess was hiding with her friends. So, again, it was Michelle who began to win at hide and seek. But soon the Princess learned that Michelle could hear as well as she could see. So, she stopped whispering while hiding. And again, the princess began to win at hide and seek. She and her friends had great fun with Michelle. One day a few weeks later, the royal coach approached Michelle's village. She thought that the princess had come to give her friend Michelle a ride to the capital city. But instead, it was the King himself who stepped out of the royal coach. "Michelle, you must help me!" exclaimed the king. Michelle bowed to the king saying, "Yes, of course, Your Majesty. What have you lost this time?" The king exclaimed, "My daughter has been kidnapped!" On the way to the capital city, the king explained that one of the kidnappers was the king's cousin who kidnapped the princess in order to force the king to give up his throne. "What do you think?" asked the king, "Shall I give up my throne to my cousin? Or can you help me find my daughter?!" Michelle replied, "Let me try to find her first." The king said, "But they have taken her far far away. I don't know if your special abilities will work so far away." Michelle replied, "Let me try." By the time they got back to the capital city, it was dark. Michelle waited until everyone else was fast asleep, then she went up to the highest place on the royal palace and listened. Noone in the city was talking or whispering, so it was very quiet up there. Michelle closed her eyes and listened carefully for a long time. Suddenly she heard a little girls voice. She recognized it at once. It was the princess. She was repeating over and over again, "Hide and seek. Come and find me. The kidnappers blindfolded me but I heard the wagon riding over a wooden bridge. I could hear water flowing down below the bridge. Then I felt the wagon climbing a hill for a long, long time. Then, I felt the wagon going down a hill for a long long time. Hide and seek. Come and find me." Michelle woke up the king and told him what she heard. They looked on a map and saw four roads going out of the city into the countryside. Only three of those roads went over a bridge, but only two of those bridges went over rivers. So, they studied the map to see which of the two bridges over rivers had a big hill on the other side. Only one of them did. "That's the road!" exclaimed the king as he pointed to the hill on the map, "That's where we're going!" They galloped out of the city in the royal coach in the middle of the night followed by the palace guards. After crossing the bridge, and going over the hill, the king exclaimed,"There's nothing here! This can't be the place! Alas, I will have to give up my throne afterall." "No, please. Let me try again." replied Michelle as she got out of the coach and walked away from the horses and soldiers. She closed her eyes and listened carefully. But for a long time, she heard nothing. But then suddenly, she heard a little girl yawn and breathe deeply. Michelle could tell that the princess had fallen asleep, but was now awake. She whispered the hide and seek message that she had been repeating last night, but at the end she added, "The wagon rolled over some rocks in the road just before it stopped. Then, they carried me down some stairs. Hide and Seek. Come and find me." The king gave orders for the coachman to continue down the road. A few minutes later, Michelle and the king heard and felt the rocks under the coaches wheels. "Stop the coach!" shouted the king, "This is the place!" The king and Michelle stepped out of the coach and looked around. Nearby were two buildings. "Which one is it?" asked the king, "Shall I ask the guards to search both buildings?" "No." replied Michelle, "If you search the wrong building, the kidnappers might hear you and hurt the princess." "I need everyone to be very quiet." said Michelle as she walked away from the coach. She closed her eyes and listened carefully, turning her head toward one building, then the other. "That building there!" exclaimed Michelle as she pointed, "I hear men's voices in there and no voices in the other building." As soon as the king's guards surrounded the building, other guards, kicked down the door and ran down the stairs. They arrested the kidnappers, including the king's cousin and carried the princess to the king. The princess hugged the king, then smiled at Michelle saying, "You found me! I knew you would!" Thanks to Michelle's special abilities, they all lived happily ever after. �2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org email: [email protected] BACK |