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Pilgrim Thanksgiving Dinner

Pilgrim Thanksgiving Dinner

Mother    Brave Eagle    Props:
Father     Little Fox        candles
Joshua    Graceful Deer  cups
Sarah      narrator         plates
Hannah                        napkins
                                   knives
                                   spoons
                                   forks

Mother - Hannah, here are the plates. Please set the table.
Hannah - Why are there 10 plates? There are only 5 people in our family.
Joshua - We are having company today.
Sarah - Who is coming for dinner?
Joshua - Little Fox’s family is coming for dinner.
Mother - Hannah, please put 10 cups on the table.
Sarah - Are there any children my age?
Mother - Sarah, please help Hannah. Here are the spoons. Please put a spoon to the right
of every plate.
Sarah - Hannah, please show me which hand is my right hand?
Joshua - Hannah, Little Fox has a little sister, who is your age.
Sarah - What is her name?
Joshua - Her name is Graceful Deer.
Sarah - I think her name is pretty. I wish I had an animal name.
Hannah - Who else is coming? Is anyone my age?
Mother - Brave Eagle, his wife, mother and children, Little Fox and Graceful Deer, are coming
to have dinner with us today.
Hannah, I need you to cook the soup.
Father - What kind of soup are you cooking?
Mother - We are making vegetable-barley soup.
Father - Joshua and I caught a quail today. You can add that to the soup.
Joshua - Yeah! Quail soup! I love quail soup!
Hannah - I love quail, but I don’t want to eat one. They are beautiful and peaceful birds.
Father - Quail is good food for us.
Hannah - Mama, do I have to eat the quail soup?
Mother - Hannah, here are 10 forks. Please put a fork to the left of each plate.
No, Hannah, you don’t have to eat the quail soup, if you don’t want to.
Sarah - I know which side is left! Let me set the forks!

Hannah gives the forks to Sarah.

Hannah - I don’t want to make the soup, with quail.
Mother - All right, Hannah, please go and peel the squash and husk the corn.
- Joshua, please fetch some more wood for our fire place to keep us warm.
- Sarah, will you please put 10 knives on the table, between each plate and spoon?

There is a knock on the door and Father opens the door. The 5 guests have arrived,
Brave Eagle, his wife, mother and two children. The wife also carries a live turkey.

Father - Welcome!! Please come in and be comfortable.
Brave Eagle - We have brought a turkey as our gift for you, for our dinner!

Sarah begins to cry.

Sarah - I love that turkey! He is so beautiful! I don’t want him to be our dinner!
Graceful Deer - I agree with Sarah! That is my pet turkey! Please don’t kill him for our dinner!

The turkey made a sympathetic gobble and looked at Sarah.
Hannah came running in from the kitchen and said

- Mama, please don’t let them kill the turkey! We love him. We don’t mind being hungry. We can eat squash, corn, acorn bread and cranberries instead.
Joshua, carrying some sticks and wood, and came in the house, out of the cold. He said, - The girls are silly, not to want to eat the turkey or quail. We worked hard to hunt the quail and turkey.

Sarah and Graceful Deer began to cry together.

Hannah - See, Joshua, what you did! You made Sarah and Graceful Deer cry. You should be a kind older brother! What do you act this way?
Little Fox - I am sorry that the girls are so sad, but I am hungry. If we can’t eat your turkey, what will we eat?
Hannah - We have lots of squash, corn, acorn bread, cranberry bread, pumpkin pudding and
pumpkin pie. Isn’t that enough?
Father - Why don’t we have a vote and decide what to do with our turkey?
Everyone who wants to eat the turkey, raise your hand.

Joshua, Brave Eagle and Father raised their hands.

Father - Everyone who wants to save the turkey and not eat him, raise your hand.

Mother, Hannah, Sarah, Graceful Deer, and Brave Eagle’s wife and mother raised their hands.

Father - I think the ladies have out-voted us. Let the turkey go.

Little Fox put the turkey on the floor and he strutted and gave a grateful gobble.

Father - Everyone come to the table and sit down. Let us give thanks to God for our friends
and for our food and warm house.
Sarah - and for our turkey and for democracy!