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Grade 4: Pushing up the Sky It’S a Small Village in the Mountains of Wales

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Grade 4: Pushing up the Sky It’S a Small Village in the Mountains of Wales Merlin Drama Exemplar Characters: Narrator Merlin Arthur Emrys Vortigern Emrys mother Magicians Gwillam Old Man Setting: Inside a castle Props: Chair Crown Act 1 Arthur awakens in his bedroom at the castle Narrator: A young man, Arthur, is asleep in his room where he is awakened by scary dreams. Arthur: (throwing crown) I’m so tired of these terrible dreams. I can’t sleep at night because of them and then when I wake up they are all I can think of. Arthur wanders down the hall until he sees Merlin asleep in a chair Merlin: What is it boy? What brings you here at this hour? Arthur: I could not sleep. Merlin: Ah...Dreams (Merlin reaches for Arthur who is afraid to touch Merlin) Let me read your dreams Arthur: It is one dream, actually. And always the same: a fatherless boy who becomes king simply by pulling a sword from a stone. Merlin: Ah..I know the very child. But if you cannot tell me more of your dream, I shall tell you one of mine. After all a dream is a story. What better than a story on a rainy night. Arthur sits on a stool to listen as Merlin tells the story Act II (story within a story) Grade 4: Pushing Up the Sky It’s a small village in the mountains of Wales. Emrys is a fatherless child whose mother was the daughter of a local king. Emrys mother: (to Emrys) Son I am very sorry that the other boys tease you about having not father. I have done the best that I can. Emrys: I will learn all that I can about spells. I will visit the old man who can teach me of these things. Soon the boys began to admire Emrys knowledge but it only lasted for a while before they began to call him a demon’s son and avoid him. Emrys grew up lonely until he was 12 years old. Narrator: A horrible cruel man, Vortigern, has declared himself King of all Britain. The people there don’t like him and he has fled to the land where Emrys lives. He arrives with a tired army carrying banners with red dragons. Vortigern decides to build a tower and establish a kingdom there. Vortigern: Gather the people of this village and bring them to me, for they will be the hackers and haulers. They will make me a tower of stone. Narrator: The Welsh people did as they were ordered and built a tower for Vortigern. Emrys continued to dream strange dreams. In his dreams he saw the tower shake and fall and that two dragons were asleep below the tower. That night the tower shook and fell. Vortigern wa very angry. Vortigern: Your work is worthless. You will be whipped, and then you will get back to work again. Narrator: The workers rebuilt the tower which once again fell. Vortigern continued to make the workers rebuild the tower each time it fell. Vortigern: to his magicians There is some dark Welsh magic here. Find out the cause. My tower must stand. Magicians: after walking around pretending to talk to trees, throwing magic sticks, and playing with sacret stones of fate You must find a fatherless child. A child spawned by a demon. You must sprinkle his blood on the stones. Only then will the gods of this land let the stones sand. Vortigern: Go find me such a child. Magicians: We don’t not know if such a child exists. We do not know if your tower can stand. Vortigern: Gold to whomever brings me such a child. Gwillam: Please sir, we of the village know such a boy. Vortigern: Come here, child. Name him. Gwillam: His name is Emrys, sir. He was spawned by a demon. He can cry the sun from the sky. Vortigern: to his guards Bring this boy to me! Far away in the mountains Emrys is having a dream where he sees two huge stones breathing in and out. Emrys: I see the soldiers approaching. What shall I do? Old Man: Trust your dreams. Grade 4: Pushing Up the Sky Narrator: The soldiers tie up Emrys and take him to Vortigern. Vortigern: You are th eboy without a father, the boy spawned by a demon? Emrys: I am the boy without a father, true. But I am no demon’s son. You have been listening to the words of frightened children. Vortigern: I will have your blood either way. Emrys: Better that you have my dream. Only my dream can guide you so that your tower will stand. I have dreamed tht beneath your tower lies a pool of water that must be drained. In teh mud you will find two hollow stones. In each stone is a sleeping dragon. It is the breath of each sleeping dragon that shakes the earth and makes the tower fall. Kill the dragon and your tower will stand. Vortigern: to the chief magician Can this be true? Magician: Dreams can come true… Vortigern: untie the boy, but watch him. And you--Welshmen--do as the boy says. Dig beneath the rubble. Narrator: The villagers do as Vortigern ordered and removed the crumbled stones of the tower. After draining the pool they find the great stones Emrys had seen. Vortigern:Stonecutters break open the stones! Narrator: The stonecutters hammered and hammered until at last the stones break open. Out of the first stone came a white dragon and from the second a flame red dragon. Emrys was amazed to see his dream fulfilled. However before he could speak Vortigern began giving orders. Vortigern: Kill them! Kill the dragons! Chief Magician: They are leaving! They are flying away. Soldiers: They are away. Emrys: They will not go quite yet. Look the dragons are turning and fighting each other. Narrator: The dragons fought a great fight in the sky with first the red dragon winning and then the white. The fight continued until the white dragon bit the red dragon and sent it crashing to the ground. As he watched Vortigern cried out. Vortigern: Kill it! Kill the white now! Soldiers: The white dragon is flying away before we can kill it. Emrys: Just so the red dragon of Vortigern shall be defeated (but not loud enough for Vortigern to hear him) Vortigern: turning to Emrys This is all your fauht. If the tower does not stand this time, I will have our blood. Narrator: As Emrys slept that night he once again saw a vision. Lights were coming from the distance. He searched for and found King Vortigern. Grade 4: Pushing Up the Sky Emrys: I have seen in a vision that your fate is linked with the red dragon’s. You will be attacked by thousands of soldiers under the white dragon’s flag--attacked and slain. As Vortigern draws his sword to kill Emrys Soldiers: Soldiers, my lord! Invading soldiers: Come and meet your fate, murderous Vortigern! Vortigern: to his soldiers Defend me! Defend my tower! Stop, don’t flee! Soldiers: to Vortigern Surrender Vortigern! Vortigern: Never! Never! Act III Merlin talking to Arthur in the castle Arthur: Well? What happened to Vortigern? You cannot end a story there. Merlin: What do you think happened? Arthur: Vortigern was slain, just as Emrys said. Merlin: Is that the boy speaking, or the king? Arthur: The boy A king should forgive his enemies and make them his chiefest friends. You taught me that, Merlin. But what did happen? Merlin: The men of the white dragon defeated Vortigern all right. Burned him right up in his tower. Arthur: And that knight, the one who rodde up to the tower first. What became of him? Merlin: His name was Uther Pendragon and he eventually became the High King. Arthur: Uther. He was the last High King before me. But then he as a a hero. He was fit to rule. Perhaps one of his sons will come to claim my throne. Merlin: Uther had only one son though only I knew of him. That son was you, Arthur. Arthur: Me? Uther was my father? Then I am not fatherless? Then I am king by right and not just because I pulled a sword from a stone. Merlin: Don’t underestimate your real strength in pulling that sword. It took a true and worthy king to do what you did. Arthur: Why did you not tell me this before? Merlin: I could not tell you until you were ready. There are rules for prophets just as there are rules for kings. Arthur: So now I am king in truth. Grade 4: Pushing Up the Sky Meerlin: You were always king in truth. Only you doubted it. So you can thank your dreams for waking you up. Arthur: What of Emrys. What happened to him Merlin: Oh--he’s still around. Went on dreaming. Made a career of it. I still have this. Saved it all the time He pulls a dragon’s tooth out. Arthur: You? You saved this? Then you were the boy named Emrys. Merlin: Surely you guessed that before. But now perhaps we can both go back to sleep. Arthur: Thank you, Merlin. I don’t think I shall dream any more bad dreams. Merlin: But you shall dream. Great men dream great dreams, and I have dreamed your greatness. He hands the crown back to Arthur. Don’t forget this my lord king. Narrator: Arthur places the crown back upon his head and returns to his room. Merlin watches for a moment then settles back into his chair and falls back to sleep dreaming of knights and a Round Table.
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