center stage Call It Courage Mafatu always feared the sea. Until one day ... Adapted by Bryon Cahill from the novel Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry, winner of the 1941 Newbery Medal for excellence in U.S. children’s literature • Illustrations by Eili-Kaija Kuusniemi Narrator 2: This story happened Mafatu’s fear: It was the sea that Mafatu: Look, Mother. crashes against them. Young Mafatu, but someday, someday I CHARACTERS many years ago, before the trad- I dreaded. I had been surrounded Mafatu is terrified. will claim you! (main characters in boldface) Narr 2: Mafatu points to the ers and missionaries first came to by it since birth. The thunder quickening darkness. His mother Narr 3: The raging current Narr 2: The fishermen pass Narrators 1, 2, 3, 4 the South Seas, when the Polyne- of it in my ears. The crash of it is shocked by what she sees. The pushes them toward shore. Mafatu on the beach. Their Mafatu’s fear sians were still great in numbers upon the reef. The threat and storm is coming fast. Mafatu’s mother is beaten and sons accompany them. Mafatu and fierce of heart. fury of its storms! Mafatu Mother: We must hurry, Mafatu. dying. With her last ounce of watches, as he always does, as Narrator 3: Even today the Mafatu: When I was 3, my energy, she carries her son to the men and boys of the village Mafatu’s mother people of Hikueru sing this story mother took me out to the Narr 3: Mafatu’s mother grabs shore. She picks up a cracked get in their canoes and paddle Moana, the sea god in their chants and tell it over the barrier reef pools to search for the oars and paddles hard. But coconut and manages to press out to do their day’s work. the tide turns suddenly, and their Kana, a village boy evening fires. It is the story of sea urchins. It was late aftenoon, the cool, sustaining meat to her little canoe is thrashed by waves. Narr 3: Fishing is the village’s Mafatu’s courage Mafatu, the boy who was afraid. and the fishermen in other child’s lips. And then she dies. main source of food. It is the canoes were turning back. They Mafatu: Mother! Village boys 1, 2, 3 Narrator 4: They worshipped Mafatu’s fear: Moana, the sea people’s livelihood. And cour- shouted warnings to my mother Tavana Nui, Mafatu’s father courage, those early Polynesians. Mother: Hold tight, Mafatu! god, took her. But I was spared. age, above all, is respected and The spirit that had urged them as they went. It was hurricane honored. Mafatu knows that, but Narr 4: The storm reaches them Narr 4: For years after his across the Pacific in their sailing season, and they were certain there is nothing he can do. He is at breakneck speed. The waves mother’s death, Mafatu awakes canoes, before the dawn of re- one was on the horizon. terrified of the sea. are too great. Their little canoe screaming many nights. He SCENE 1 corded history, still sang its song Mafatu’s mother: Do not listen capsizes. avoids the sea at all costs. Narrator 1: In the heart of the of danger in their blood. to them, Mafatu. It is a beautiful Narr 1: Mafatu’s mother grabs Narr 1: South Pacific Ocean, just about Narr 1: But the boy Mafatu, son day. Not a cloud in the sky. Here, On the rare occasion vocab let me help you with your net. hold of her son as they are both he does get close to the water’s * halfway between South America of Tavana Nui, the great chief plunged into the raging sea. CAPSIZES: overturns and Australia, lies a very small of Hikueru, had always been Mafatu’s fear: I looked up, past edge, he imagines hearing the Mother: Mafatu! Hold on to me! sea god call to him. LIVELIHOOD: a means of supporting island called Hikueru. Today it is afraid. In his blood sang the the surrounding cliffs. The sky one’s existence part of French Polynesia. song of fear. was darkening. Narr 2: The storm violently Moana: You cheated me once, 4 READ October 1, 2010 October 1, 2010 READ 5 SCENE 2 Village boy 2: Not all of us will and, without giving another go. Not Mafatu! thought to fear, pushes off. Narr 4: Everyone sees Mafatu as the scared little boy who contrib- Village boy 3: Ha! He is afraid! Mafatu’s courage: The lagoon utes nothing. Kana: He makes good spears. was as untroubled as a mirror. Noiselessly, I propelled the canoe Narr 1: Mafatu wants desperate- Village boy 1: Ho! That is forward, sending it half a length ly to help his village in any way woman’s work. ahead with every thrust of my that he can. He spends his time Village boy 2: Mafatu is afraid of paddle. weaving nets for the fishermen the sea. Mafatu’s fear: As I drew nearer and avoiding other boys. Village boy 3: He will never be a to the barrier reef, the thunder Narr 2: The one boy who is warrior. of the surf increased. The old, friendly to Mafatu is Kana. Some- familiar dread of it sunk in my Kana: I have tried to be friendly times, Kana stays behind with stomach’s pit. Mafatu when the other boys go to him. But he is good only Narr 1: Mafatu’s hands tighten fishing with their fathers. for making spears. Mafatu is a coward. on the paddle. For a second, he Kana: The bonitos have begun almost turns back. But then he Narr 1: The boys disappear to run, Mafatu. sees his albatross, Kivi, flying down the moonlit beach. Their high above him, guiding him. Mafatu: Yes. laughter floats back on the night Kana: My father brought back air. Mafatu stands still. Mafatu: Kivi! You have come along on this adventure with us! word from the reef today. Al- Mafatu’s fear: Kana had spoken. My heart is lifted! ready there are bonitos out there. He had voiced, once and for all, Tomorrow we boys will go after the feeling of the tribe. I, Mafatu, Narr 2: The bird circles slowly in them. That’s our job. It will be whom my father had once called the moonlight, then heads out to fun, eh? Stout Heart, was a coward. the open ocean. Mafatu grips the steering paddle and follows. Narr 3: Mafatu’s knuckles Mafatu’s courage: That’s when whiten. His ears pound with I made up my mind. A fierce the swift fury of the sea. Kana, resentment flowed through me. SCENE 3 seeing that he is scared, starts to I knew in an instant what I had to that I could hear the sound of its Narr 4: Uri just looks at Mafatu lows, greenish in the slopes. Like Narr 3: Day breaks over a gray walk away. do: prove my courage to myself, breathing. with curious dog eyes. advance scouts of an oncoming and dismal world. Mafatu looks and to others, or I could no lon- army, wind gusts moved down Mafatu’s courage: I wanted to back over his shoulder, searching Narr 1: Mafatu opens one of the Narr 1: Suddenly, the wind picks ger live in their midst. upon our canoe, striking at it cry out to him, “Wait, Kana! I’ll for the last glimpse of Hikueru, green drinking nuts and tilts his up. head back to let the cool liquid savagely. go! I’ll try!” Narr 2: Mafatu walks with pur- his home. But the island has Mafatu’s fear: Storms in the trickle down his parched throat. Mafatu: Spare us, Moana! Mafatu’s fear: But the words did pose to his hut. There, he finds vanished. South Pacific frequently come his dog, Uri. not come. Mafatu’s courage: I was out Mafatu: Would you like some out of nowhere. I was very Mafatu’s courage: Somehow, food, Uri? young when the sea god took my the sound of my own voice Narr 4: Later in the evening, the Mafatu: We’re going away, Uri. there. I was doing it. Me. The boy mother, but I remember how fast reassured me. I guided our small boys’ fathers all boast about their Off to the south there are other who was afraid. Narr 2: Mafatu scoops out some islands. gelatinous meat for his pup, the weather turned. canoe well and with a skill I did sons. Mafatu’s father, Tavana Nui, Narr 4: The sea is calm for not know I possessed. is silent. He is ashamed of his Narr 3: Together, Mafatu and Mafatu at first. As he paddles, he who eats it gratefully. Narr 2: A light drizzle quickly boy. Uri head off to the shore’s edge. meets all sorts of sea creatures. Narr 3: The boy looks to the sky, turns to hard rain and blasts Mafatu flings half a dozen green Mafatu’s sail. vocab Village boy 1: Hikueru is too Mafatu’s courage: Flying fish searching for Kivi. * drinking nuts and his fish spear BONITOS: mackerel-like fish poor. There are only fish from the broke the water, skimming away Mafatu: There are hundreds of Mafatu’s fear: A heavy squall into a canoe. Then boy and dog RESENTMENT: a feeling of displea- sea. A man must be fearless to in a silver shimmer of flight. A birds in the sky, Uri! Perhaps came upon us, and the waves board the tiny vessel.