The Four Friends and the Hunter – 5 Minute Play Script for Children

The Four Friends and the Hunter is a short five-minute play script for children based on a traditional Panchatantra story. With simple dialogue and seven flexible roles, it works well for classrooms, drama groups and readers’ theatre. The story explores friendship, teamwork and helping one another.

Characters

Three storytellers, Mouse, Crow, Deer, Turtle and two Hunters. The storyteller parts can be shared or combined to suit the size of your group.

The Four Friends and the Hunter Play Script

Storyteller 1: Long, long ago there lived three friends in the jungle.
Storyteller 2: There was a deer, a crow and a mouse.
(Deer, Crow and Mouse are jumping and playing with each other.)
Storyteller 2: They always played together and looked out for one another. One day, a turtle came along.
(Turtle plods slowly towards the three friends.)
Turtle: Hello, everyone. May I play with you and be your friend?
Deer: Of course.
Crow: You are most welcome.
Mouse: Come and play with us now.
Storyteller 1: Then, suddenly, the mouse stopped and sniffed and he said…
Mouse: I smell some hunters.
Deer: What will we do?
Crow: Quick, let’s get out of here.
(Enter two hunters looking for prey.)
Storyteller 2: The deer darted through the jungle.
Storyteller 3: The crow flew high up into the sky.
Storyteller 2: And the mouse scarpered into a hole, but the turtle moved very slowly indeed.
Hunter 1: Oh no! We just missed that juicy deer.
Hunter 2: Never mind. We can catch that turtle and we will have delicious turtle stew for dinner.
(The hunters capture the turtle. They put a net over him and start to pull.)
Storyteller 3: The turtle’s three friends were very worried.
Mouse: They have caught the turtle!
Crow: How will we save him?
Deer: Listen, I have an idea.
(They huddle together and whisper.)
Storyteller 1: The crow flew up into the sky and spotted the two hunters carrying the turtle near the river.
Crow: There they are!
Storyteller 2: The deer darted through the jungle and, when she came to the path, she lay down as if she were dead.
Hunter 1: Do you see what I see?
Hunter 2: Yes, it is a dead deer.
Hunter 1: We really will eat like kings tonight.
Hunter 2: And we can sell its beautiful skin to the highest bidder.
Storyteller 3: In their excitement, they put down the turtle.
Storyteller 1: This was exactly what the deer had planned.
(Mouse sneaks out very quietly and starts to gnaw at the rope.)
Turtle: I’m free! Thank you, Mouse. You are a true friend.
Mouse: Come with me.
(Turtle moves slowly and disappears into the river. Mouse runs into the jungle.)
Storyteller 1: Just as the hunters were going to lean down and take the deer, she got up and darted off into the jungle.
Hunter 1: She wasn’t dead at all.
Hunter 2: Never mind, we still have the turtle.
Storyteller 2: They turned around and saw that the trap was empty and the turtle was gone.
Hunter 1: The trap is empty.
Hunter 2: Looks like we will go hungry again tonight.
Storytellers: The moral of this story is: A friend in need is a friend indeed.

About the Panchatantra

The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian collection of animal stories and fables. Many of its stories use animals with human qualities to explore friendship, choices, conflict and problem-solving. The Four Friends and the Hunter is associated with the theme of gaining friends.

Drama and Story Activities

Ask the children to create a still image showing the four friends working together.
Hot-seat Deer, Mouse, Crow or Turtle and ask how they helped the group.
Explore different ways the animals could rescue Turtle.
Discuss what the moral “A friend in need is a friend indeed” means.
Create a new animal tale about friends solving a problem together.

Write Your Own Panchatantra-Inspired Tale

Choose your characters, setting and problem. Decide who needs help, how the other characters work together, what trick or clever solution they use, and the moral of the story. Possible characters include a king, hunter, sage, lion, tiger, jackal, crow, deer, owl, hare, monkey, crocodile, tortoise and mouse.

For another Panchatantra-inspired script, try The Monkey and the Crocodile. You can also browse Julie’s play-script books.

Further reading: Encyclopaedia Britannica’s introduction to the Panchatantra.

More Panchatantra plays: Panchatantra on Stage offers 18 short plays based on traditional Indian animal tales, with flexible casting for group reading and performance. View the paperback on Amazon.

Find more scripts in the Free Children’s Play Scripts hub.