Category: the lion and the mouse

Posted in Aesop's fables, Animal Stories, Drama Activities for children, Drama for children, fables, the lion and the mouse

The Lion and the Mouse – A play for children

Posted on by Drama Start Books

A king lion and a mouse under the tree 

 

Characters: Three Storytellers, Lion, Mouse, Elephants, Giraffes, Snake/s, Owls. You can have as many elephants, giraffes, snakes and owls as you want.

(Stage Directions: all the animals are in a semi-circle on the stage; they are grouped according to their animal type. Storytellers can be placed on the right or the left of the stage.)

Storyteller 1: One hot day a lion was asleep in a cave. (Lion is sleeping in the centre of the stage.)

Storyteller 2: Suddenly a little mouse ran over his paw.  (Mouse comes scampering out quickly and touches the Lion’s paw.)

Storyteller 3: The lion woke up with a loud roar. He grabbed the mouse with his paw and said (Lion wakes up and grabs the mouse.)

Lion: I’m going to kill you and eat you up. (Lion roars loudly.)

Mouse: Squeak, Squeak! Please, Mr. Lion, Please don’t eat me. Someday I will help you.

Lion: Ha, Ha, Ha! You, help me! Don’t make me laugh, but I’m not that hungry so I will let you go. (Lion pushes the mouse away.)

Storyteller 1: The lion laughed and laughed and the mouse ran home.

Storyteller 2: A few days later the lion was out in the jungle.

Lion: I think I will scare my friends. I am very scary because I’m King of the Jungle. (He goes to each group of animals and roars at them. All the animals are scared and move away from him.)

Storyteller 3: Suddenly the lion got caught in a trap and said (He is in the centre of stage when he falls to his knees.)

Lion: Oh dear, how will I get out of here? (Lion looks around the stage desperately.)

Storyteller 1: After a while he heard some elephants.  (Elephants move from the semi-circle and they circle the lion. They must make sure the audience can see their faces.)

Lion: Elephants, elephants, please help me.

Elephants: Oh No! We will not help you. (Elephants trundle off back to the other animals.)

Storyteller 2: Then a few giraffes passed by. He cried (Giraffes leave the semi-circle and move behind the lion.)

Lion: Giraffes, Giraffes, please help me.  (Lion looks up at the giraffes.)

Giraffes: Oh no, we will not help you. (Giraffes go back to their place in the semi-circle.)

Storyteller 3: The lion grew cold and hungry (the lion shivers and rubs his stomach) and began to think he would never get home to his nice, warm cave. Then he heard the hissing of snakes.  (Snake(s) moves towards the centre of the stage near the lion.)

Lion: Snakes, snakes, please help me. (The lion looks up at the snakes.)

Snakes: Ssssssssss, oh no we will not help you, sssssssssssssssss. (Snakes go back to the semi-circle.)

Storyteller 1: As night came the lion began to cry.

Lion: Boo hoo, I am stuck in this trap and none of my friends will help me.

Storyteller 2: Then he heard some owls hooting in the trees. (Owls move centre stage, towards the lion.)

Lion: Owls, Owls, please help me. (Lion looks up at the owls.)

Owls: Tu Whit, Tu Whoo, owls, owls, we will not help youuuuuuuuuuu. (Owls go back to the semi-circle.)

Storyteller 3: The lion was very sad. (Lion starts crying.) He didn’t know what to do. Then he heard the squeaking of a mouse.

Mouse: Squeak, squeak! Why are you crying Mr. Lion? (Mouse comes from behind the other animals.)

Lion: I’m stuck in this trap and nobody will help me.

Mouse: I will help you.

Storyteller 1: The mouse began to bite through the rope and at last the lion was free.

Lion: I’m free, I’m free! I never thought you could help me because you are too small.

Storyteller 2: From then on the lion and the mouse were very good friends.

Storyteller 3: The lesson of the story is…

Storyteller 1: …bigger is not always better!

(Mouse hugs the Lion)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1916319580
Posted in Aesop's fabes, Animal Stories, Drama, Drama Activities for children, Drama for children, drama for kids, Drama games for 3 year olds, Drama games for 4 year olds, Esl Drama, fables, Fairy Tales, Panchatantra plays, Plays, Plays for Children, the lion and the mouse

Aesop’s Fables

Posted on by Drama Start Books

img_0186
About Aesop:
Aesop was an ancient Greek storyteller who was is believed to have lived around 500 B.C. He was a Phrygian slave. He was owned by two different masters before gaining his freedom due to his intelligence. He went from place to place telling his fables to the masses however it is also widely believed that he did not write most of them, he just collected them. Aesop’s fables were used to offer advice to their audience. He supposedly met his death by being thrown a cliff at Delphi for being ugly and deformed. Over the centuries Aesop’s fables have been rewritten, illustrated and translated into every language in the world.

About Fables:
A fable is a short story. Fables typically involve animals with human like qualities. Usually in a fable, the time and the place are unspecified. Often fables illustrate how smaller and weaker characters use their intelligence to defeat the bigger and more powerful characters. There is always a hero, a villain, a character with a weakness and most importantly a moral. A moral is a lifelong lesson.

The most common characters found in fables are:
Rabbit
Fox
Crow
Bear
Rooster
Duck
Pig
Eagle
Hen
Wolf
Monkey
Donkey
Mouse
Rat
Cow
Goose
Lion
Boy
Girl.

There are always good characters and evil characters.
Examples of good characters:
Mouse
Kitten
Bunny
Cow.
Examples of evil characters:
Snake
Lion
Rat
Bear.

Write your own fable:

Title:

Characters:
Hero:

Villain:

Character with a weakness:


Setting:


Problem:


Solution:


Trickery:


Moral:

The Lion and Mouse

A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and in her fright and haste to get away, ran across the Lion’s nose. Roused from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the tiny creature to kill her.

“Spare me!” begged the poor Mouse. “Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you.”

The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go.

Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter’s net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.

“You laughed when I said I would repay you,” said the Mouse. “Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion.”

“A kindness is never wasted”

Click here for more children’s plays based on Aesop’s fables.

The lion and the mouse – a drama workshop for children.

Posted in Action Poems, Aesop's fabes, creative arts, Drama, Drama Activities for children, Drama for children, Esl, expressive arts, fables, Panchatantra plays, Plays, Plays for Children, the lion and the mouse

Rhyming Tales – The Lion and the Mouse

Posted on by Drama Start Books

A king lion and a mouse under the tree

Rhyming Tales
The following poem can be used in a variety of ways: The practionner could read it at story time or the children could act out or mime the different parts for fun or in front of an audience. They could also be recited. Each child could learn four lines each and they could recite it as a choral piece. These stories help children with their vocal expression and give them an understanding of rhythm.

The Lion and the Mouse
There was a lion who lived in a cave.
He was extremely big and terribly brave.
The lion was not frightened of anything
Because he was the fearsome jungle king.
One day he was asleep near his house
When he was woken by a little mouse.
The lion grabbed the mouse with his large paw
He licked his lips and opened his wide jaw.-
The little mouse looked at him with sheer dread –
He didn’t want to be some scrumptious spread. –
“Squeak, squeak, Mr. Lion do not eat me
Some day I will help you so let me be.”
“You help me,” he said “I don’t think so
But I’m not that hungry, so off you go.”
One day while hunting deep in the jungle
The lion tripped over and took a tumble.
Suddenly he was stuck in an evil trap
The other animals began to clap.
He saw some grey elephants and he cried:
“Elephants, please help me I’ve swallowed my pride.”
“Oh Mr. Lion we will not help you
So how does it feel to be in a stew?”
The elephants said with extreme delight
And off they trundled into the dark night.
The lion waited and a few hours passed
Then out of the blue he saw some giraffes
“Giraffes, Giraffes,” he said, “please, please help me.”
The Giraffes looked at him and decided to flee.
He was extremely hungry and very cold
He was terribly tired and feeling less bold.
When all of a sudden down by the lake
He heard the hissing of a slimy snake.
“Snake, please, please help me I’m stuck in a trap,
I feel confused and I’m all in a flap.”
The snake hissed: “Jungle King I must admit,
You really do look like a proper twit.”
Snake laughed and laughed and felt real good
And away he slithered into the deep wood.
The Lion felt a sense of despair’
He was stuck outside in the cold night air.
Then all of a sudden out from his house
Came the patter of the little brown mouse.
“Pardon Lion I’m not one for prying
But please tell me why you are crying?”
The lion told the mouse his whole story
In all its wondrous gruesome glory.
The little mouse began to gnaw and gnaw
The scary lion sat there full of great awe.
At last, the lion roared: “I’m FREE I’m free.”
With that he invited the mouse home for tea.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078R8ZVMN?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_8&storeType=ebooks
Posted in Aesop's fabes, creative arts, Drama, Drama Activities for children, Drama for children, drama for kids, Esl, Esl Drama, fables, Fairy Tales, Panchatantra plays, Plays, Plays for Children, Role playing stories, Storytelling, Storytelling in the Early years, Storytelling techniques, The ant and the grasshoppers, The Hare and the Tortoise, the lion and the mouse

The Ants and the Grasshoppers – A 5 minute play script for children.

Posted on by Drama Start Books

Ant and Grasshopper, illustration

Characters: Three storytellers, three ants, grasshopper, owls, squirrels and bears.  

(Stage Directions: the owls, squirrels and bears are in a large semicircle stage right; storytellers are stage left and the ants are in the centre of the stage.)

Storyteller 1: One hot summer’s day …

Storyteller 2: … there were some ants working hard.

Storyteller 3: They were collecting food for the winter. (All the ants are miming digging, pulling and pushing.)

Ant 1: I am so hot.

Ant 2: Me too!

Ant 3: This is very hard work.

Storyteller 1: They saw a grasshopper listening to some music on his iPod. (Grasshopper passes by, singing and dancing; the ants stop work and look at him.)

Storyteller 2: He was dancing …

Storyteller 3: … and laughing and enjoying the lovely weather.

Grasshopper: Ants, you are so silly. You need to enjoy the sunshine.

(Ants start working again.)

Ant 1: We are working hard.

Ant 2: We want to have food for the winter. (Grasshopper keeps dancing.)

Storyteller 1: The grasshopper continued enjoying himself. (The Ants keep working and move stage right.)

Storyteller 2: Winter started to come and the weather got colder and colder.

Storyteller 3: The snow began to fall.

Storyteller 1: The grasshopper was cold and hungry. (Grasshopper rubs his stomach and shivers. He looks at the owls that start to fly around the stage.)

Grasshopper: I am cold and hungry; perhaps my friends the owls will feed me. Owls! Owls! Will you please feed me?

Owls: (Owls fly around the grasshopper and stop centre stage. They stand around the grasshopper.) Twit Tuhooo! Oh no, we will not feed you. (They fly back to their place in the semicircle.)

Grasshopper: Oh dear! I know, I will ask my friends the bears to feed me. (Grasshopper walks towards the bears.) Bears! Bears! Please feed me. (Bears are asleep so he wakes them up and they walk to the centre stage.)

Bears: (The bears are very angry that they have been woken up.) Growl! Growl! Oh no, we will not feed you. (The bears go back to their place in the semicircle.)

Storyteller 1: Then the grasshopper saw some squirrels. (The squirrels mime eating nuts stage right.)

Grasshopper: Squirrels! Squirrels! Please feed me! (They squirrels walk towards him.)

Squirrels: Oh no, we will not feed you. (They hop back to stage right.)

Storyteller 2: The grasshopper was very cold and hungry. He didn’t know what to do. (Grasshopper is shivering and rubbing his stomach.)

Storyteller 3: Then he thought of the ants. (The ants move to the centre of the stage.)

Grasshopper: Ants! Ants! Please feed me. (The ants go into a huddle away from the grasshopper.)

Storyteller 1: The ants thought about it and decided to give him some food. (All the ants face the grasshopper.)

Ant 1: You must promise that next year you will work hard in the summer. (Grasshopper gets down on his hands and knees.)

Grasshopper: Oh thank you Ants, I promise.

Storyteller 1: That summer the grasshopper kept his promise and worked hard to collect food for the next winter. (Grasshopper mimes pushing, pulling, carrying and digging with all the ants.)

Storyteller 2: The lesson of the story is: fail to prepare …

Storyteller 3: …prepare to fail.

For more children’s plays click on the link below: