Script: A Country Boy Quits School
(Adapted from the story by Lao Hsiang, translated by Chi-Chen Wang)
Scene 1: The Family Decision
Setting: In a small countryside home. The family (Mother, Father, and
Grandparents) gathered around a wooden table. The room is dimly lit by a
single lamp. The boy sits in the corner and listen quietly.)
Father: (serious) The government says every boy must go to school.
Mother: (worried) But he works so hard here. We need him to help.
Grandfather: (grumbling) School is just a burden and a costs of money.
What’s good in it?
Mother: (sighs) If we don’t send him, they will put us in jail.
Father: (firmly) Then he will go. He will start tomorrow.
(The Boy looks nervous but says nothing.)
Scene 2: The First Lesson
Setting: (In the classroom having a wooden desks. A stern-looking
Teacher stand in front while holding a book. The Boy sits quietly, looking
confused.)
Teacher: (smiling) Class, repeat after me ‘This is Mama.’
Class: This is Mama.
Boy: (raising his hand) Teacher, whose mama is that?
Teacher: (patiently) She is the mama of anyone who reads the book.
Boy: (frowning) But Baldy’s mama doesn’t look like her.
Baldy: (angrily) At least I have a mama! Your mama is dead!
Teacher: (tapping the desk with a stick) Quiet! Enough with that! Let’s
move on. ‘This is Papa.’
Scene 3: Confusion at Home
Setting: (At home. The Boy is reading aloud at the table while his Mother
cooks nearby.)
Boy: (reading) This is Mama, the lady with leather shoes and short hair.
Mother: (turning, shocked) What did you say? Who is this “Mama”?
Boy: (pointing to the book) This one, Mama.
Mother: (grabs the book and gasps) Who is this strange woman?
(She bursts into tears. Grandfather and Grandmother rush in.)
Grandfather: (concerned) What’s wrong?
Mother: (crying) This book says this woman is his mama!
Grandmother: (angrily) This book is full of lies!
Scene 4: The Talking Animals
(The Boy and his Father sit outside. The Boy holds the book, looking
confused.)
Boy: (pointing to a sentence) Papa, it says, The ox tends the fire and the
horse eats noodles.
Father: (frowning) What? Oxen don’t tend fires. Horses don’t eat noodles.
Boy: (thinking) But the book says so.
Father: (sighs) Maybe in foreign lands, they do. Just study hard. Don’t
shame us.
Scene 5: The Tea Party Trouble
(The Boy sits with his classmates, planning a tea party.)
Classmate: Everyone must bring 20 cents for the party.
Boy: (hesitating) I don’t have money.
(At home, the Boy sneaks into his Mother’s jar of savings. Later, his family
found out and confronts him.)
Grandfather: (angrily) Why are you stealing your mothers money?
Boy: (scared) I need money for our tea party.
Grandfather: (confused) What is a tea party?
Boy: (excitedly) It is in the book. We will going to eat and drink fancy
things.
Grandmother: (angrily) This book is ruining our boy!
(Father tries to kick the Boy but misses and hits the table, breaking
bowls.)
Scene 6: The Final Straw
(The Boy reads aloud again. Grandmother listens, growing angrier with
each word.)
Boy: (reading) In my family, I have a papa, a mama, a brother, and a
sister.
Grandmother: (furious) Are you serious? What about us? Are we nothing
now?
(She grabs a pot and smashes it on the floor. Everyone stares, shocked.)
Father: (calming her) Don’t worry. He won’t read this book anymore.
Scene 7: The End
(The next morning. The Boy is back in the field, hoeing the soil.
Grandfather watches from the side, smiling.)
Grandfather: (nodding) He’s better with a hoe than a book.
(The Boy glances at the house. Inside, the torn book lies on the floor. He
sighs and keeps working.)
The End
