Narrator:
Once upon a time there was a Stone in Prospect Park. It was not a big boulder or a tiny pebble, but a medium-sized granitic gneiss erratic dropped by the Wisconsin Ice Sheet – a nice respectable rock from out of town. It wore a decent covering of lichen, and some attractive ferns. For a long time it did rock things – warmed up, cooled down, eroded.
[------]
After a while it came to enjoy the seasons – especially the Spring.
[------]
One day in Spring a bunch of Wicked Children, led by the Spirit of Mischief happened to be running around the park. They ran around in circles, then they jumped up and down, then they tickled each other. Then they saw the stone, and they tickled it , and tickled it, and tickled it, until it woke up and started to giggle, and to wiggle, and to jump up and laugh.
Those Wicked Children, led by the Spirit of Mischief, ran away without thinking at all about what they had done.
And there she was. She sat up and looked around. She started to look and learn.
In the Spring, a passing Plant showed her how it swayed in the wind, and she learned how to move her feet..
In the Summer, a passing Mouse showed her how to sniff the wind, and she learned to look around her and think.
In the Fall, a passing Shakespearian Actor [“to be or not to be…”] showed her how to act, and she learned how to shake her fists in the air.
In the Winter, a passing dog [newspaper in mouth] showed her how to fetch, [“good dog, good dog”] and she learned what words are.
Now she was fully equipped for life as a sentient being. She met [an alligator from the sewers, a bag lady, etc. ] more plants, more mice, more actors, more dogs, more birds, all passing through the park (characters to suit.)
A passing Bird [dance] taught her how to dance.
[contra dance?]
The seasons passed.
One day, an Evil Ice Dragon crawled into the park.
It ate oil, it ate money, it ate teachers and medicine and food and houses and parks and good intentions and bad intentions and it ate people and everything in its path. It ate a plant. It ate a mouse. It ate an actor. It ate a dog. The bird hid behind a tree.
[Winter Song?]
It ate the seasons, so that it was always winter.
What to do?
The Stone looked, and she thought, as she had learned from the Mouse. She somped her feet, and she waved her fists in the air, as she had learned from the plant and the actor. She used words, and she called to the Wicked Children “HEY YOU”!
The Wicked Children, led by the Spirit of Mischief, happened to be rampaging through the park. They were good kids at heart really, and only mildly wicked. They took a good look at the Evil Ice Dragon, walked all around it and had a good think about it.
Ice is cold, and ice is hard, and ice is slippery, but ice is also brittle.
If you make a noise that is high enough and loud enough, ice will crack.
The kids all started to whistle. They whistled “You are my Sunshine” because they all knew it, and they suspected that this might annoy the dragon.
[“You are My Sunshine”]
The dragon developed hairline fractures
A plant came out. A mouse came out. An actor came out. A dog came out.
A bird came out. [a band came out?]
[bird and stone dance]
The Spring arrived!
[Spring puppet]
The kids were so impressed with themselves that they were exceptionally good forever after.