SEDNA – GODDESS OF THE SEA
This musical is copyrighted by Faith Whiting
CAST
SEDNA
UUKARNIT/OLD WOMAN - grandma
QASANAAQ/OLD MAN - grandpa
AJA - father
HIGALIK – Inuksuk’s wife (has a baby: Ila)
INUKSUK – cousin (oldest boy)
TUKKUTOK - uncle
CHIKKUK - aunt
PAMIUQ – cousin (young boy)
ENOOYA – cousin & best friend (girl -Sedna’s age)
KING GULL – husband
THAYER – seagull
SABINE – seagull
IVORY – seagull
ROSS – seagull
(Thayer= Oldest, Ross = youngest
In the original writing, Thayer and Ross are meant to be boys and Sabine and Ivory are girls)
15 maximum (additional Inuit extras, ocean or seagull roles can be created)
11 minimum (Seagull roles can be shared by Inuit)(HIGALIK, INUKSUK, TUKKUTOK, CHIKKUK and PAMIUQ are good doubles for seagulls)
ACT 1 SCENE 1
(The opening title (the Sea song?) plays, then dies down. An old man (QASAANAQ) and an old woman (UUKKARNIT) enter, wearing sparkly shawls that set them apart as spirits. They walk around as they talk)
OLD WOMAN: Now that the earth is formed, how shall mankind be?
OLD MAN: I was thinking we could discuss it.
OLD WOMAN: You have ideas?
OLD MAN: Yes! And I will have the first say!
OLD WOMAN: Very well. Then I will have the last say.
OLD MAN: Fine.
(They walk. A pause. OLD MAN finally speaks)
OLD MAN: I think that man should hunt animal for his food.
OLD WOMAN: Yes.
OLD MAN: And that animals should walk right up to hunters so it will be easy!
OLD WOMAN: No, no, no. Then mankind would be lazy. Let the animals run away when mankind approaches so they may become smarter and quicker than the animals.
OLD MAN: (compliantly) You have the last say.
OLD WOMAN: Now what should they look like?
OLD MAN: I think man should have his mouth on one side of his face and his eyes on the other!
OLD WOMAN: You do, eh?
OLD MAN: Yes, it will be better that way!
OLD WOMAN: I think he should have both eyes on top and the mouth on bottom, so man will look first before he speaks.
OLD MAN: (resolutely) You have the last say.
(They walk. A pause. OLD MAN speaks)
OLD MAN: I think man should have ten fingers on each hand!
OLD WOMAN: No, man will be much too clumsy that way. Five on each should do.
OLD MAN: (complacently) You have the last say.
(They walk. A pause. OLD WOMAN speaks)
OLD WOMAN: And how do you think man should die?
OLD MAN: Ah! For this, I am prepared! I think man should die once, lie still for four days and awake to live forever!
OLD WOMAN: No, that cannot be so. The world would become much too crowded. When man dies, he must die forever.
OLD MAN: (somberly looks in her face, then finally nods) You have the last say.
(OLD MAN and OLD WOMAN exit)
ACT 1 SCENE 2
(The Inuit village Enter)
INUIT INTUIT
Who can tell where snow will fall
We who answer the spirits call
Where we move, where we stay
When we pray evil will go away
Blame it on our Inuit Intuit!
We ourselves do not know
Where to hunt or winds will blow
But something tells us deep inside
And we claim it with pride!
It’s our Inuit Intuit!
When seals pop out of their hole
Who tells us to spear our goal?
It’s quite out of our control!
QASAANAQ: Welcome to the Arctic. It might not feel like it to you, but the regular temperature here is regularly in the negative. What you have before you is a tribe of Inuit people, whom you previously might have known as Eskimos. We don’t know what year it is because we don’t count time that way. We count it by days we survive and generations that pass. We take life a step at a time. It’s the only way we can live. My name is Qasaanaq. I am the Angetok, or resident shaman for my tribe and residential grandfather. Uukarnit here is my wife, and our children are -
CHIKKUK: Chikkuk!
AJA: And Aja.
QASAANAQ: Chikkuk is married to Tukkutok and together they have Pamiuq, Enooya and Inuksuk, who is now married to his wife Higalik and they have their baby daughter Ila. And Aja has his single beautiful daughter –
SEDNA: Sedna. (She instantly rushes off stage)
QASAANAQ: To keep him company after his wife died. We all live together in our little tribe, working hard in a community. It’s the only way to survive. If one of us doesn’t contribute, we are doomed to starve. It’s a hard life, but it’s our life. We look out for one another.
When earth was formed long ago
Our creator, Gitchee Manitou
Made the people of the ice and snow
We learned to skin and hunt and sew
We learned to take each icy blow
And from each trouble we only grow!
Why?
Blame it on our Inuit Intuit!
We ourselves cannot claim
That we know the game
But we’ll keep coming back again!
It’s our Inuit Intuit!
CHIKKUK: Oh for ancestor’s sake, has anyone seen Sedna? She promised me she’d help scrape these skins!
TUKKUTTOK: She was just here a moment ago!
HIGALIK: She must have run off to run around the coast again!
CHIKKUK: Aja, she’s your daughter!
AJA: Doesn’t mean she makes my decisions! Leave me be, sister.
PAMIUQ: (with ENOOYA) We’ll find her, mother!
CHIKKUK: Be back in time for the caribou festival! We are just so glad to have our men home again after their long trek all summer and we want to celebrate!
ENOOYA: Yes, mother!
PAMIUQ: We will!
(ENOOYA and PAMIUQ exit one way. The rest of the tribe exits the other)
ACT 1 SCENE 3
(THAYER, SABINE, IVORY and ROSS stand on stage, pecking at the ground. On rushes SEDNA – scaring them all away. PAMIUQ and ENOOYA jog on after. SEDNA laughs)
ENOOYA: Sedna, why are you out here?
SEDNA: C’mon let’s go find another flock!
PAMIUQ: You’re scaring away perfectly good food! You’re not even herding them in for someone to spear!
ENOOYA: Like you could spear anything Pamiuq! You haven’t even made your first kill! (Brother and sister tongue sticking out/rivalry) Why did you sneak away from the caribou festival Sedna? There will be so much good meat and dancing! And you and I might finally be able to throat sing against Higalik!
SEDNA: Don’t you just love it out here?
PAMIUQ: It’s just the coast.
SEDNA: But it’s far away from the igloos and far away from any responsibilities! And just look at the sea! Doesn’t it just call to you?
ENOOYA: I’m scared of the sea.
PAMIUQ: It’s cold.
ENOOYA: Freezing!
PAMIUQ: You’ll die if you jump in!
SEDNA: Well you can go back if you want!
(PAMIUQ leaves. ENOOYA sits down next to SEDNA)
ENOOYA: I guess it didn’t go well with the suitor last night?
SEDNA: He came from so far away.
ENOOYA: But what did you tell him?
SEDNA: That he would make a fine husband-
ENOOYA: Really?
SEDNA: For some other girl. He was so vain! Even father didn’t like him.
ENOOYA: Your father doesn’t like any of them. Tales of your beauty sure do travel far. Every woman dreams of such attention.
SEDNA: I’ll only pick a husband who can give me the greatest things in life!
ENOOYA: They come from all around! Soon you will be out of men to refuse! You’ll be as lonely as our first ancestors who were sure they were the only people one earth!
SEDNA: I won’t be thatlonely. Besides, I’ll have you and papa and grandma and grandpa and aunt Chikkuk – do you heat that?
ENOOYA: Hear what?
(The sea melody plays gently)
SEDNA: What lovely music…
ENOOYA: I don’t hear any music.
SEDNA: I wonder if the sea will bring me the right husband.
ENOOYA: Who knows what the sea will bring? It’s so mysterious. It’s untamable. We hardly understand it.
SEDNA: Well I can still hope it will bring me good fortune.
ENOOYA: For your sake – I hope so too. C’mon, we saw the sea like you wanted. I still want to get my chance at throat singing. I know I can beat Higalik!
SEDNA: Look! Another seagull on the horizon!
(They peer)
ENOOYA: That’s not a seagull. That’s a kayak!
SEDNA: You’re right!
ENOOYA: (excitedly) Perhaps it is a trader!!
SEDNA: (groans) Or another suitor!
(They exit)
ACT 1 SCENE 4
(KING GULL stands before the Inuit tribe)
QASAANAQ: We welcome our visitor to our land!
UUKARNIT: And right around the joy and festivity of our caribou festival!
AJA: Now we ask what brings him here.
QASAANAQ: Aja, show politeness.
KING GULL: It is quite fine my friends. I have come because I heard tales of a woman’s beauty.
INUKSUK: One in particular, I imagine.
ENOOYA: He’s so handsome!
HIGALIK: And his kayak is covered in jewels!
SEDNA: (intrigued) He must be pretty important.
QASAANAQ: Before you meet or ask for any woman, we would love to serve you a warm dinner and keep you for the night!
KING GULL: Do you have anything cold?
AJA: Cold? He asks for cold! We offer him warmth – and he asks for cold!
SEDNA: Father!
QASAANAQ: (chuckles) If that is what you desire, then so be it! Bring the man something cold in this land of snow and ice, we have cold in abundance and we will gladly share it with you.
UUKKARNIT: What is your title, young man?
KING GULL: My name is Nauja. I am a great leader in the land up north.
CHIKKUK: People live in the land up north?
PAMIUQ: Is it even colder than here?!
KING GULL: It is colder, but we are a powerful people!
SEDNA: (flirting) Do you take over great nations?
KING GULL: We certainly could if we desired.
SEDNA: And are the women in your country as beautiful as I am?
KING GULL: If all the ice and snow became beauty, it would still not compare.
(SEDNA is flattered)
UUKKARNIT: We have a spot by our fire if you stay tonight to listen to our night story.
KING GULL: I’d be honored.
HIGALIK: Uukarnit, Ila is sick. I was wondering if during the nighttime tale, Qasaanaq could also scare away the evil spirits that make her ill.
UUKARNIT: Of course, my dear, of course. (UUKARNIT whispers something to QASAANAQ)
QASAANAQ: It is almost night, everyone! Just a little practice for the six months of darkness that will soon be upon us!
HIGALIK: (to ILA/baby) It is not all bad then. We tell many stories and sing songs.
QASAANAQ: Ah yes. Little Ila will be experiencing her first long darkness. It is the land of the midnight sun after all! So tonight, for her, I will tell a creation story with great magic and power!
PAMIUQ: Tell about raven harpooning the land to bring up from the sea!
SEDNA: Or about brother sun chasing sister moon across the sky everyday!
QASAANAQ: These are all good tales and I will tell them another time – but tonight we have the tale of the four worlds.
ENOOYA: Like the four winds?
UUKARNIT: Four is indeed a sacred number! (UUKARNIT takes ILA to cradle her) This is a sacred story with much magic and it is to be respected! Does everyone understand? Kaomoji?
Everyone: Kaomoji!
(A drum beats as this goes on. QASAANAQ may lead the chant or even take over for certain sections, but for the most part, everyone chants together. There is action. Pull up respective village people to represent characters to act it out. KING GULL does not chant it)
*See new Nanabozho speech below
Everyone/ Chant:In the first world, everything was dark
There was no light anywhere, the difference was stark
Living in this land was the hero, Begochiddy
First Woman, First Man, Fire God, Coyote
Begochiddy formed it all, the river and her fountains
The plants and all the insects, the hills and every mountain
Jealousy in Fire God reigned like a wrath
He set out burning everything formed in his path
Discontented, First Man gathered all creation
And said, “We could use a permanent vacation.”
Begochiddy grew a reed to plant on the mount
It grew many lengths, many more than they could count
It grew through the clouds and it grew way up high
Begochiddy’s people climbed it up through the sky!
The second world that they found upon emergin’
Was like the one they left behind, but a blue version
But the people on this world tried to wage a war
So Begochiddy’s people climbed the reed like before
It grew through the clouds and it grew way up high
Begochiddy’s people climbed it up through the sky!
The strange thing about the land to which they had run
It was lit by glowing mountains, yellow as the sun
The trickster named Coyote, upon investigation
Located a child, alone inside the nation
The baby had long black hair, sitting in a river
Coyote stole the child and didn’t say a whisper
The river parents searched for their kin and blood
Begochiddy’s people were being threatened with a flood!
Begochiddy led his people once more to reed’s top
“This is not my doing!” he said, “I can’t make it stop!”
Four storms rolled in from every direction
The people felt so vulnerable and lost without protection
Ooh how the winds blew, Ooh how the reed quaked
Push as hard as they all could, the sky would not break
The ants, spiders, locusts took pity on their master
Lent a leg and hand and web to help them get out faster
The ants dug at the sky, the locusts ram their heads
The spiders spun them closer with their silky threads
Clinging to the reed, Coyote knew what he must do
And threw the child down to the parents that were blue
Finally the sky broke loose, allowed the reed to grow
All of Begochiddy’s people left the storm below
The fourth world that they all entered was quite queer
But they became accustomed ‘cause the fourth world was here!
The surface was quite muddy, not nearly then complete
Badger stepped on it first, and got his darkened feet
Begochiddy dried the lands and Fire God made fire
Coyote, still a trickster, stole the flames right off the pyre
First Man and First Woman placed the stars above
And Begochiddy taught his people how to live and love
And if we want no fifth world attained upon reed’s height
We must remember always to do what is right!
UUKARNIT: Very good!
KING GULL: What a… powerful story! And you all know it so well!
SEDNA: It is our creation story after all. It’s important to know these things.
(Suggestions: Use KING GULL as Begochiddy, as a charismatic leader and helping swoon SEDNA. Otherwise, you can use First Man and First Woman as SEDNA and KING GULL to strengthen his bond with the audience and with her. PAMIUQ makes a good Coyote, and he can steal HIGALIK’s baby, Ila as the water baby)
ACT 1 SCENE 5
(KING GULL and SEDNA stroll out together toward the bay and KING GULL’s striped kayak)
KING GULL: That was quite the festival!
SEDNA: We enjoy our holidays when we have them. That’s a fine kayak you have.
KING GULL: My subjects built it for me.
SEDNA: Your subjects? Of your kingdom?
KING GULL: A kingdom across the sea, full of loyal subjects whom worship me and I treat well.
SEDNA: (coyly) and why have you left this treasured kingdom?
KING GULL: (getting closer to her) To find an even greater treasure.
SEDNA: And what treasure might that be?
KING GULL: Look at your reflection and you will know.
SEDNA: You’ve come to woo me?
KING GULL: I hoped to make you my wife and take you back to my kingdom, where you will sleep on the finest furs and eat the finest foods.
SEDNA: (turning away from him) You know I usually turn down those that court me?
KING GULL: I do.
SEDNA: And yet you have come from so far away?
KING GULL: I have.
SEDNA: And you know I can only marry the smartest, the bravest and the most skilled man?
KING GULL: I know.
SEDNA: And… I will surely let you take me away with you as your wife if you can prove this to me.
KING GULL: (Determined) I will!
SEDNA: Then I will consider it! Perhaps I would like a peek at our kingdom!
KING GULL: Then you come with me tonight to be my bride?
SEDNA: Then you are the bravest?
KING GULL: I am!
SEDNA: The smartest?
KING GULL: I am!
SEDNA: The happiest?
KING GULL: I will be once you are mine!
SEDNA: Then we meet here tonight where I will sail with you to your land where I will sleep on furs!
KING GULL: The finest furs!
SEDNA: And eat good food!
KING GULL: The finest food!
SEDNA: Oh, how exciting! To be a queen! I can hardly wait!
(SEDNA exits. Bursting with happiness, KING GULL caws for all the audience to hear. Magic sound effect)
ACT 1 SCENE 6
(ENTER QASAANAQ, TUKKUTOK, INUKSUK, gesturing behind them)
QASAANAQ: Come Tukkutok, Pamiuq. The Caribou Festival is gone, but that does not mean the caribou are!
(TUKKUTOK + PAMIUQ enter, PAMIUQ wrassling equipment)
PAMIUQ: Coming, grandpa! We were making sure I had the spear I’d prepared.
TUKKUTOK: I doubt you shall need it, son. Today will be another day of observing.
PAMIUQ: (disappointed) Yes, father.
INUKSUK: Won’t we scare off the prey with all of us?
QASAANAQ: You are a wise young father, but we will split up when we reach our prey.
(They walk)
QASAANAQ: So, Aja. Tell us about your daughter’s suitor.
AJA: Is now the time?
PAMIUQ: It’s the only time you come out from grouching in your igloo.
INUKSUK: Pamiuq!
QASAANAQ: Well, Aja?
AJA: He’s non descript. Charming. He has not approached me for her hand yet. He’s rather proud.
TUKKUTOK: It hardly seems to matter as she will doubtless refuse him anyway.
INUKSUK: There! Does anyone else see!
(The men peer over the stage, Four seals roll onto the opposite side of stage (those who play the seagulls wrapped in brown blankets))
AJA: Well, they are not caribou.
TUKKUTOK: But they will feed our families.
(INUKSUK and AJA creep closer on all fours. QASAANAQ, TUKKUTOK and PAMIUQ stay behind on the far side of the stage)
PAMIUQ: (to TUKKUTOK) What are they-
TUKKUTOK: Hush!
(The seals look over and AJA and INUKSUK. Then bob their heads. The seals look away. TUKKUTOK pulls PAMIUQ aside)
TUKKUTOK: We don’t want to scare the lice! Isn’t that right Qasaanaq? The ticks are nice and plump this season.
PAMIUQ: (stage whispering) Lice? Ticks? How will we feed our families with animals like that?? I thought we were hunting those nice big juicy –
(TUKKUTOK places a hand over his mouth)
TUKKUTOK: You cannot just say-
(He looks over at the seals, who are semi-alerted)
TUKKUTOK: SEALS.
PAMIUQ: But that is what we are hunting, right?
TUKKUTOK: Of course it is. But we do not want them to know that!
(AJA and INUKSUK manage to spear a seal. The rest flop away. The one they have speared (preferably a small cast member) is slung upon the back of one of the men as they rejoin the group)
PAMIUQ: The seals can understand us?
TUKKUTOK: Yes, so if they are listening-
PAMIUQ: They won’t think we are hunting them!
TUKKUTOK: Very good!
QASAANAQ: You are learning quickly! You’ll get to make your first kill soon!
(All men exit)
ACT 1 SCENE 7
ENOOYA: Sedna, you can’t marry him!
SEDNA: I would be happy with him!
ENOOYA: You hardly know him!
SEDNA: I know enough.
ENOOYA: Is he a good hunter?
SENDA: He says he’ll take care of me! If you could hear him talk about his kingdom and his subjects, you would see him the way I see him!
ENOOYA: You sound like a seal looking up through the ice at a hunter and thinking “What a nice friend he’d make!”
SEDNA: Oh, I never should have told you!
ENOOYA: Why do you want to marry him?
SEDNA: (defensively) He has real estate.
ENOOYA: He’ll take you away from here! And you’re not even going to tell your father! Oh, Sedna!
SEDNA: Stop panicking! In a couple years, I’ll come back, bedecked in furs and I’ll bring my father back with me and I’ll give him an entire fleet of kayaks and an enormous igloo to live in. The igloo will be so big I will bring back the entire family to live in it!
ENOOYA: I think your eyes have gotten much bigger than your wedding ring!
SEDNA: Ooh! I didn’t even think about all the jewelry he’ll give me!
ENOOYA: You’re really going to do this?
SEDNA: Enooya, I have refused somany men. Some of them were great hunters and warriors. Remember the one who told such wonderful stories?
ENOOYA: Of course. I still wonder what an elephant is.
SEDNA: This one makes me feel different. With all those other suitors, I would have been a plain Inuit wife no matter where they took me. With him – I will be a queen!
(ENOOYA chuckles)
SEDNA: I want that. I want that for me and for father and for you and for all the family. All I have is my beauty – how else should I use it?
ENOOYA: (near tears) I’ll miss you.
SEDNA: You mustn’t tell my father.
ENOOYA: I won’t, I won’t.
SEDNA: (happily) It’ll be a surprise!
ACT 1 SCENE 8
(Night. SEDNA, carrying a bundle, and KING GULL are seen at the coast, getting into his kayak)
SEDNA: This is it! Oh, I’m so excited.
KING GULL: As am I!
SEDNA: I’ll finally have a husband and a home and a kayak!
KING GULL: You like my kayak?
SEDNA: Very much.
KING GULL: I hope you’ll like it even more inside.
SEDNA: I think I will!
(KING GULL helps her like a princess into the kayak. She blushes. They set off!)
KING GULL: Ah, here comes some of my subjects to see us home!
(Four seagulls enter, flying around, cawing. KING GULL caws to them)
SEDNA: Handsome, rich andfunny!
(They laugh, KING GULL looks confused as to why)
(Note: Have the seagulls bring on pieces of KING GULL’s reveal costume. Seagulls also sing with Sedna during Matrimony to a Phony, maybe changing pronouns. They also fly/dance behind)
MATRIMONY TO A PHONY
Here we go! Shove off from the coast!
Let’s get this showboat on the road
A whole new life opens up ahead
Then why am I starting to feel such dread?
My dear new husband – cons and pros
A beak has now replaced his nose!
Oh dear, I’m getting a feeling
That some disguise is a-peeling
Matrimony to a phony!
His manly chest, oh so broad
May now indeed be a fraud
My heart how it begins to race
When I see the new-formed face
Of the man that I adore
Okay, those really weren’t there before!
Oh dear, I might be cutting the cake
With a man who is an utter fake
Matrimony to a phony!
He doesn’t talk, he only squawks
He waddles when he has to walk
What are those things? Could they be wings?
Matrimony to a phony!
SEDNA: You’re a BIRD?!
KING GULL: A seagull, actually. With a most majestic caw if I do say so myself. Are you not attracted to my plumage?
SEDNA: I didn’t realize I’d share a feather bed with a husband who stuffed it with his own feathers!
KING GULL: Oh I’ll do you one much better than any cushy old bed. Here’s my home now! Thank you friends!
(Seagulls caw, KING GULL caws back)
SEDNA: So they really are your subjects?
KING GULL: I am their king after all!
(The kayak hits the shore – KING GULL gets out and offers her a wing, but she gets out on her own)
SEDNA: What is this place?
KING GULL: The land of the bird spirits where I reside and rule!
THAYER: King!
SABINE: You’re back!
IVORY: Thank the ancestors!
ROSS: We missed you!
THAYER: Here’s your crown, sir!
SABINE: We kept it nice and clean!
IVORY: Spit-polished, sir!
ROSS: All for you!
KING GULL: Thank you, thank you! My loyal subjects, you all treat me so well.
THAYER: Nothing compared to how you treat us!
SABINE: We love you, King Gull!
IVORY: We missed you!
ROSS: We’ll always take care of you!
KING GULL: As you can see – I was successful in my journey and I have brought home – a wife!
(Seagulls caw, applaud, flap around)
THAYER: How wonderful!
SABINE: She’s lovely!
IVORY: Gorgeous!
ROSS: Divine!
THAYER: Only the best for our king!
KING GULL: I want you to treat her as one of our own!
ROSS: Of course, sir!
IVORY: This way to your bridal bed, madam!
THAYER: Oh she’s going to love it!
SABINE: We’ve been working so hard on it!
(Seagulls bring on a big nest)
(THAYER, ROSS, SABINE and IVORY all take a deep breath before they all say:) TA-DA!
KING GULL: My goodness! So well-crafted!
IVORY: We did our best!
KING GULL: My queen, what do you think?!
(SEDNA just looks at the nest, at the seagulls, at the king. She is speechless) (A long pause)
KING GULL: (as if it’s a good thing) She’s speechless!
(Seagulls applaud/caw)
KING GULL: I think my queen is a bit tired. Let us have a rest and some entertainment!
(KING GULL and SEDNA settle into the nest. SEDNA looks terribly uncomfortable)
THAYER: Of course, your majesty!
SABINE: Ready when you are!
IVORY: We aim to please!
ROSS: Always ready for your enjoyment!
KING GULL: Tell a story.
THAYER: Once upon a time-
SABINE: There was a beloved king –
IVORY: Who brought home a lovely queen –
ROSS: To his adoring kingdom!
KING GULL: Do a dance!
(All seagulls start into a well manufactured routine which dispels into awkward freestyling)
KING GULL: Sing a song.
(The seagulls break out into horrible monotonous cawing, SEDNA covers her ears)
KING GULL: Tell a joke!
SABINE: What do you call a seagull that flies over the bay?
THAYER, SABINE, ROSS, IVORY: A bagel!
(They all break into raucous caw laughing)
KING GULL: Enough! Now, what does my queen desire?
SEDNA: (meekly) … Perhaps a morsel of food?
(All four seagulls begin hacking, until IVORY tries to hand her a coughed up fish)
SEDNA: (quietly) Or perhaps some time alone.
KING GULL: Time alone?! Ancestors forbid! The only time you’ll be alone is when I go scavenging for you my dear! I promise!
THAYER: We know what the queen desires, your majesty!
SABINE: She’d love to see some of your magic!
IVORY: Oh yes, your magic!
ROSS: Show us some!
KING GULL: Alright, alright my subjects! Just a tad show and then it’s off to beddy-bye for me.
THAYER: Oh, I’m so excited!
SABINE: Magic! Magic!
IVORY: We’re going to see the magic!
ROSS: Oh, I can’t wait!
KING GULL: Prepare to behold!
(KING GULL flaps his wings and lights flash/sound effects, the sea/water moves, a seagull does something involuntarily)
THAYER: Oh wow!
SABINE: How spectacular our king is!
IVORY: You really showed us a great one!
ROSS: Can’t wait for next time.
KING GULL: Nestle down, nestle down. Now is time for my regal rest.
THAYER: Of course, your majesty!
SABINE: Have sweet dreams.
IVORY: Wake well-rested!
ROSS: Good night!
(The seagulls hum a lullaby)
Seagulls: Hush little baby, don’t look so dull
Mama’s gonna buy you a white seagull
And if that white seagull don’t sing
It’s because they don’t wanna wake their king
(The seagulls all shush each other, maybe “pull up a blanket” on him and drift slowly to SEDNA’s side of the nest)
Seagulls: Hush little queenie, don’t say a word-
SEDNA: (interrupting) Your husband’s gonna reveal he’s actually a BIRD.
(THAYER, SABINE, IVORY and ROSS circle her menacingly, quiet)
SABINE: Do you think you’re funny?
IVORY: Birds have always been better than humans.
THAYER: What can humans do that birds can’t?
ROSS: We sing.
IVORY: We swim.
ROSS: We hunt.
SABINE: But we most certainly don’t talk bad about our king!
THAYER: Many poems and songs have been written about us, you know.
IVORY: We’re graceful, enchanting.
SABINE: Swift, endurant.
ROSS: Unlike humans. Shuffling around.
THAYER: All pink and fleshy.
SABINE: Ripe for the pecking.
IVORY: No wonder you have to wear all those hideous furs.
THAYER: You can’t even fly somewhere warm for the winter.
ROSS: You all smell funny.
IVORY: Like sweat and dirt.
SABINE: You’re gross and ungrateful.
THAYER: Brutish and unbearable.
ROSS: There’s nothing pretty about you.
IVORY: And the only reason we’re putting up with this-
Seagulls: Is because of our king!
(SABINE struts forward menacingly, and the seagulls strut off stage. SEDNA buries her head in her hands)
ACT 1 SCENE 9
TUKKUTOK: We checked the coast and the stranger is gone.
HIGALIK: I wonder how hard she spurned this one.
ENOOYA: I’m sure she was very merciful.
HIGALIK: How do you know?
UUKARNIT: I hope the poor girl didn’t get her heart broken.
ENOOYA: (mumbling) Trust me, she’s getting all her heart desires.
UUKARNIT: What was that, dearie?
QASAANAQ: I just hope she’s back in time for the nighttime story.
CHIKKUK: She does always seem to be off near the coast.
HIGALIK: When will she learn her beauty is not an excuse to not work? No girl’s dowry can only be her face.
ENOOYA: (mumbling) Seemed enough for her.
CHIKKUK: What are you mumbling about?
ENOOYA: Nothing, mother!
HIGALIK: Those gnashing teeth of yours should be put to help chew the leather!
(ENOOYA sighs and sets to work chewing)
(PAMIUQ enters with a tool/brush/bush)
CHIKKUK: Did you see Sedna out there, Pamiuq?
PAMIUQ: Sedna? No. And I was near where she usually is.
CHIKKUK: Down on the coast east of the glacier?
PAMIUQ: Yes!
HIGALIK: That is usually where she is!
ENOOYA: (sarcastically) How strange.
QASAANAQ: Where is she then?
CHIKKUK: Perhaps we should alert Aja when he gets back.
(AJA & INUKSUK enters with seals from the opposite side PAMIUQ entered)
AJA: Alert me to what when I get back?
HIGALIK: We can’t find Sedna!
CHIKKUK: Now hold on –
AJA: (He drops his kill) What?!
UUKARNIT: No one’s seen her since yesterday.
INUKSUK: Well we certainly didn’t see her out in the west.
TUKKUTOK: If Pamiuq didn’t see her out in the east ... and you didn’t see her out in the west…
PAMIUQ: (A little scared) Daddy, could a polar bear could have gotten her? Did she slip down into a breathing hole and drown?
HIGALIK: It’s possible!
TUKKUTOK: No, no, the coldness of the water would kill her much faster.
(The whole village erupts into a frightened commotion, baby crying sound effect)
UUKARNIT: Everyone! Listen! We will handle this like any good Inuit should. We will scour the land around us and some of us will climb to the top of the glacier to look for her. Kaomoji?
Everyone Else: Kaomoji!
UUKARNIT: It will be dangerous considering we can hardly sacrifice any time we have to complete all our work this season, but we must –
ENOOYA: (suddenly) I saw her on the north coast.
AJA: The north coast? What was she doing there?
ENOOYA: Just wandering around.
TUKKUTOK: When?
ENOOYA: Last night.
INUKSUK: The stranger’s striped kayak was on the north coast!
QASAANAQ: So it was!
HIGALIK: She couldn’t have-
CHIKKUK: She wouldn’t –
ENOOYA: She miiiiiiight have …
AJA: You mean she didn’trefuse him?? She went off with him?!
CHIKKUK: (to AJA) Did she tell you?
AJA: Not a word!
UUKARNIT: Didn’t even ask a blessing.
HIGALIK: Or permission!
QASAANAQ: We don’t know that was where she went for certain.
(A pause)
ENOOYA: She was carrying a bundle of her belongings.
AJA: That scoundrel!
~INTERMISSION~
ACT 2 SCENE 1
(Sedna lays alone on stage, slightly propped up and looking towards the sky)
SEDNA: Hey Enooya. Remember when the Northern Lights were the most exciting thing in our world? Remember that? We used to sneak out after nighttime stories to go watch them. Sometimes we’d do it a couple nights in a row. We were so quiet. We got so good at being sneaky. It’s how I got the practice for sneaking out and …
(She trails off, but begins again somewhere else anew)
SEDNA: Remember what Grandma Uukarnit told us they were called? Arsaniit. The kickball game. It’s just our ancestors playing one big beautiful kickball game up there. I guess that’s what happens when we die. We just get to go and play kickball. I wish I was up there, playing kickball with them. I wish you were here, Enooya.
(She gets emotional. The song of the sea plays and SEDNA stops crying to listen)
SEDNA: What is that?
(She follows it to an edge of the stage)
SEDNA: I think this is the shore we came in on. Are you singing to me, sea?
(The melody swells, but then begins to fade)
SEDNA: Out there, across the bay somewhere is my family. Out there somewhere is my father. Thank you for your song, sea. I will return it.
AJA, MY FATHER
Aja, my father if only you knew
How wretched I am and how I miss you
Aja, my father come and take me back home
(Ice Winds dance)
Aja, my father, we would hurry away
To the other side of the sea where would always stay
Aja, my father come take me back home
(Ice Winds dance)
The birds do not look kindly on me
For I am a stranger (O-oh)
Cold winds blow about my bed
And I feel in constant danger (O-oh)
There is no food, there is no sleep
There are only tears I weep
Aja, my father, come and take me back home
SEDNA: (sadly) Will you carry that message for me, sea?
(The sea waves crash)
ACT 2 SCENE 2
(AJA and CHIKKUK enter, AJA paces furiously)
CHIKKUK: Brother, you must stop pacing!
AJA: How can I stop? If my legs stop moving, my mind will do triple it’s own speed!
CHIKKUK: You must realize she has made her own decision!
AJA: Not without asking me, she hasn’t! It’s so unlike her! When she was young, she would tell me everything!
CHIKKUK: When she was young. Now she is grown.
AJA: Don’t you realize we could be sitting back – doing nothing about a kidnapping??
CHIKKUK: She wasn’t kidnapped, Aja! Enooya saw her go with a bundle of her things.
AJA: Because he forced her to!
CHIKKUK: If she had time to retrieve her things, she had time to ask for help, and we are ten people against one man. We could have defended her had she wished it. She was bound to pick a husband sooner or later. She went of her own free will.
AJA: (sits dejectedly) Don’t you dare be right.
CHIKKUK: (sitting next to him) Wouldn’t it be better if I am? I know you miss her.
AJA: Miss her? How can I even miss her when she plagues my every thought!
CHIKKUK: She has a husband now. A life across the sea.
AJA: Chikkuk, I can’t lose her. She’s all I have.
CHIKKUK: You have us.
AJA: She could need me. I know she needs me! Chikkuk, what if he can’t hunt?
CHIKKUK: (frankly) Then she’ll starve to death, I suppose.
AJA: Do you have to be so honest about it!
CHIKKUK: I said she made a decision, I never promised it was a good one!
AJA: I want to visit Qasaanaq.
CHIKKUK: And what do you think he’ll say about it? Something other than what I’ve told you?
AJA: Anything would be better! He’s our angetok – our shaman! He will know what to do! I will listen to his advice!
(CHIKKUK leaves – throwing her hands up in the air. AJA exits. QASAANAQ steps in to narrate)
QASAANAQ: (to audience) But Aja did no such thing. As soon as he left his igloo, his mind raced with thoughts of his daughter and his feet raced toward his kayak, hoping beyond hope that the sea would be merciful in helping him find her!
ACT 2 SCENE 3
(SEDNA sleeps in the nest, her hair ratted and her clothes crumpled. KING GULL Creeps up and caws in her face)
KING GULL: Good morning wife!
(SEDNA wakes abruptly)
SEDNA: (grumpily) It is very early.
KING GULL: I have brought you breakfast!
(He coughs up a fish)
SEDNA: I am not hungry.
KING GULL: You have not eaten in days!
SEDNA: I am really not hungry.
KING GULL: Well I have great news today! It is my last hour scavenging and then we can be together all day tomorrow!
SEDNA: Joy.
KING GULL: (Loudly to no one in particular) I AM OFF AND AWAY.
(A crashing, banging off stage)
KING GULL: (Loudly) I said ---
(THAYER, SABINE, IVORY and ROSS all clamber on stage, still bleary-eyed)
THAYER: Off and away your majesty!
SABINE: Oh, your majesty, must you go?
IVORY: We’ll miss you so!
ROSS: Please reconsider!
KING GULL: It is that or let my subjects starve! Come! Watch me as I do this noble deed!
(KING GULL makes a big deal of flying away, his subjects clap, leaving the seagulls with SEDNA)
THAYER: So what’re YOU going to do today, queenie dearest?
SABINE: Probably lie in bed like she always does!
IVORY: Useless!
ROSS: Pathetic.
SEDNA: I think I’ll look for some of my own food, actually.
THAYER: (laughs) Her own food!
SABINE: What does she eat?
IVORY: Seal tendons!
ROSS: Whale bones!
(SEDNA gets up out of the nest and begins to walk, but she seems to see something in the distance. The seagulls notice her looking, they look too. She gets more excited)
THAYER: What is that??
SEDNA: It’s a boat!
IVORY: And a man!
SEDNA: Papa!
(AJA enters stage, birds flutter disturbed. He runs to embrace his daughter)
AJA: Sedna!
SABINE: Hey! Who gave you permission to touch our queen like that?
AJA: She’s my daughter!
ROSS: Her father, eh?
IVORY: Does the king known ol’ pops is here?
THAYER: Popsicle more like! Look at him! All skin and no feathers!
SABINE: He’s even uglier than his daughter!
AJA: Sedna, I’ve come to take you home.
THAYER: She is home.
IVORY: You can’t just take her away.
ROSS: She’s under contract.
SABINE: A contract called
SABINE, THAYER, ROSS, IVORY: Marriage!
AJA: Sedna, why did you do this?
SEDNA: I am starting to believe I have been bewitched by his terrible magic to make me come here and be his wife! I’ve been so miserable!
AJA: Bewitched by his magic?
SEDNA: Yes, he’s a terrible sorcerer which his followers fawn over him for!
SABINE: There was no bewitchment!
IVORY: Your daughter’s just dumb!
THAYER: Dumb?! How could you say that? Our king is the finest suitor in the Artic! Any woman would be dumb NOT to fall for him!
(THAYER pecks IVORY on the head)
IVORY: Sorry. Sorry.
(SABINE pecks her. ROSS pecks her)
IVORY: Sorry. Sorry.
(During this bullying, SEDNA and AJA start trying to back away)
SABINE: Not so fast!
THAYER: Don’t think you can leave without your king’s permission!
SABINE: You belong to him now!
IVORY: Don’t think we won’t tell him!
AJA: I’ll leave with only one man’s permission! My own! Sedna is mine to keep safe!
(AJA crouches down away from them and lifts his coat around him. He turns sharply and yells, with his coat and furs above his head)
IVORY: Aaaaaaah!
THAYER: He got so much bigger!
ROSS: Oh my gosh!
SABINE: Run away!!
(The birds exit hastily)
AJA: They may be bullies. But they are still just birds. Quick, to my kayak! Let’s get out of here!
(AJA and SEDNA exit the opposite direction)
ACT 2 SCENE 4
SEDNA: Father!
AJA: Hold tight to the boat, Sedna!
SEDNA: I’m scared! What if he catches up to us or uses his magic!
AJA: Hold tight!
FASTER
AJA+SEDNA: Feel the wind and how it twirls and swirls around me
How I pray to the ancestors that my boat will ground me
Tidals toss and waves will whirl and currents crash
I must keep paddling until my feet hit shore at last
Faster! Faster!
Gotta go faster!
To avoid disaster!
Remember the sea has no master!
And paddle faster
SEAGULLS+KING GULL: You think the oars and your puny boat will save you
But it does nothing but bring you closer to the grave, you
Paddle faster but there’s still no shore in sight
We know just what to do to make you see the light
Faster! Faster!
You’re no forecaster!
The storm will go faster!
We are your fate’s master!
Just try and go faster!
SEDNA: (spoken) He’s using his magic, papa! He’s causing the storm!
SEAGULLS: The rain falls in sheets!
SEDNA+AJA: Our escape is fleet!
SEAGULLS: Give up on this dance!
SEDNA + AJA: We‘ll take our chance!
ALL: Faster! Faster!
Gotta go faster!
To avoid disaster!
Remember the sea has no master!
And paddle faster!
SEDNA: Father!
(She has been standing to wave off seagulls, whom peck her fingers and now she falls overboard. The ocean carries her away. AJA lunges for her and falls off and is carried off as well. Seagulls cackle. Ocean all falls to the ground and stays there for the next scene)
ACT 2 SCENE 5
(The sea melody plays. SEDNA stands in the middle, arms outstretched, surrounded by flowing blues and greens)
SEDNA: Where am !?
(The sea ripples)
SEDNA: The sea? I’m in the sea? Am I dead? No. I feel bruises in my knuckles! How they ache! And father … father! Where is father? Is he here with me? I don’t see him. (She looks around) What do you want of me, sea? Have you taken me?
(The sea shudders)
SEDNA: Then what do you want?
(The sea shimmers)
SEDNA: (as if she hears something) Be yours?
(SEDNA up until now has stood with her arms extended. She moves her right hand. The waves obey and crash to the right. She moves to the left, they crash to the left. She twirls, everything swirls. The music swells. SEDNA conducts a naval orchestra. Seals and fish swim to her command, the waves splash, the tides turn)
SEDNA: (ecstatic) What ability! Where has it come from? What’s this? (she reaches out as if she senses something we cannot see. AJA, unconscious, is either revealed under a tide or is carried on by one)
SEDNA: FATHER!
QASAANAQ: Sedna.
SEDNA: Grandfather! Oh, Grandfather! How did you come to be here? My father! Is he dying?
QASAANAQ: Sedna, I myself can hardly believe it. I felt our ancestors pulling me to come to speak to them, but when I obeyed, I found my spirit here. What has happened, Sedna?
SEDNA: Oh, Grandfather. King Gull took me away to be his wife, but all the things he promised me were lies! When father came to rescue me, King Gull attacked us and we both fell into the sea.
QASAANAQ: The sea is a dangerous place.
SEDNA: Yes, yes, I know, and now my father will not wake!
QASAANAQ: Sedna… it appears only one of you was accepted.
SEDNA: What do you mean?
QASAANAQ: I think the sea has chosen you.
SEDNA: It’s true, I can feel the tides and the waves, the animals swimming, the currents coursing. It’s all so strange and wonderful. What has happened to me, Grandfather?
QASAANAQ: Granddaughter, I think the sea saw your sorrow. It pitied you and because you had always loved it, so it took you to become it’s own.
SEDNA: But my father! What will become of him!?
QASAANAQ: (gently) I cannot say. But I do not think the sea will be as generous.
(SEDNA cradles her father. QASAANAQ steps back and is joined by UUKARNIT who enters with a shiny shawl and drapes one over his shoulders. Suddenly we are revisited by the OLD MAN and the OLD WOMAN)
OLD WOMAN: Is there no other way?
OLD MAN: (shaking his head) You had the last say.
(AJA wakes up – though SEDNA doesn’t seem to see him move away from her)
AJA/QASAANAQ: (To audience) And in that moment, Aja felt something he had never felt before. Complete warmth.
(AJA walks offstage accompanied by some ocean. SEDNA looks weary)
SEDNA: (flatly) Funny. My hair is a mess and I cannot even brush it now that I am in mourning. I suppose for as long as the sea claims me, it will be tangled. My fingers are so bruised I could not brush through it with them anyway.
(UUKARNIT hands QASAANAQ a brush and takes his shawl. She exits. QASAANAQ steps forward)
QASAANAQ: One last time before you begin your grieving period. May I?
(SEDNA nods sadly. The sea flows around them as grandpa gently brushes granddaughters hair. SEDNA pampers her bruised knuckles. Seals and fish come up to be with her)
SEDNA: (sadly) What will I do?
QASAANAQ: Embrace the sea as it has embraced you. You will help generations by mastering it’s depths.
SEDNA: I will be so lonely.
QASAANAQ: I will visit you from time to time, and I will teach other angetok – other shaman to do the same. We will visit you to ask your assistance on where to hunt. We will hold festivals in your honor.
SEDNA: The sea is so vast. There are corners so dark to me. But the patterns are visible. Migrations and life cycles. I see now. Even if I was able to return, I would have no peace as a human being. Not after this.
(QASAANAQ completes brushing her hair and steps back)
SEDNA: Tell the village I miss them, but I will always be watching out for them and for all other Inuit. My beauty afforded me so little in my previous life. Maybe this is my beauty’s final blessing to my people.
QASAANAQ: We pray it is, Sedna. What a destiny you have!
ACT 2 SCENE 6
(The whole tribe huddles around QASAANAQ at the shoreline)
HIGALIK: It cannot be true!
QASAANAQ: But it is! I saw her as I see you now!
CHIKKUK: But goddess of the sea! You talk nonsense to console yourself.
QASAANAQ: You must believe me! It’s true! The Inuit people have been blessed by this!
CHIKKUK: And what of Aja?
QASAANAQ: Chikkuk… your brother now plays the great kickball game in the sky.
CHIKKUK: Aja is with our ancestors??
QASAANQ: He has joined them to be reborn at a later time.
INUKSUK: What misfortune!
(The village mourns)
QASAANAQ: With these momentous changes, there are new customs we must follow to appease and communicate with Sedna. I will teach you them when we return home.
(KING GULL, THAYER, SABINE, IVORY and ROSS jump on stage)
KING GULL: Not - so – fast!
(The seagulls begin mingling/surrounding the Inuit threateningly)
KING GULL: Where is my wife? I lost her in the gale and I know she and her filthy father retreated here!
CHIKKUK: Don’t talk about Aja that way!
TUKKUTOK: We don’t have her!
UUKARNIT: The sea has claimed her!
KING GULL: You’re lying! Where are you hiding her?
QASAANAQ: We hide her nowhere! She has become a goddess.
KING GULL: Don’t try to trick me, old man! I know she’s here somewhere, now give her to me or I will use my magic!
SABINE: You don’t want him to do that!
KING GULL: Hand her over!
CHIKKUK: We don’t have her!
KING GULL: I shall scare her out of you!!
(KING GULL tries to perform magic, but nothing happens)
KING GULL: (Looking at his wings) Why does the water not obey??
PAMIUQ: We are not scared of you!
QASAANAQ: We have a say in how the ocean behaves now. Our Sedna will not let you hurt us!
QASAANAQ: We have a say in how the ocean behaves now. Our Sedna will not let you hurt us!
UUKARNIT: And we have magic of our own, King Gull!
(chanting) In the first world, everything was dark
INUIT: (join in) There was no light anywhere, the difference was stark.
KING GULL: What are you doing?
INUIT: Living in this land was the hero Begochiddy
KING GULL: Stop it!
(KING GULL and the Seagulls begin backing up into the water)
INUIT: (stomping) First Woman, First Man, Fire God, Coyote
KING GULL: STOP IT!
(The seagulls cover their ears as if it is painful)
INUIT: (faster) Begochiddy formed it all, the river and her fountains
The plants and all the insects, the hills and every mountain
(The ocean grabs at the seagull’s ankles)
THAYER: The sea is pulling at me, your majesty!
ROSS: Me too!
IVORY: I’m scared!
KING GULL: Fly, you fools! Fly AWAY!
(The seagulls fly away, the Inuit cheer)
INUKSUK: We did it!
ENOOYA: The story works!
QASAANAQ: And Sedna helped!
CHIKKUK: They may be bullies, but they are still just birds!
(All the Inuits leave except for ENOOYA, who steps forward towards the coast and ocean)
ENOOYA: Sedna?
(The waves crash)
ENOOYA: Thank you.
(The waves play with ENOOYA’s feet. ENOOYA follows the rest of her tribe)
ACT 2 SCENE 7
(The tribe works on stage. TUKKUTOK and PAMIUQ enter from stage right. PAMIUQ has a seal)
TUKKUTOK: Well done, son!
CHIKKUK: Is this Pamiuq’s first kill?
TUKKUTOK: It is!
PAMIUQ: It is!
CHIKKUK: Everyone! Come see Pamiuq’s first kill!
(Tribe crowds around him)
TUKKUTOK: Quickly son, put your spear in the hut.
PAMIUQ: Why?
QASAANAQ: In order to honor the spirit, you must keep it’s soul warm.
TUKKUTOK: And it’s soul is now attached to your spear.
PAMIUQ: Yes, okay! (PAMIUQ runs (hands seal to TUKKUTOK?) and places his spear offstage)
CHIKKUK: And since you have no wife, I will be the one to give the seal an offering of fresh water from melted ice.
(CHIKKUK puts an imaginary piece of ice in her mouth, swishes it around)
INUKSUK: With a first kill like this, he will be ready for marriage soon!
HIGALIK: How exciting!
(CHIKKUK imaginary spits out water on the seal. The village cheers approvingly. PAMIUQ begins to lay down the seal)
UUKARNIT: Oh, not there, dear! That is too close to the caribou meat!
PAMIUQ: (innocently) What’s wrong with that?
UUKARNIT: Animals of the land and the sea should never be stored or hunted together. It’s how we honor their respective homes and the food they provide. Kaomoji?
PAMIUQ: Kaomoji, grandmother. I understand.
(He lays it respectively to the other side, the tribe cheers)
ENOOYA: I’ll help you scrape it’s pelt clean tonight.
INUKSUK: It is a fine seal, Pamiuq! You should be proud!
TUKKUTOK: Well, we only have Sedna to thank for it’s location!
QASAANAQ: Yes indeed, our angetoks will continue to visit Sedna, brush her hair and receive her wisdom.
HIGALIK: It’s so crazy to be related to a goddess!
QASAANAQ: But we are blessed because of it!
PAMIUQ: How will we know when we need to talk to her, grandma?
UUKARNIT: I guess we’ll have to leave it up to our –
Everyone: Inuit Intuit!
SONGS
Inuit Intuit
Creation Story Chant
Matrimony to a Phony
Aja, My Father
Faster
Sea Song?
INUIT INTUIT
Who can tell where snow will fall
We who answer the spirits call
Where we move, where we stay
When we pray evil will go away
Blame it on our Inuit Intuit!
We ourselves do not know
Where to hunt or winds will blow
But something tells us deep inside
And we claim it with pride!
It’s our Inuit Intuit!
When seals pop out of their hole
Who tells us to spear our goal?
It’s quite out of our control!
When earth was formed long ago
Our creator, Gitchee Manitou
Made the people of the ice and snow
We learned to skin and hunt and sew
We learned to take each icy blow
And from each trouble we only grow!
Why?
Blame it on our Inuit Intuit!
We ourselves cannot claim
That we know the game
But we’ll keep coming back again!
It’s our Inuit Intuit!
Creation Story Chant
Everyone/ Chant:In the first world, everything was dark
There was no light anywhere, the difference was stark
Living in this land was the hero, Begochiddy
First Woman, First Man, Fire God, Coyote
Begochiddy formed it all, the river and her fountains
The plants and all the insects, the hills and every mountain
Jealousy in Fire God reigned like a wrath
He set out to burning everything formed in his path
Discontented, First Man gathered all creation
And said, “We could use a permanent vacation.”
Begochiddy grew a reed to plant on the mount
And it grew many lengths, many more than they could count
It grew through the clouds and it grew way up high
Begochiddy’s people climbed it all the way through the sky!
The second world that they found upon emergin’
Was like the one they left behind, but a blue version
But the people on this world tried to wage a war
So Begochiddy’s people climbed the reed like before
It grew through the clouds and it grew way up high
Begochiddy’s people climbed it all the way through the sky!
But something unique about the land to which they’d run
Was lit by glowing mountains and was yellow as the sun
The trickster named Coyote, upon investigation
Located a child, alone inside the nation
The baby had long black hair and was sitting in a river
Coyote stole the child and didn’t say a whisper
The river parents searched for their kind and blood
Begochiddy’s people were being threatened with a flood!
Begochiddy led his people once more to the reed’s top
“This is not my doing!” he said, “I cannot make it stop!”
Four storms rolled in from every direction
The people felt so vulnerable and lost without protection
Ooh how the winds blew, Ooh how the reed quaked
But push as hard as they all could, the sky would not break
The ants, spiders, locusts took pity on their master
And took it upon themselves to help them get out faster
The ants dug at the sky, the locusts ram their heads
The spiders spun them closer with their silky threads
Clinging to the reed, Coyote knew what he must do
And finally threw down the child to the parents that were blue/true
Finally the sky broke loose, allowed the reed to grow
All of Begochiddy’s people escaped the storm below
The fourth world that they all came was in fact quite queer
But they became accustomed because the fourth world was here!
The surface was quite muddy, not nearly then complete
Badger stepped on it first, and got his darkened feet
Begochiddy dried the lands and Fire God made fire
Coyote, still a trickster, stole the flames right off the pyre
First Man and First Woman placed the stars above
And Begochiddy taught his people how to live and love
And if we want no fifth world attained upon reed’s height
We must remember always to do what is right!
MATRIMONY TO A PHONY
Here we go! Shove off from the coast!
Let’s get this showboat on the road
A whole new life opens up ahead
Then why am I starting to feel such dread?
My dear new husband – cons and pros
A beak has now replaced his nose!
Oh dear, I’m getting a feeling
That some disguise is a-peeling
Matrimony to a phony!
His manly chest, oh so broad
May now indeed be a fraud
My heart how it begins to race
When I see the new-formed face
Of the man that I adore
Okay, those really weren’t there before!
Oh dear, I might be cutting the cake
With a man who is an utter fake
Matrimony to a phony!
He doesn’t talk, he only squawks
He waddles when he has to walk
What are those things? Could they be wings?
Matrimony to a phony!
Aja, My Father
Aja, my father if only you knew
How wretched I am and how I miss you
Aja, my father come and take me back home
(Ice Winds dance)
Aja, my father, we would hurry away
To the other side of the sea where would always stay
Aja, my father come take me back home
(Ice Winds dance)
The birds do not look kindly on me
For I am a stranger (O-oh)
Cold winds blow about my bed
And I feel in constant danger (O-oh)
There is no food, there is no sleep
There are only tears I weep
Aja, my father, come and take me back home
FASTER
AJA+SEDNA: Feel the wind and how it twirls and swirls around me
How I pray to the ancestors that my boat will ground me
Tidals toss and waves will whirl and currents crash
I must keep paddling until my feet hit shore at last
Faster! Faster!
Gotta go faster!
To avoid disaster!
Remember the sea has no master!
And paddle faster
SEAGULLS+KING GULL: You think the oars and your puny boat will save you
But it does nothing but bring you closer to the grave, you
Paddle faster but there’s still no shore in sight
We know just what to do to make you see the light
Faster! Faster!
You’re no forecaster!
This storm will go faster!
We are your boat’s master!
Just try and go faster!
SEDNA: (spoken) He’s using his magic, papa! He’s causing the storm!
SEAGULLS: The rain falls in sheets!
SEDNA+AJA: Our escape is fleet!
SEAGULLS: Give up on this dance!
SEDNA + AJA: We’ll take our chance!
ALL: Faster! Faster!
Gotta go faster!
To avoid disaster!
Remember the sea has no master!
And paddle faster!
NEW NANABOZHO CHANT
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