Perri

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1

(NARRATOR READING)

NARRATOR:
These words of truth

are nature's basic law,

and you shall be the witness.

Come with us now

to watch with all the grandeur

of her seasons' change.

And marvel at the wondrous ways

in which she has arranged

a time for everything.

On yonder mountain breaks the day,

and so begins a time of beauty

and our play.

Break of day

The moment of enchantment

When the dawn

Comes tiptoe down the hill

Morning sky all aglow

While the sleepy earth below

Feels the kiss of the breeze

Sweep the mist from her trees

And then lo and behold

All is gold, all is gold

Break of day

Break of day

Break of day

One perfect hour at dawning

When the world

in loveliness is dressed

Every flower fresh with dew

Gives a fragrance to the air

Rippling brook runs along

Joins the birds in their song

See the sky, blue and clear

All awake, day is here

Break of day

Break of day

Break of day

Break of day

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

(BIRDS SQUAWKING)

NARRATOR:
And so, full born,

a day in spring.

And we have come on morning's wings

upon a secret garden.

Just beyond the beaver pond, it lies.

We call it Wildwood Heart,

and this shall be the setting

for our play.

Our plot is nature's own,

our theme, the endless stream of life

that in this time of spring

finds new beginnings everywhere.

(SQUEALING)

(CHIRPING)

(CAWING)

(CHITTERING)

There are many wonders here

in Wildwood Heart.

Each plays its part in nature's plan.

The miracle of mother love, a vital force

that, even in a savage breast,

protects the young

until their age of helplessness is past.

And nature's greatest gift is here,

a warm and precious thing.

The deep compelling urge

of kind for kind

from which all life must spring.

But now the mating season,

the time of together,

has come and gone.

Still, between the red fox and his vixen,

there is a bond that holds them

in a close companionship.

So shall they stay through all of life,

for this is nature's way.

But nature's mating ways

are sometimes strange,

and in her treetop world,

she's arranged

the very opposite design.

The pine squirrel,

once his mating time has passed,

lives out a life of bachelorhood

inside a ragged nest

of shredded bark and grass,

and yet he always keeps a watchful eye

on a pine-tree snag nearby.

His mate and all her tiny brood

live here,

(WHIMPERING)

but one is more precocious

than the rest,

always first to Mother's breast.

This is Perri, and this is her story.

It begins with those first awarenesses

that nature gives the very young:

The taste of milk,

her mother's furry warmth,

and in a bed of pungent cedar bark,

a time of perfect peace.

(WHIMPERING)

But Perri's mother

knows none of these.

She leads a hectic life of eat and run.

To feed her young,

she must herself be fed.

And it's odd but true,

she can change to mother's milk

even the deadly tissue of the toadstool.

This time of hunting

is a necessary time for all.

(PANTING)

The mother marten,

with her young to feed,

is driven by a constant need

of flesh and blood.

She must make many kills today,

and the pine squirrel

is her natural prey.

(CHIRPING)

(SNARLING)

(CAWING)

(CHIRPS)

(SNARLING)

The ravens' wild alarm

is heard by Perri's father.

(SQUEALING)

(MARTEN GROWLS)

(MARTEN GROWLS)

Perri's father,

moved by some ancient instinct

stronger than the fear within his breast,

sets out to lure the marten

from the mother's nest.

(CHATTERING)

(SNARLING)

(SQUAWKING)

(SQUIRREL SQUEALING)

A life is lost,

but not in vain.

The marten now can feed her young,

but she will return to Perri's nest again,

and so the mother squirrel

needs another hiding place.

Good. The father's nest.

Inside their hollow-chambered stump,

the martens' morsel is already gone,

(SQUEAKING)

and now the mother squirrel's

borrowed time grows very short.

(SQUIRRELS CHIRPING)

Now all the babies

have been moved but one.

Perri.

(SQUEALING)

(SNARLS)

A narrow miss, but this is not the end.

Death still is very near.

(SQUEALING)

Now, how will nature tip the scale?

Will life or death prevail?

Two mothers, each with a need,

which one will succeed?

(BABY MARTENS SQUEALING)

The distant cry

that makes the marten turn away

comes from her nesting place.

A mother raccoon has happened by,

and now the marten's babies

are in peril.

(SQUEALING)

Although the marten works a miracle,

it's all a waste of time,

for the raccoon can't solve the riddle

of this tantalizing stump,

and much annoyed,

she ambles on her way

in search of less perplexing prey,

but finds instead

another prickly problem.

(GROWLS)

(WHIMPERING)

From the haven of her father's nest,

Perri looks upon the world below,

and as we watch with her,

we, too, shall see with nature's eye

this time of hunting

that shall go quickly by.

Of course, we must abandon

all emotion, all distress,

and realize that death

is just a necessary end.

This is the perfect plan

that nature has contrived.

Some must die that others may survive.

(FOXES BARKING)

(GROWLS)

(CAWS)

(YELPING)

The wildcat doesn't care

to face the mother fox inside her den.

It's true the rabbit is a small reward,

but then at least she got this prey

the easy way.

(MEWING)

To keep her world in balance,

nature has decreed

that in this time of hunting,

death shall take many forms.

The beaver kills the living aspen tree

and dines upon its flesh.

From the bare, bleak skeleton

that remains,

he fashions and maintains his dam.

All through the day, in Wildwood Heart,

the search for food

continues everywhere.

The sapsucker feeds her young

on grubs and worms,

and in her daily round,

she demonstrates how life or death

will sometimes turn

upon the merest quirk of fate.

Her busy rapping

wakes a flying squirrel.

If not disturbed,

he never flies except by night,

but now, by day,

the goshawk waits with swifter wings

to end this brief untimely flight.

A time of hunting.

And then a time of peace.

Now, with fall of night,

nature brings the precious gift of sleep.

Now to sleep

Now to rest

While the soft night descending

Covers all

Great and small

Till a new day is born

Deep in the shadow

Dreaming away

Soon you'll forget all the cares

Of the day

So to sleep

Slumber deep

Let the soft night enfold you

Mother's near

Never fear

She will keep you from harm

Lulled by the night wind

Close to her breast

Now, peacefully, lovingly

Tenderly rest

Lulled by the night wind

Close to her breast

Now, peacefully, lovingly

Tenderly rest

(CRlCKETS CHIRPING)

(HOOTING)

(CHIRPING)

NARRATOR:
In Wildwood Heart,

the medley of the birds

ushers in another day in spring,

and with it, comes the time of learning.

For Perri, lesson number one

is purely elementary.

She will simply learn

to walk along the branches of a tree.

Mother, with a tasty tidbit, is the lure.

Bravely, Perri starts,

and then she's not so sure.

She didn't know she'd have to cross

the unknown world of far below.

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