Station leader: how to run it
Mark a square on the floor with masking tape, about four feet on a side. That is the house. Hand out the cast cards (1 min). The group acts the story out as you read it (7 min). If you have the book: It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale, retold and illustrated by Margot Zemach (Caldecott Honor, 1978). Read only the pages up to each animal, then stop and call the Move. If you do not: read "The story, in short" below aloud, pausing at each animal for its Move. Each time the wise man (the book calls him the Rabbi) gives his advice, more of the cast crowds into the square. Then, one by one, out. Let the quiet at the end sit for a full minute before anyone talks (1 min). Then Talk about it (3 min).
The story, in short
A poor man lives in a one-room hut with his mother, his wife, and his six children. It is so crowded and so noisy that he cannot stand it, so he goes to the wisest man in the village (the Rabbi, in the book) for advice. The advice is strange: bring the chickens, the rooster, and the goose inside. He does, and it is worse. He goes back. Bring in the goat. Worse. Back again. Bring in the cow. It is a nightmare. At last the wise man says: put all the animals out. The man does, and that night, with only his family around him, the little hut is quiet and roomy and peaceful. It is the same hut. Nothing about it changed, except how he saw it.
Move 1
The family fills the house. The whole family talks at once. The man holds his ears.
Move 2
Chickens, rooster, and goose squeeze in. Squawking, flapping, honking.
Move 3
The goat pushes in and butts everyone. Then the cow. No one can move.
Move 4
Out go the animals, one by one. The family sits down. Silence. Ahh.
The man
Tired, desperate
"I can't stand it!"
Stay in the square until the wise man says your name.
His wife
Busy, out of patience
"Do something!"
Stay in the square until the wise man says your name.
The children
Six of them, loud
"Mine! No, mine!"
Stay in the square until the wise man says your name.
Grandmother
Wants some peace
"Oy, the noise."
Stay in the square until the wise man says your name.
The wise man
Calm, stroking his beard
"Bring in the…"
Call the animals in. Then call them out, one name at a time.
The chickens
Flap and peck
"Bawk bawk bawk!"
Stay in the square until the wise man says your name.
The rooster
Crows at everyone
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
Stay in the square until the wise man says your name.
The goose
Honks and hisses
"Honk! Hisss!"
Stay in the square until the wise man says your name.
The goat
Butts and chews
"Maa-a-a!"
Stay in the square until the wise man says your name.
The cow
Huge, slow, in the way
"Mooooo."
Stay in the square until the wise man says your name.
