Huck Finn Script
Huck Finn Script
Frankfurt
HUCK FINN
Play by Sean Aita
Based on Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Ticket Reservation
Gallusanlage 7, 60329 Frankfurt/Main Creative Team
Tel (069) 242 316-20 Director PJ Escobio
Fax (069) 242 316-45 Musical Director James E. Bailey
E-Mail [email protected] Assistant Director Laura Nikolich
Online Booking www.english-theatre.de Set Designer Daniel Schult
Also at advance sales agencies. Lighting Designer Julian Schwikart
Sound Design Maximilian Borschel
Costume Designer Melanie Schöberl
Box Office Times Props Dirk Conrad
Monday – Friday 11.00 am – 6.30 pm Carpenter Damian Ntuk
Saturday 3.00 pm – 6.30 pm
Sunday 3.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Characters in the play
Location and Public Transport Huck Finn (Huckleberry Finn), an adventurous boy who fakes his death
The theatre is located at Gallusanlage 7, and can easily be to escape his abusive father and makes a long and frequently interrupted
reached from the main station (Hauptbahnhof), Taunusanlage voyage down the Mississippi River on a raft.
or from Willy-Brandt-Platz. A taxi stand is opposite the theatre.
Widow Douglas, Huck's guardian who tries to teach him manners.
You can find convenient parking at Parkhaus am Theater,
Hauptbahnhof, Goetheplatz and Kaiserplatz. Tom Sawyer, Huck's civilized best friend who enjoys extravagant stories
and schemes.
Jim, a runaway slave who joins Huck in his flight down the Mississippi.
Education Department
HUCK FINN
HUCK FINN
Tel. (069) 242 316-33 Old Finn, Huck's abusive, drunken father who plots to steal his son's
[email protected] reward money.
The King and The Duke, two con artists who stage a production of
mangled Shakespeare plays and take control of Huck and Jim's raft.
3
Mark Twain Huck Finn script
Scene 1
Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910) was the sixth
of seven children born to John Clemens, a lawyer, and his wife Jane. When Samuel was FINN: Listen closely friends, because this here is a great story. It's the story of how
four, the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri a town on the Mississippi River. Samuel a boy called Huckleberry Finn, that's me by the way, ran away from home and rode
loved to watch the riverboats and dreamed of being a riverboat pilot. Many of his a raft down the great Mississippi river with a runaway slave named Jim. Every single
stories were inspired by his adventures in Hannibal. word of this story is true, except for those bits that are lies of course because a story
isn't a story unless you stretch it just a little. So come back in time with me to the start
At 17, Samuel left Hannibal and found print work in St Louis, New York, Philadelphia of my tale when I was living with a lady called the Widow Douglas, that's her over
and Cincinnati. Then in 1857, he returned to study for two years to become a river- there. She took me into her home when my father left me, she wanted to civilize me,
boat pilot. But 1861 saw the end of Samuel’s river days once the Civil War started. that means turn me into a good, decent boy, a pretty hard job for a boy like me, who
He moved west to join the Confederate Army, although he left before fighting began. ain’t never lived in a house or slept in a bed before.
After working briefly as a miner, he became a reporter for the Territorial Enterprise in WIDOW: Huckleberry!
Virginia City, Nevada, and began writing short stories under the name Mark Twain.
FINN: Yes, ma'am?
Mark’s first popular story – The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County WIDOW: Sit down here beside me.
–was published in 1865. It received international acclaim and soon Mark was one of FINN: Yes, ma'am.
the most famous American celebrities of his day. He was asked to write his first (and
WIDOW: Who were you talking to just then?
best-selling) book The Innocents Abroad (1869) about his travels, and other works
followed including Roughing It (1872), The Prince and the Pauper (1882), and Life FINN: Oh, nobody ma'am. Just myself, I guess.
on the Mississippi (1883).
WIDOW: Well, don't Huckleberry, talking to yourself is a bad habit and don't scrunch
up like that, sit up straight and don't put your feet up there.
In 1870, Mark married 24-year-old Olivia Langdon, the daughter of a rich coal mer-
chant. They settled in Buffalo, New York, and had three daughters and a son. Their son FINN: Yes ma'am, I mean, no, Ma'am.
sadly died in infancy. WIDOW: Stop yawning, Huckleberry and don't stretch. It's bad manners.
HUCK FINN
Mississippi River. Huckleberry Finn, in particular, has been called ‘The Great American
Novel’ – a tale of a white boy helping a black man to escape slavery in the southern WIDOW: I don't know what's to become of you, Huckleberry Finn, I really don't.
US. Mark Twain's "river books" have been banned in places as some characters in Why can't you try to behave for once in your life? You know what happens to bad child-
them use offensive, racist language that was common at the time of writing. ren when they die, don't you? They go straight down to the deepest pits of hell.
FINN: Well, I wish I was there, I'll bet it's a whole lot more fun than being right here!
Mark’s writing earned him a lot of money, but he lost most of it by investing in risky
WIDOW: Oooh, you wicked boy! You should have your mouth washed out with soap
ventures. In 1895, he began a world tour giving lectures to pay off his debts, which he
for saying such a thing like that.
did in 1898. Twain was born shortly after an appearance of Halley's Comet, and he pre-
dicted that he would "go out with it" as well; he died the day after the comet returned.
4 5
FINN: I'm sorry, but I just want to go somewhere. Anywhere! All I want is a change. TOM: You're not scared of a little cut are you, you big baby?
WIDOW: You should be happy that the good Lord has given you a roof over your head HUCK: Of course not. I just wanna to know what it is I'm signing.
and food to eat. Just think about how nice it will be if you are good and go to heaven
TOM: It says that all the boys who join have to become robbers, wear masks
when you die.
and rob people,then kill them.
FINN: What do people do in heaven?
HUCK: Do we have to kill the people, Tom?
WIDOW: Why, they play harps and sing to each other for ever and ever.
TOM: Oh yes, it's best. Most books say it's best to kill them but some you have
FINN: Do you think my best friend, Tom Sawyer, will go to heaven? to hold to ransom.
WIDOW: No, I do not. I think the devil has got a nice hot fire ready for young Tom HUCK: Ransom? What's that?
Sawyer.
TOM: I don't know. But it's what robbers do.
FINN: That's good.
HUCK: But how can we do it if we don't know what it is?
WIDOW: Why is that?
TOM: Stop asking stupid questions.
FINN: I want us to be together. (He sniffs)
HUCK: Do we kill the women too?
WIDOW: Don't sniff, Huckleberry. Use your handkerchief.
TOM: Are you crazy? Whoever heard of anybody killing women?
FINN: Sorry, Widow, I forgot. (He rakes out a handkerchief, blows his nose but then spoils Of course, we don't, we just keep them in our cave until they fall in love with us.
everything by wiping it on his sleeve). The Widow was a good woman, she didn't mean
HUCK: Fall in love with us?
any harm. She nagged a lot but she meant well. Wait a minute, have I told you about
my best friend yet? I haven't? Well my best friend was a boy called ... TOM: Don't you ever read any books? The women always fall in love with the robbers.
Now, give me your hand.
TOM: It's an oath. Anybody who joins a gang of robbers has to sign an oath. HUCK: When do we start robbing and killing?
It says so in all the books. TOM: Tomorrow.
HUCK FINN
HUCK FINN
HUCK: Well, give me a pen. HUCK: Oh, I promised the widow I'd cut the grass. Can we start on Sunday?
TOM: Don't you know anything, Huck Finn? You can't sign an oath with a pen. TOM: No, we can't start on Sunday.
You've to sign it with blood.
HUCK: Why not?
HUCK: Blood?
TOM: Because robbing and killing people on Sunday would be wicked.
TOM: Here's the knife, just let me cut your thumb.
(Jim, a tall black man wearing dungarees enters and sits on the front of the stage.)
HUCK: Just a minute, Tom.
JIM: (sings)
JIM: Huck!
6 7
HUCK: Howdy, Jim! OLD FINN: Don't pretend you haven't got any. I heard how you and Tom Sawyer
found a pileof gold in a cave.
HUCK: Now there's something important you've got to understand. In Missouri, the
state Tom and I were living in when we were kids, black folks could be slaves. That HUCK: It's true, Pap, but I ain’t got the money, Judge Thatcher is looking after it for me.
means you could buy and sell them and treat them anyway you wanted to. A black
OLD FINN: Well, you get the money from him and you give it to me.
man or woman could be set free by their master, but if they were slaves they had no
Now boy, you can read and write, I hear?
rights at all. Ain’t that right, Jim?
HUCK: That's right, Pap.
JIM: That's right, Mr Huck. (sings)
OLD FINN: You think you're better than me now, don't you, boy?
HUCK: What's the matter Jim?
HUCK: No, Pap.
JIM: It's Miss Watson, the Widow's sister. I heard her talking to the Widow and she
OLD FINN: Don't lie to me, boy! You think you're better than your own father.
said she might sell me to the slave traders. She says I'm worth eight hundred dollars
Well I'll show you.
and she needs money more than she needs me.
Old Finn removes his belt and begins to beat Huck.
HUCK: Eight hundred dollars! That's a lot of money.
HUCK: Stop it, Pa, please don't. (He is beaten back into a comer where he lies, curled Up)
JIM: It is. I don't want to be sold, Huck. I don't want to go to New Orleans to work.
OLD FINN: (to audience) Ha! What are you all looking at? Huckleberry thought he was
HUCK: Well I guess you'll have to.
the only one who was going to tell this story. Well he ain’t! I'm here, too. Right, let's
JIM: But what about my wife and kids? I won't ever see them again. start by having a look at you (he walks through the audience and. stops once or twice to in-
sult people.) Just as, I thought, you’re all good for nothing. I don't want to talk to idiots.
HUCK: Maybe she won't sell you.
Get up on your feet, Huckleberry. Stand up like a man! Don't lie on the floor there like
JIM: Yeah, maybe. a dog. (Huck gets up) Now, you're coming with me up to my cabin in the woods. We'll
HUCK: (to audience) You know that was the first time I ever saw Jim cry, I remember I do some fishing and hunting and you will get me the money from Judge Thatcher,
was surprised, because at that time I didn't think that black folks had feelings just like because if you don't ... (he shows Huck his belt again).
everybody else. Anyway, a couple of months went by and I forgot all about Jim and his Huck and Old Finn exit. Jim enters, he works while he talks.
troubles. I was busy at school learning how to read and spell and write a little. I even
learned my 'times tables?’. One time seven time seven is seven, two times seven is
fourteen, three times seven is three… (Huck is pulled around by his father.) Scene 4
JIM: (to audience) Hey y’all! Poor old Huck had to go with his Pap to a cabin in the
HUCK FINN
HUCK FINN
woods, on the other side of the Mississippi river, Widow Douglas was worried sick
Scene 3
about him, but she couldn't do nothing about it. Old Finn was his pap, even if he did
OLD FINN: Well now, look at you. Look how clean and smart you are. A real gentleman. hit him.
HUCK: Pap! You've come back. Widow Douglas enters.
OLD FINN: That's right, your dear old father. You didn't expect to see me again did you? WIDOW: Who are you talking to, Jim?
HUCK: I thought… JIM: Er, nobody Miss Douglas…
OLD FINN: You thought I was dead, didn't you? Well I'm not, not yet, and I want some WIDOW: My sister wants to talk to you, Jim. You are to be sold at the Slave auction,
money. tomorrow.
HUCK: I...
8 9
JIM: Oh no, Miss Douglas.
WIDOW: I'm afraid so, Jim. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wants the money. I'll JIM: Well why didn't you say so? What happened to you?
make sure the children are well cared for, don't you worry about that. HUCK: Well, Pap locked me in the cabin nearly every day while he went hunting. I dug a
hole so that I could get out. Then I killed a pig and left the blood all over the floor, ade
JIM: Thank you, Miss Douglas, but...
a trail to the river and then I jumped onto my raft and came here.
WIDOW: (exits) I'm sorry, Jim.
JIM: Raft?
JIM: Right that minute I decided to run away. I knew if I was sold down South I would
HUCK: That's right. I found a raft. Now what about you, what are you doing here, Jim?
never be free. If I could get to one of the free states in the North, then one day I could
earn enough, money to buy my whole family. But before I could go, there was some JIM: I...I...run off.
bad news. Huck Finn was dead. Widow Douglas, Tom Sawyer, and Old Finn enter and HUCK: Run off?
stand as if at a funeral.
JIM: I know it's a bad thing to do Huck, but I had to. You won't tell on me or send me
OLD FINN: (to Widow) I left him alone while I went hunting and when I came back, back will you? Please?
the cabin had been robbed and there was blood all over the floor.
HUCK: No. I won't tell.
WIDOW: But no body?
JIM: Oh, thank you, thank you.
OLD FINN: There was a trail of blood leading to the river.
HUCK: What are you gonna to do?
WIDOW: Poor Huckleberry, poor, poor Huckleberry.
JIM: Well, if I can get to the city of Cairo, Illinois I'll be safe.
OLD FINN: Never mind about that. Now how am I going to get that money?
HUCK: Cairo? Hmmm. We could be there in a couple of days.
JIM: We?
Scene 5
HUCK: Of course. We'll start tomorrow night. (to audience) And we did.
JIM: That night when it was dark, I crawled into the bushes behind the house and then We got onto my raft and set off down the deep, dark river.
ran down to the river. I held on to a piece of wood and jumped in the water. It was
cold. I wanted to swim over to the Illinois side of the river but the river was powerful JIM: It's funny to think that everybody thinks you're dead, Huck.
strong, so, I floated until I came to Jackson's island. I had some berries and then I HUCK: That's right, Jim. (sings)
heard something. Footsteps! There was somebody else on the island with me.
They laugh together.
Huck enters.
HUCK: We floated down the river for the next two days, hiding the raft and sleeping
HUCK: Jim! when the sun came up and travelling at night. Jim was good company and we told
HUCK FINN
HUCK FINN
JIM: Aaagh! Don’t come near me! Don't come near me! Stay where you are! Please each other all kinds of stories. But we both knew that if Jim got caught, he would be in
don't hurtme, I've never done any harm to a ghost, I've always liked dead people. bad trouble. A runaway slave could be hanged.
HUCK: Ghost? I'm not a ghost. Look I'm real. Touch me. JIM: Look Huck! What's that?
Jim does. HUCK: It looks like part of a wooden cabin, floating in the river.
JIM: Huck Finn? You're alive? JIM: It must have been washed away by a flood, I'll try to get on it.
JIM: Are you sure? JIM: Look at this Huck, there's all sorts of things in here. Oh ...
JIM: I can see lights. HUCK: Hookerville Ma'am just up the river. I'm on my way to Cairo.
HUCK: Let's go and take a look. (They paddle the raft to the shore). You stay on the raft. WOMAN: Well, you've gone too far, Cairo is back the other way.
I'll try to find someone to ask. HUCK: Upstream?
JIM: Be careful, Huck. WOMAN: That's right.
HUCK: I will. HUCK: Oh, no.
JIM: Just a minute. WOMAN: Well, never mind. You can stay here for tonight. Are you hungry?
HUCK: What? HUCK: No, ma'am.
JIM: What if you see someone you know? WOMAN: My husband will be home soon. He's out with some men from the town
HUCK: You're right. What can I do? at the moment, hunting for a runaway slave.
JIM: Here. Wear this sheet like a dress. Pretend to be a girl. HUCK: Runaway slave?
HUCK: A girl?! WOMAN: That's right. This slave ran away the very night a young boy called
HUCK FINN
HuckleberryFinn was murdered. He killed the poor child and then ran off.
JIM: Go on, Huck.
HUCK: No!
HUCK FINN
HUCK: (putting on sheet) But how do I pretend?
WOMAN: Oh yes. There's a four hundred dollar reward.
JIM: Talk in a high voice and walk like a girl.
What did you say your name was again?
HUCK: (he does so) You mean like this?
HUCK: Uh, Mary...Mary Williams.
JIM: Almost. Keep trying.
WOMAN: You said Sarah when you came in.
HUCK: (in a girl's voice) Good evening. Beautiful weather this evening. (In his own voice).
HUCK: Sarah Mary Williams.
This is ridiculous.
WOMAN: What's your real name. Bill or Tom or Bob?
JIM: No it's not. That's good, Huck, really good.
HUCK: Please don't make fun of a poor girl like me...
HUCK: Alright. I'll be back in an hour.
12
WOMAN: Girl? Look at your sewing. You're not a girl. You're a boy, aren't you? MAN 2: His made your teeth fall out.
HUCK: Yes ma'am. HUCK: (to Man 2) They were chasing you too. What did you do?
WOMAN: I thought so, Now tell me your real name. MAN 2: I don't know.
HUCK: (to audience) Well, I told her a few more lies and she went into the kitchen to MAN 1: I do. He was reading the Bible at church meetings and collecting money for
make some food, I ran out of the door and back to the river. Jim! Jim! missionary work.
HUCK: Quickly, Jim. We've got to get going! We pushed the raft out into the river and MAN 1: Not if you spend toe money on getting drunk!
jumped on board as fast as we could. When we were a few miles away Jim asked me
MAN 2: Tell me, is your friend here a runaway slave?
what had happened.
HUCK: Runaway slave? No, of course not. Jim is… is my servant.
JIM: So we have gone past Cairo?
We are going to visit my uncle in New Orleans, aren't we, Jim?
Huck: That's right.
JIM: That's right, Master Huck.
JIM: But how?
MAN 1: Where's your father, boy?
HUCK: We must have missed it in the fog.
JIM: He was with us, but a steamboat ran over the front of the raft and he was
JIM: How are we going to get back? We can't row against the stream on a raft. drowned. We travel at night because people always think Jim is a runaway and
they try to take him away from me.
HUCK: I don't know Jim. I just don't know. (to audience) Things were pretty bad.
The further South we went, the more dangerous it was for Jim. MAN 2: That's a sad story. (he sighs) Nearly as sad as my own.
MAN 2: Well, I don't know how to tell you this. (he starts to cry)
HUCK: Early next morning, we were just hiding the raft when two men came MAN 2: The secret of my birth.
running out of the bushes.
HUCK: What do you mean?
MAN 1: Quick boy, help us. Get this raft going as fast as you can.
MAN 2: I am really a Duke.
MAN 2: Hurry, they're right behind us!
HUCK & JIM: A Duke?
HUCK FINN
HUCK FINN
HUCK: I could hear voices shouting and the sound of dogs barking quite close by,
MAN 2: That's right. I was stolen as a baby and brought up by poor people,
so Jim and I pushed the raft away from the river bank. Then we floated out into
but I am the true Duke of Bridgewater.
midstream.
HUCK: Wow!
MAN 1: Thank you, boy, thank you.
MAN 2: You should bow when you speak to me and call me "Your Grace".
HUCK: Why were those people chasing you?
HUCK: Is this really true?
MAN 1: No reason. No reason at all.
MAN 2: I give you my word.
MAN 2: He was selling toothpaste.
HUCK: (bowing) Well if it's really true, can I get you anything, Your Grace?
HUCK: Toothpaste? What's wrong with selling toothpaste?
14 15
DUKE: Just something to eat. HUCK: (to Jim, whispering) I'll find a way to get back to the raft tonight.
Wait here for meand keep out of sight.
Man 1 begins to cry loudly.
JIM: I'll be waiting.
HUCK: What is it?
HUCK: I went into town with the King and put up lots of posters for their show. Then
MAN I: I can't stop myself from crying to think of my own sad story.
the Duke came and got a big crowd of people together. They made me go around
HUCK: What is it? collecting money for the tickets. They told the people that they were famous actors, all
MAN 1: I have also got a secret. I know you won't believe me, but I am really a King. the way from London, England. They didn't let me out of their sights, all day long. The
Duke hired a big hall and then he and the King put on their costumes. At seven o'clock,
DUKE: A King!!!
a huge crowd was sitting in the theatre. They were ready to perform.
MAN I: That's what I said, a King. My father was King of France. He came to Kentucky The Duke and King enter. They are wearing tights and armour and carrying swords. The
on holiday with me, his baby son. But he died of a fever and his wicked brother took costumes look as though they have been made out of cardboard.
the throne. My nurse brought me up as her own child and told me the story when I
DUKE: My lords, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our theatre.
grew up.
Tonight, for one night only we present to you Shakespeare's King Richard the Third.
HUCK: That's terrible.
KING: To be or not to be that is the question.
KING: I know. You see really you should lie on the floor and kiss my feet and call me
DUKE: Get thee to a nunnery go!
“Your Majesty".
KING: (draws his sword) Once more into the breach dear friends, once more!
HUCK: Are you really sure you're a King?
They fight. The King kills the Duke by stabbing him under the arm.
KING: You see this ring? This is the royal crest of France.
DUKE: Thus die I. Now I am dead, now am I fled. My soul is in the sky.
HUCK: (bowing and kissing his feet) Your Majesty. (to audience) I didn't really think that
So, die, die, die, die,die.
they were a Duke and a King, I was just pretending. I knew that it wasn't going to be
easy to get rid of them both, so I decided to keep them happy while I thought of a plan. KING: Oh, I am fortune's fool. (stabs himself and dies)
JIM: (whispering) How are we going to get away from those two? HUCK: (to audience) It was the shortest show I'd ever seen and I couldn't understand a
word of it. Anyway, I ran back to the raft while the Duke and the King tried to stop the
HUCK: I'm not sure. I reckon if we go ashore tomorrow morning we'll be able to lose
crowd from taking their money back. (shouts) Jim! Jim! Hurry, let's go! (silence) I called
them. (to audience) The next day, we stopped near a small town, but the Duke and the
for Jim for half an hour but I couldn't find him anywhere.
King were too clever to go into town on their own.
The King and Duke run in.
KING: Come on, Huckleberry. You come along with me. We have got work to do.
HUCK FINN
HUCK FINN
KING: Let's get going, quick!
KING: Yes, my boy, we have a show to perform.
HUCK: Where's Jim?
HUCK: A show?
KING: Forget about him, let's get going.
DUKE: Acting in plays is a good way to make money.
We will perform a Shakespeare play. HUCK: I'm not going without him.
KING: King Richard the Third, by William Shakespeare. The best tragedy in the world. HUCK: Where is he?
You will collect the money. DUKE: Sold.
16 17
HUCK: You sold Jim? HUCK: (to audience) I could hardly believe my luck. She thought I was Tom Sawyer, and
that meant that Tom was on his way. He would know how to rescue Jim. I waited by
DUKE: Don't get so angry! He was only a runaway slave.
the road the next day and at three in the afternoon I saw my old friend walking along
We didn't believe your stupid story. You can always get another.
the road. (to Tom) Tom!
KING: We got eight dollars, you can have your share. Now, come on!
TOM: Aaaaagh!
HUCK: Where is he?
HUCK: It's me, Huckleberry Finn.
DUKE: A farm over that way. The farmer is going to advertise up river. When he finds
TOM: Keep away! Keep away from me!
out who he belongs to he'll claim the reward. Come on, get this raft going.
There are people coming after us. HUCK: It's all right, Tom. I'm real.
DUKE: We can't sail this thing. HUCK: Look, I'm real, I'm alive.
HUCK: You'll have to. (to audience) I jumped off the raft and I ran and ran as fast as I TOM: But how did you...?
could. I had to rescue Jim. I got to the farm where Jim was, but I didn't know what to HUCK: I'll tell you later. First we have to rescue Jim.
say. I knocked on the door and a woman opened it. TOM: Jim the slave?
WOMAN: (kisses him) Come in! Come in! You're here at last, thank goodness for that. HUCK: Your Aunt Sally got him locked in a shed on her farm. I know it's wrong Tom,
I was worried you'd got lost. but I’m gonna help him to get free.
WOMAN: Come and sit down by the fire and tell me everything. Tell me all about your HUCK: You don't think it's a bad thing to do?
mother and the whole family. How are they all?
TOM: No.
HUCK: Er ...
HUCK: Tom told his Aunt Sally that he was his brother Sid Sawyer.
WOMAN: You poor thing! You must be hungry. Let me get you something nice to eat. That night we climbed out of our bedroom window and went to find Jim in the shed,
Everyone will be so pleased to see their dear Cousin Tom. Why are you so late? Did you at the end of the garden.
HUCK FINN
HUCK FINN
have any trouble on the boat?
JIM: Huck Finn!
HUCK: Yes, Ma'am.
HUCK: Hi, Jim. How are you?
WOMAN: You don't have to call me ma'am. It's Aunt Sally to you.
JIM: Not too bad, Huck.
I'm so glad you're here, my dear little Tom Sawyer.
TOM: Are there any rats in here?
HUCK: Tom Sawyer?
JIM: No.
WOMAN: That is who you are, isn't it?
TOM: We’d better get you some. Prisoners always have to have rats.
HUCK: Of course it is. The family are all fine; Uncle Silas, Aunt May, everybody.
JIM: But I hate rats.
AUNT SALLY: Good, good. Now, let's get you some food.
18 19
TOM: And spiders. HUCK: What are you going to do?
JIM: Spiders? AUNT SALLY: I have called on every man in the town. They are all coming here tonight
with their guns to wait for this gang in the orchard. Don't go outside tonight, Tom or
TOM: Don't you ever read anything? We'll have to bring you a file, baked in cake,
you and Sidcould be shot, by accident.
so that you can file your chains down.
HUCK: Yes, Aunt Sally.
JIM: But I ain’t got no chains, just this here rope, around my hands.
TOM: No chains? What sort of prison is this? This is all going to be too easy.
Scene 8
JIM: I want it to be easy! I wanna get out of here.
(to audience) That night, Tom and I crept out of our beds and down to the shed. We
TOM: No, no, no. A prison has to be impossible to escape from.Where are the guards?
had dug a hole under the wall at the back. We crawled in and pulled Jim out with us.
JIM: There ain't any. But, as we ran towards the river, I tripped tripping on a log and made a loud noise.
TOM: No guards? VOICES: What was that? There they are. Shoot them!
JIM: No. There is the sound of loud gunfire
TOM: Right. We will have to write a letter to your Aunt, Huck. TOM: Aggh. Huck, Jim, help me!
HUCK: A letter? HUCK: Tom had been shot in the leg. By the time we got to the raft it was bleeding
TOM: Warning her that dangerous criminals will try to set Jim free tomorrow night. badly. The King and the Duke had gone but Tom was too badly injured to move,
so we lay him on the river bank.
HUCK: But then people will be waiting for us. People with guns.
HUCK: What are we going to do?
TOM: That's right. We'll be famous and Jim will be free.
JIM: I'll get the bullet out, you get a doctor.
HUCK: Couldn't we just cut his ropes now and let him go tonight?
HUCK: But Jim, if you wait here you'll be caught again.
TOM: Of course not.
JIM: Just do as I tell you or Tom will die. Go on!
HUCK: But why not?
HUCK: Well, I ran for a doctor and Jim looked after Tom.
TOM: It just wouldn't be right. Good night Jim. We'll be back tomorrow night.
Come on Huck. The doctor said Jim saved Tom's life, but Jim was caught and locked up again.
This time they did put chains on him. Tom was out cold for a couple of days and Aunt
HUCK: Tom and I wrote to Aunt Sally. Then we got everything ready to rescue Jim.
Sally sat by his bed the whole time. Early on Sunday, Tom opened his eyes.
HUCK FINN
HUCK FINN
AUNT SALLY: Tom! Tom!
TOM: Aunt Sally.
HUCK: Yes, Aunt Sally.
AUNT SALLY: Sid.
AUNT SALLY: Look at this.
TOM: It's Tom.
HUCK: What is it?
AUNT SALLY: Shh! You're just confused, Tom is over there.
AUNT SALLY: It's a letter. "Dear Lady, we are going to free your runaway slave tonight."
TOM: That's Huck. Huckleberry Finn.
HUCK: Who is it from?
AUNT SALLY: He saved your life. I feel bad that he's locked up again, but a slave THE END
is a slave. He belongs to someone else. There's nothing I can do about that.
TOM: Jim is free. Miss Watson, Jim's owner, felt guilty for trying to sell him down
South, so she set him free in her will. She died last week, so Jim IS FREE.
HUCK: Jim was free from the shed and Tom got much better. Soon, it was time for us
all to go back up the river. Tom gave Jim 400 dollars for being such a good prisoner
and for letting us rescue him from prison when he was already free.
HUCK FINN
HUCK FINN
JIM: Well Huck. I guess you know what I'm going to do with this 400 dollars.
HUCK: Yes, Jim, I guess I do. Buy the freedom of your wife and kids.
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