Friday, August 7, 2015

Monologue Mania Day #541 The Donkey in the Well (for Book of Teas)by Janet S. Tiger Aug. 7, 2015

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                                                                    first year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 13, 2015
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Monologue Mania Day #541  The Donkey in the Well (for Book of Teas)by Janet S. Tiger  Aug. 7, 2015
          For other monologues from the Book of Teas, please check out Days# 15, 41-53, 69, 84, 96, 105, 118, 156, 173, 175-8, 181-5, 269, 331, 361, 452, 506, 532  Southern accent.

                              The Donkey in the Well
                                                    (For The Book of Teas)
                             A monologue by Janet S. Tiger (c) all rights reserved
                                                   tigerteam1@gmail.com



           (T enters, a Southern woman of a few years....yes, she still has a Southern accent)


There is a time in every life where you feel like the donkey that fell down the well.
Never heard that story?  It was one I have been told many times in my life, and I know, for a fact, that everyone can relate to this tale of woe.  Here's how it goes.  Listen closely, because this could be you one day.
A donkey stumbles into a well.  I never understood this myself, as donkeys are not stupid.  Stubborn, yes, very, but not stupid.
Let's say for the sake of argument, that this donkey, although not stupid, is considerably preoccupied with things like the worry about her daughter going off to a distant college where the high school boyfriend will also be attending.  The high school boyfriend who was on the football team and took a few too many hits in the head.  The one who is best known for his amazing ability to drink beer.  And on top of that, the donkey is concerned with her parents, who are getting older and, if they fell down might break a leg and have to be shot.  Or perhaps she is thinking about how she will finish the remodeling of her barn before the next big family reunion....well you get the idea.  Her mind is elsewhere when she walks over the closed up well, which was nailed shut with a piece of flimsy, rotting wood, by the man of the house.....well, you can guess what happens.

In case you cannot guess, I will tell you.  She falls in.
It is frightening and dark and scary...but luckily she has not broken anything, so she brays and brays until someone finally hears.  She is relieved....she will be saved, she believes.  But then, she hears them talkin'.....about what to do.  She brays up at them, but they ...as always, do not listen.
Send down a rope!  She brays.  Attach the rope to a car!  She brays again.
But then she hears something evening more frightening.
They have ignored her very good idea about the rope and car and are now planning....and from where she sits,  it doesn't sound like a good idea.
Now she really brays!  Listen to me!  You stupid things, listen to me!
They keep talkin, and she decides to follow her own advice and listen.
What she hears is more frightening than the fall into the well.
They - her very own flesh and blood! -  are going to kill her....for her own good of course!
The logic is brilliant - they do not want  her to suffer, which is what she will do if left in the well.  Even if they send down food and water, she will die in her own excrement...you actually can hear them say that.
She brays again - I can handle a few minutes of excrement, let's think this thing through, and while she is braying, she gets hit in the head with a pile of dirt.
They are going to bury her alive - out of deep compassion, of course. 
The next load of dirt hits her and knocks her out - and when she regains consciousness, she is almost covered in dirt.
It is over....she thinks for moment, then a small smile lights up her donkey lips.
We now go to the top of the well, where everyone is cryin, and sad - but still shovelin in that dirt as fast as they can, because -.....as they firmly believe, it is the nicest thing to do in the circumstances.
Soon all you can hear is the cryin and shovelin and sounds of dirt hittin the sides of the well.
And then...like a miracle......the donkey's brayin is heard!  Very close, too.  Everyone stops their shovelin and cryin and runs to the well just in time to see - almost like Jesus comin out of the cave on that beautiful Easter morning....the donkey's head...... emergin from the top.
It appears the donkey, after havin a good cry for herself, shook off the dirt and started stampin it down.  And the  very clever donkey has turned that deadly pile of dirt...... into a mountain that led to her freedom from the well.
After much cheerin and happiness, the donkey proceeded to scream for hours at all the stupid people who had done this to her, but that's another story.
Do you see why we are all donkeys in the well at one time or another?
And yes, this is my story, and yes, I am the ass.
For those who think I was comparin myself to Jesus, please understand that the reference was purely literary, only intended as a way to show how amazin a good idea can be in your life - and, as all good ideas are, I also believe, inspired by God.

So when you have fallen into the well, and the dirt is comin' at you fast, use this tale as a guide.
         (She turns to leave, stops, looks back)
Things will get better.......You will have to work like a donkey, and you will be covered in dirt, so get ready, it ain't gonna be easy.   But God will help you out of that damned well.  

        (Lights down, end of scene)


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Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315
www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8

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