THE 5 TREES

Once upon a time a first grade religion class put on a play called, “The 5 Trees!”

They came up with this play by themselves with a little help from their first grade teacher. The goal, she said, was to come with a play that everyone in the first grade class would be in – and it had to be a play that wasn’t boring. It had to be a play that was very interesting. And it had to be a play that has a message.

So the first grade kids thought and thought – and talked and talked – and they came up with their own play called, “The Trees.”

It went like this:

ACT ONE – Scene One.

A kid came out to the front and center of the stage and announced, “Once upon a time there was a king who went to visit his cousin – who also was a king – but in another kingdom – far, far away."

And as he was making this announcement, a kid dressed as a king came out and started walking across the stage. He was wearing a Burger King crown – and his grandfather’s dark purple satin bathrobe – pinned up of course – but his grandfather was a short guy.

Everyone in the audience laughed – moms and dads, brothers and sisters – teachers and the principal – all of whom filled the big school auditorium.

Suddenly the Burger King king stopped and putting his hand up to his forehead like this said out loud to himself, “Which way now to my cousin’s kingdom. I’m doing a lot of walking. Okay,” he says, pointing to the other side of the stage, “I remember it’s that way.”

As he walked that way, another king came on stage – from that way. He also wearing a Burger King cardboard crown. He also was wearing a bathrobe – dark blue satin. It was also pinned up.

This second king said, “Cousin. It’s good to see you. I’ve been waiting for you all day long. Come on now. Let’s hurry. I have a big dinner prepared for you.”

And both headed in that direction. [Point]

The curtain closes.

Act One – Scene Two

The curtain opens exactly two minutes later. On stage are a bunch of kids. They are at a table eating dinner. If you were on stage you could notice that there were mostly McDonald’s and Wendy’s fries and hamburgers. But both kings were still wearing their Burger King cardboard crowns.

Holding up a knife – the king who was visiting his cousin, the other king, said, “Cousin King, I notice on your knives and forks and spoons, you have on the top part of their handles an image of a tree.”

They were all plastic, but the people in the audience couldn’t see that.

“Yes, cousin,” said the other king, “that’s our kingdom’s tree. What is the tree of your kingdom?”

Silence.

Big long pause.

The visiting king finally said, “We don’t have a tree for our kingdom – but as soon as I get home we’re going to have a contest – and pick a tree for our kingdom.”

The other king said, “Great idea. Great idea.”

And all the kids on the table raised their soda cans and plastic cups chanting, “Great idea. Great idea. The other king has a great idea – great idea, great idea.”

And the curtain closed.

ACT TWO


Two minutes later, the curtain opened for Act Two of the Play called, “The 5 Trees.”

The king is standing in front of a bunch of his subjects – all kids in the first grade.

The king says, “I was visiting my cousin who is also a king – in a far country – and they have their favorite tree – their kingdom’s tree. I want all of you to come up with your favorite tree and tell me why it’s your favorite tree – and my queen and I will pick the winner.

And all the kids run off in all directions, chanting, “Contest. Contest. Everybody loves a contest.”

The play was almost a musical – but they didn’t have the time nor the singers - to work that out.

ACT THREE - Scene One


The king is standing on a platform – with his queen standing by his side. He still has on his Burger King crown. The queen has a golden plastic princess tiara on – making out it’s a queen’s real crown.

There are about 10 kids standing there – off to the side.

The king announces, "Okay, bring in one by one, the 5 finalists in our 'Pick the Kingdom’s Tree Contest.'

"Tree # 1 please come in."

Tree # 1 is an Apple Tree. It’s a kid dressed as an apple tree – with about 15 apples hanging by cords from her arms – and she has a few extra fake branches as well. She is led in by her best friend who makes her apple tree argument to the king and queen – for the apple tree to be the best tree.

She begins, “The Apple Tree is a great tree – not great in size – but because it gives us apples – and everyone loves apples.

“Did you know there are over 7,500 types of apples in the world?

“The apple tree helps feed the world.

“And by the way, Adam and Eve ate from the apple tree in the garden – because apples are very tempting.”

The crowd of kids on the stage off to the side clapped politely – along with the whole family of the girl who played the apple tree in the play – as well the family of the Apple Tree announcer.

“Thank you Apple Tree,” said the king. “Will tree #2 please come in.”

And Tree # 1, the Apple Tree walked to the other side of the stage, but able to be seen by everyone.

In walked this big tall and fat tree – with a sign on it. “Oak Tree.”

It was lead in by the Oak Tree Speaker – because it could not see where it was going. It was pushed to a place and grabbed so it would stop right in front of the king.

The Oak Tree speaker was a little guy – the smallest kid in the First Grade – but the kid with the loudest voice.

“This is the Oak Tree,” he said, “one of the strongest trees in the world. It starts from a little acorn like me – but becomes big and strong. ” He flexes his muscles and then he taps the oak tree – played by the biggest and tallest kid in the first grade. Everyone laughs.

He continues, “Oak is great wood for ships and doors, barrels and walls.

“White Oak is the state tree for Maryland. We’re hoping it will also be the kingdom tree of this kingdom.”

And the parents of the Oak Tree and the littlest kid in the first grade all clapped.

And the King said, “Thank You. Will Tree # 3 please come in.”

And the Oak Tree and its spokesperson walked over to the side – next to the Apple Tree – but able to be seen by everyone in the auditorium.

Tree #3 walked in. It was the Weeping Willow Tree. It was played by a first grade girl who had lots of hair – that was always falling down over her face – and you could hardly ever see her eyes.

Her mom and dad had duct taped – weeping willow branches down her shoulders – back and front – right down to the ground. She looked like a real weeping willow tree.

Her spokesperson said, “A weeping willow tree is the first tree to show its leaves in spring – so when you see them – you know spring is finally coming after a long cold snowy winter – and its leaves are the last to fall every fall.

“A weeping willow tree gives great shade – and it’s the perfect tree if you get water in your basement – and let me tell you, a lot of people will be wishing they had willow trees when all this snow is melting.”

The king said, “Thank you Weeping Willow Tree. Thank you.”

And it walked off to the side next to the Apple Tree and the Oak Tree.

Next came the Christmas Tree. It was a kid in a wheelchair who was dressed as a Christmas tree. It had artificial Christmas tree branches – but somehow they decorated him to be a nice big tall 7 foot Christmas tree – with tinsel, and bulbs, and lights – and the lights were blinking. The kid’s father was an engineer and helped put the whole thing together with batteries – a lot of batteries.

The spokesperson for the Christmas Tree wheeled the wheelchair Christmas Tree out onto the center of the stage right in front of the king.

She began. “The Christmas Tree is an evergreen tree. It’s green all the time. It’s not scared of snow – and there are no leaves to rake. But it’s a great gift because it gives us the message that Christmas and Christ is here – and it’s the place where people hug and kiss and say thanks when families open up their Christmas gifts from under the Christmas tree.”

The spokesperson bowed when she finished – and the kid in the wheelchair bowed – and a bulb started to fall – and the spokesperson caught it and everyone clapped and laughed at the same time.

“Thank you, thank you,” the king said. “Okay, let’s have the 5th and last tree in our tree contest.

In the meanwhile the spokesperson for the Christmas Tree in the wheelchair rolled him over next to the Apple, the Oak, and the Willow trees.

The 5th tree was this really leafy – wide – not that tall a tree – and you could not see the kid under the branches – except his shoes which had lights in them.

The spokesperson for tree # 5 said, “This is the Fig Tree. It’s not big and tall like a Redwood tree or an oak tree. It’s not pretty like a Christmas tree or an apple tree. It’s wood isn’t good for doors or floors – or even to make a cross. It’s only good for fire wood. It doesn’t need a lot of water like the willow tree. It’s the fig tree. What does it do? It gives food – delicious food – figs – not just once a year, but twice a year and sometimes three times a year.”

Then she said, “Those of you who know about Jesus, know that he had a favorite fig tree and every time he went by it he took some figs from it to eat – and one time it was empty and he wasn’t happy with it – and in the Gospel of Matthew we read that it withered. But in the gospel of Luke Jesus tells a story about how a man who owned a fig tree farm complained about a fig tree that wasn’t giving any figs - especially for the past 3 years. He said, ‘Pull it up and plant a new tree.’ But the gardener said, ‘Give it another chance. Let me work on it. Let me fertilize it.’ And sure enough it gave more figs. These stories tell me that Jesus loved figs and fig trees. Thank you.”

And the Fig Tree and its spokesperson bowed and walked over to where the other 4 trees were.

The King said, “Thank you. Thank you.

"Now let me tell you what tree I picked as the winner – the tree that will be the official tree of our kingdom."

Pause. Long pause.

The king put his hand on his chin – as if he was thinking – thinking – thinking.

And the kids on stage off to the side began chanting, “The king is thinking, thinking, thinking. The king is deciding, deciding, deciding.”

Then the king stepped down from his platform and walked towards the trees and looked at each of them again – carefully.

Then he walked back to his platform and announced, “The winner is: The Fig Tree.”

And the families of the Fig Tree and the Fig Tree spokesperson all clapped, but almost everyone else was silent – and then in the spirit of good sports, everyone clapped.

Then the curtain closed.

ACT THREE - Scene two

The curtain opens and it’s just the Queen and King sitting together at a table eating.

The King is still wearing his crown and his purple satin bathrobe and the Queen is still wearing her plastic princess tiara – making out it’s a queens crown.

And the Queen sees what the King is eating and she yells out, “That wasn’t fair. That wasn’t fair. You didn’t pick the fig tree because of Jesus. You picked it because your favorite cookie is Fig Newton’s. That’s why you picked the fig tree. Not fair.”

And the King taking another bite out of his fig Newton said with a big smile, “It’s good to be the king.”

I wrote this story last night for this morning's Family or "Little Kids' Mass". The first grade were the featured kids for the Mass. It's the Mass for the 3rd Sunday in Lent, Year C, March 7, 2010. As I read this story this morning - the thought hit me - it's one page and one tree too long. Sorry, I didn't have time to cut down one tree.