TOM     SAWYER

After Mark Twain

(in four scenes)

CAST: Tom Sawyer, a boy about ten years old

Huckleberry Finn (Huck), Tom's friend.

Aunt Polly, Tom's aunt.

Sid, Tom's brother.

Becky Thatcher.

Ben Rogers.

Joseph Harper.

Jim, a servant, a Negro boy.

The teacher.

                                                                            SCENE I

Early morning. A little house in a quiet street in a little American town. A window, looking into the yard, is half open. Huck comes up to the window, with a dead rat in his hand.

Huck: Meaow, meaow, meaow!

(Tom looks out of the window.)

Tom: Hello, Huckleberry!

Huck: Hello yourself! How do you like it?

Tom: What's that you have got?

Huck: A dead rat.

(Tom jumps out of the window.)

Tom: Let me see it, Huck. Why, it is quite dead. Where did you get it?

Huck: Bought it from a boy.

Tom: What did you give for it?

Huck: Why, I gave many good things for it: a blue ticket, an old bottle and half an apple.

Tom: Say, what is a dead rat good for?

Huck: Good for? To cure warts with.

Tom: Is that so? Hucky, when are you going to try the rat?

Huck: Tomorrow, about midnight.

Tom: Let me go with you!

Huck: Of course, if you are not afraid.

Tom: Afraid! Pirates are never afraid of anything.

Huck: Pirates! Why, are you a pirate?

Tom: Not yet, but I will be soon.

Huck: What do pirates do?

Tom: Oh, they take ships and burn them, kill everybody on the ships and get the money and hide it.

 Huck: It is just the life for me! Do they kill women, too?

 Tom: No, pirates don't kill women. They are too kind. And the women are always beautiful, too.

 Aunt Polly's Voice. Tom, Tom!

Tom. It's Aunt Polly. I must go.

Huck: Don't you want to go swimming today?

Tom: Oh, I must go to school. But I want to go swimming and I shall try not to go to school. (Tom disappears through the window. Huck runs away.)

                                                                                         SCENE II

A bedroom. Sid is sleeping. Tom appears in the window, jumps down, lies down on the bed and begins to groan.

Tom: Oh, oh, oh! (Tom groans louder. Sid raises his head.)

Sid: Tom! Tom! Say, Tom! (No answer. Sid jumps out of the bed.) Tom! What is the matter,Tom? (Sid shakes Tom.)

Tom: Oh, don't, Sid! Don't shake me!

 Sid: Why, what is the matter, Tom? I shall call auntie!

Tom: No, never mind. Don't call anybody!

Sid: But I must. Don't groan so, Tom.

Tom: Don't shake me, Sid! You will kill me!

Sid: What is the matter, Tom? Tom, why didn't you wake me sooner?

 Tom: (in a frightened voice). I forgive you everything, Sid. Everything you have done to me. When I die...

 Sid: Oh, Tom, you are not dying, are you? Don't Tom, oh, don't.

 Tom: I forgive everybody, Sid! Tell them so, Sid! And give my cat with one eye to the new girl, who has come to town, tell her... (Sid runs out of the room.)

 Sid's Voice: Oh, Aunt Polly, come! Tom's dying. (Sid runs into the room, followed by Aunt Polly).

Aunt Polly: You, Tom! Tom, what is the matter with you?

Tom: Oh, Auntie, I'm...

Aunt Polly: What is the matter with you, what is the matter with you, child?

Tom: Oh, auntie, oh! Oh, my foot! Oh, my foot, Oh, my foot!

(Aunt Polly falls into the chair and laughs a little, then cries a little, then does both together.)

Tom: Aunt Polly, I have even forgotten about my tooth.

Aunt Polly: Your tooth, indeed! What is the matter with your tooth?

Tom: It is loose.

Aunt Polly: There, there, don't begin to cry again. Open your mouth.Well, your tooth is loose, but you

are not going to die because of it. Sid, get me a silk thread and a chunk of fire. (Sid goes away.

Tom: Oh, please, auntie, don't pull it out. I don't want to stay at home. I shall go to school.

Aunt Polly: Oh,I see! You want to stay at home and go fishing. Tom, Tom, I love you so, and you seem to try every way you can to break my old heart. Dress yourself quickly and go to school.

                                                                                  SCENE III

About twenty boys and girls are sitting at the desks. The teacher is walking along the rows. All the pupils are writing. The door opens and Tom comes in.

Teacher: Thomas Sawyer!

Tom: Sir...

Teacher: Come up here. Now, sir, why are you late again, as usual?

Tom: I stopped to talk to Huckleberry Finn.

Teacher: You? What did you do?

Tom: I stopped to talk to Huckleberry Finn. (Teacher beats Tom's hands with a ruler.)

Teacher: Now, sir, go and sit down with the girls.

Tom: (aside). Just what I want to do. I do want to sit near the new girl. (Tom sits down by Becky. She continues to write. To Becky.) What's your name?

Becky: Becky Thatcher. What is yours? Oh, I know! It is Thomas Sawyer.

Tom: That is my name when they beat me.I am Tom when I am good. Call me Tom, will you?

Becky: Yes. (Tom writes something on a slate.) What are you writing there?

Tom: Oh, it isn't anything.

Becky: But, yes, it is!

Tom: No, it isn't. You don't really want to see it.

Becky: Yes, I do, indeed, I do. Please, let me see.

Tom: You will tell somebody.

Becky: No, I shan't—deed and deed, and double deed I shall not.

Tom: You shan't tell anybody at all, shall you? Ever as long as you live?   

Becky: I shan't tell anybody. Now let me see.

Tom: You don't want to see.

Becky: Yes, I do. (She fakes the slate and reads.) I love you! Oh, you are a bad thing! (At that moment the teacher comes up to them and takes hold of Tom's ear.)

Teacher: You are a bad thing!

                                                                                           SCENE IV

Sunday morning. A large fence round the garden. Aunt Polly and Tom come up to the fence. Tom has a bucket of whitewash and a brush in his hands. He looks at the fence.

 Tom: Oh! Auntie, but it is Sunday today. I can't work on Sunday.

 Aunt Polly: Your behaviour has been very bad, Tom. You'll work today. You must whitewash this fence. Now begin to work. (She goes away.)

Tom: (looking at the fence). Oh, it's rather large. (He puts the brush into the bucket and passes it along the fence, then sits down on a box. Jim, a Negro boy, comes with a bucket in his hand). Jim! Jim! (Jim stops) Say, Jim. I'll bring the water if you whitewash a little.

Jim (shakes his head): I can't, Master Tom. The old mistress told me to go and get some water and not to stop with anybody.

Tom: Oh, never mind what she said. She won't even know, Jim. I'll give you a marble. (Shows him a marble.) Jim:. No, I can't. (He quickly runs away). (Suddenly Tom sees Ben Rogers. He comes skipping along, eating an apple. Tom quickly stands up and begins to whitewash the fence. He pretends not to see Ben.)

 Ben: Hello, Tom! Have you got to work today? (Tom continues to whitewash. He does not even look at Ben.)

Ben: T-o-om. Hello.

Tom: Why, it's you, Ben. I did not notice you.

Ben: Tom, I am going to the river to swim. Don't you want to go? But, of course, you have got to work today.

Tom: What do you call work?

Ben: Why, isn't that work?!

Tom: (continues to whitewash). Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. All I know is Tom Sawyer likes it.

Ben: Oh, nonsense, do you mean to say that you like it?

Tom: (continues to whitewash). Like it? Well, I don't see why not? Does a boy whitewash a fence every day?

 Ben: Every day?(Silence. Tom continues to work.)

 Ben: Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little!

Tom: No, no, I can't agree to that. You see, Aunt Polly wants the fence to be done well, especially here in the street. I'm afraid you won't be able to do it well.

Ben: Oh, Tom, let me just try, only just a little. I'll give you a piece of my apple.

Tom: No, Ben, I'm afraid.

Ben: I'll give you a lot of it.

Tom: Well, here is the brush. But be careful. (He gives Ben the brush and takes the apple. Joseph Harper, Johnny Miller, Billy Fisher come up to the fence.)

Joseph: Hello! What are you doing?

Tom: I am eating an apple.

Ben: I am whitewashing the fence. Does a boy whitewash a fence every day?

Johnny: No, he doesn't. Let me whitewash a little.

Ben: You won't be able to do it well.

Billy: Of course, he won't be able to. But I know how to do it. Tom, I'll give you a dead rat and a string.

Joseph: And I'll give you a kite.

Tom: (proudly). Ben, let Billy whitewash a little. (Billy gives Tom the dead rat and takes the brush.)

Johnny: Be quick.

Billy: Let us whitewash the fence, too.

Tom: Boys, don't quarrel. Now, Johnny, it is your turn to whitewash. What can you give me?

Johnny: A kite. Here it is. Take it. (Tom takes the kite. The boys whitewash the fence in turn. Very soon the work is finished. The boys are pleased. They are laughing and jumping about.)

Tom: A-u-n-t P-o-l-l-y! Auntie! Come up here, please.

Aunt's voice: What do you want?

Tom: I have finished. (Aunt Polly appears)

Tom: May I go and play now, auntie?

Aunt Polly: What! Already?

Tom: It's all done, aunt.

Aunt Polly: Tom, don't lie to me. Little boys must not lie.

Tom: I am not lying, aunt. It is all done. Look for yourself.

 Aunt Polly: (looking at the fence). Oh, it is really all done. Well, Tom, you can work well when you want to. Now you may play.

 Tom: Hurrah! Boys, let's run to the river and have a swim. (All the boys run away. Aunt Polly shakes her head and goes away too.)