Stephen Flaherty & Lynn Aherns
Discovering Daniel / Pray
[TI MOUNE, spoken]
Help! Someone! Come quickly! A car has crashed! A boy is hurt! Help me, someone! Where is everyone?! Hello? Can you hear me?

[STORYTELLER (ANDREA)]
“His skin is so pale,” she thinks

[TI MOUNE, spoken]
Can you see me?

[STORYTELLER (ARMAND)]
His eyes open for a moment

[STORYTELLERS (ANDREA, WOMEN)]
Eyes from another world

[STORYTELLERS (ANDREA, ARMAND, TONTON, MAN, WOMEN)]
Gray as the sky

[TI MOUNE]
Oh, gods
Oh, gods
You saved my life for a reason —
And now, I think I know why!

[VILLAGER (MAN 2)]
He roared down the road like the devil himself...
[VILLAGER (WOMAN 2)]
Going too fast around the curves...

[VILLAGER (MAN 1)]
Sent us scrambling off the road like chickens...

[VILLAGERS (ANDREA, MAN, WOMAN)]
He has what he deserves!

[VILLAGER (ANDREA)]
Papa Ge wants him...

[VILLAGER (ARMAND)]
And Papa Ge will have him!

[VILLAGER (MAN 1)]
The boy is dying before our eyes!

[VILLAGER (WOMAN 1)]
Help him!

[VILLAGER (WOMAN 2)]
Hide him!

[TONTON]
No
Don’t touch him!
Better leave him where he lies
Even a wealthy man sometimes dies
[TI MOUNE]
Please!
He needs help!

[TONTON, spoken]
If this boy dies in our hands, The rich will send police

[TI MOUNE]
He needs care!

[MAMA, spoken]
And if he lives
Oh, how angry the gods will be!

[VILLAGERS (ARMAND, MAN 1, MAN 2)]
The only thing that will save the boy’s life
Is to send him back to his world!

[TI MOUNE, spoken]
The only thing that will save the boy’s life... is me! I have prayed to the gods and at last they’ve answered. They saved my life so that I could save his. My heart knows this. Please, Tonton

[TONTON]
I will find where he comes from

[MAMA, spoken]
Julian! No!
[TONTON]
I will find who he is, and soon! But ’til I return
You care for him, Ti Moune

[ERZULIE, spoken]
And, bidding his wife and daughter goodbye, Monsieur Julian set on down the road, toward the Black Mountains

[ASAKA, spoken]
The peasants carried the boy to the village, and laid him on Ti Moune’s mat

[PAPA GE, spoken]
And her long vigil began

[VILLAGERS, spoken]
One day gone by
And two days gone by

[VILLAGER (MAN 2)]
The boy has the will of the devil himself

[VILLAGER (WOMAN 2)]
Clinging to life by one small thread

[VILLAGER (MAN 1)]
If it hadn’t been for Julian’s daughter

[ALL (EXCEPT TI MOUNE, MAMA, PAPA GE, DANIEL, TONTON)]
He’d certainly be dead!

[VILLAGER (ANDREA)]
Look how she bathes him

[VILLAGER (WOMAN 1)]
And touches and protects him

[VILLAGERS (ARMAND, MAN 1)]
She binds his wounds and she rubs his chest —

[VILLAGERS (ERZULIE, ANDREA, ASAKA, WOMEN, MEN)]
It’s as if the girl’s possessed!

[ALL (EXCEPT TI MOUNE, MAMA, PAPA GE, DANIEL, TONTON)]
Ho!

[MAMA]
You need food
You need sleep
You just can’t go on without any sleep

[TI MOUNE, spoken]
Mama, sssh!

[MAMA]
Have some tea

[TI MOUNE]
His skin is hot

[MAMA]
Have a rest

[TI MOUNE]
He needs me here

[MAMA, TI MOUNE]
Can’t you see
How much this matters to me?
I know what’s best!

[MAMA, VILLAGERS (ANDREA, ARMAND, MEN, WOMEN)]
Now the sky is growing dim
And the clouds are racing by
And the gods are looking down
At a boy they meant to die
And a girl who placed herself in their way...

[ERZULIE, MAMA, VILLAGERS (WOMEN, MEN)]
Pray!

[MAMA, ERZULIE, ASAKA, VILLAGERS (WOMAN)]
Pray!

[ALL (EXCEPT TI MOUNE, MAMA, PAPA GE, DANIEL, TONTON), spoken]
Three days gone by. And four days gone by

[VILLAGER (MAN 2)]
I fear for the girl and her mother, as well

[VILLAGER (WOMAN 2)]
Nothing but trouble looms ahead

[VILLAGER (MAN 1)]
Monsieur Julian could be deep in danger

[ALL (EXCEPT TI MOUNE, MAMA, PAPA GE, DANIEL, TONTON)]
Arrested, lost or dead!

[TONTON]
Oh, Asaka, mother of the earth
Guide the feet of this poor peasant man
Hear my prayer
Which way there
And which way home?

[TI MOUNE]
I need herbs

[MAMA]
Your father gone

[TI MOUNE]
Mama, herbs

[MAMA]
And you don’t care
Oh, my god
What has this boy done to you?

[TI MOUNE]
Mama, sssh!
He needs rest

[MAMA]
Your tonton lost

[TI MOUNE]
He needs care—

[MAMA]
Because of you

[MAMA, TI MOUNE]
Can’t you see
That he’s in terrible danger? What must I do?

[MAMA, VILLAGERS (ANDREA, ARMAND, MEN, WOMEN)]
Now the sky is turning dark
And the wind is turning chill
And the gods are out for blood
They’ve been cheated of their kill
By a girl without the sense to obey...

[ALL (EXCEPT TI MOUNE, PAPA GE, DANIEL)]
Pray! Pray! Pray!

(The Villagers dance to ward off evil, as death stalks Daniel Beauxhomme.)

[MAMA, spoken]
Julian! Where is my Julian! Bring my Julian home!

[GATEKEEPER (MAN 2)]
You want what?

[TONTON]
I’ve come so far and I need...

[GATEKEEPER (MAN 2)]
Get back!

[TONTON]
I have some news for Monsieur...

[GATEKEEPER (MAN 2)]
Get back!

[TONTON]
Monsieur Beauxhomme has a...

[GATEKEEPER (MAN 2)]
Peasant pig!

[TONTON]
Please, I beg!

[GATEKEEPER (MAN 2)]
You must be mad!

[TONTON]
I must see Monsieur...

[GATEKEEPER (MAN 2)]
Monsieur Beauxhomme?!

[TONTON]
I have come so far

[GATEKEEPER (MAN 2)]
So far to die!

[TONTON]
I have found his son!

[MAMA, TONTON, VILLAGERS (ANDREA, ARMAND, WOMEN, MEN)] Now the sky has turned to black
And the wind is like a knife
Papa Ge is coming back
For the boy who clings to life

[ALL (EXCEPT TI MOUNE, DANIEL, GODS)]
And the girl will have the gods to repay...
Pray! Papa Ge, don’t come around me!
Pray! Papa Ge, don’t come around me!
Pray! Papa Ge, don’t come around me!
Pray! Papa Ge, don’t come around me!

[ALL (EXCEPT TI MOUNE, PAPA GE, DANIEL)]
Pray!