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Author
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Comment
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juliedaigle
Registered User
(4/13/05 1:13 pm)
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Child as Warrior
Hi hi,
I'm the assistant director (and lead researcher) for a summer children's theater troupe. My director wants our youngest cast member (a boy of 12) to be "the child warrior". And she pointed to The Neverending Story.
The problem with this is that we're performing at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, and they want things that are at least remotely historically based.
So, aside from Jack and the Beanstalk, Iron Hans (and variants) and Hansel and Gretel (and I threw in the Brave/Clever little tailor so that our actor could watch the Disney cartoon) are there any other tales with a boy warrior?
I'm trying to keep away from tales that have the boy as a prince (at least from the onset) because we also have an actor playing "Prince Charming"... and I'm trying not to give them the same research base.
Thanks so much,
~Julie D.
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(4/13/05 3:36 pm)
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Re: Child as Warrior
You could try looking at legends about the childhoods of famous heroes. I'm fairly certain that there're some stories about the boyhoods of Achilles and Odysseus, for instance. There might be some for Hercules--I don't know off the top of my head, though. I think there also stories floating around about the boyhood of Finn MacCool and maybe Cuchulain also.
Good luck!
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Erica
Carlson
Registered User
(4/13/05 4:50 pm)
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boy warrior
This might be a stretch, but you could also look for Arthurian legends/stories about Gaheris (youngest of Sir Gawain's brothers). My mind is blanking, but I know I've read a version where he was left at home because he was too young for court, but disguised himself and went anyway...
There's also "The Giant without a Heart in his Body" where the boy is kind to animals and, with their help, finds the heart in an egg. Jim Henson has a version of it in his Storyteller series, available on DVD, so the actors could view it.
Best,
Erica
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avalondeb
Registered User
(4/13/05 5:46 pm)
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Re: boy warrior
The hero from "The Heartless Giant" was a little boy.
Hercules killed a pair of snakes that were sent to kill him when he was a little boy (actually, it might have been more like when he was a toddler).
The Little Dutch Boy - I think that is the title - where he puts his finger in the dike to stop the flood.
"Fearnot" or "The Boy Who Went in Search of the Shivers" - I believe he was a boy or a young adolescent. The only thing that makes me believe he might have been an adolescent was that at the end his little girlfriend almost dying is what finally makes him afraid.
"Peter and the Wolf" - Peter is most definitely a little boy.
"The Snow Queen"
- I'm pretty sure that the boy who is kidnapped by the Snow Queen
is a boy.
If I think of more, I'll post again. Good luck!
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avalondeb
Registered User
(4/13/05 5:55 pm)
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Re: boy warrior
Pinocchio.
Also, while it might not be a fairy tale, the O. Henry story, "The Ransom of Red Chief" would be a hysterical story to stage as a play.
How about the tales of John Henry and Paul Bunyon of when they were children. Mostly tales of feats of great strength.
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avalondeb
Registered User
(4/13/05 5:57 pm)
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Re: boy warrior
Oops, sorry, I forgot you said that you were doing this at a fair, no O. Henry, Paul Bunyon or John Henry! Sorry!
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Crceres
Registered User
(4/13/05 8:44 pm)
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Re: boy warrior
You could do a truncated version of the Welsh myth Lleu, whose mother Arianrhod swore that he would have no name or armor unless she gave them to him herself. Of course she was tricked into both eventually. Or the story of how Cuchulain got his name, if you prefer Irish. There's also a story about a boy who is captured by a troll (Scandinavian origin) and tells it stories until the sun comes up, though that might not be 'child warrior' exactly.
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juliedaigle
Registered User
(4/14/05 10:49 am)
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Re: boy warrior
I've read "The Boy Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was" and just completely forgot about it until you mentioned it right now.
And I'm going to try and really find the Scandinavian story about the boy and the troll. We have a different actor playing "the troll" (really a combination of troll/ogre/giant) and playing with that character combination could be a lot of fun.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far!
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avalondeb
Registered User
(4/14/05 7:20 pm)
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Re: boy warrior
I'm drawing a blank thinking about a "troll". But if you substitute a "giant", you could do "The Heartless Giant".
If you really want a troll, how about changing the story of "The Three Billy Goat Gruff" to three boys. You could have them all have a middle name of Billy or William, since it is to be set during Renaissance times, and wear goat skin leather clothes.
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Crceres
Registered User
(4/15/05 9:11 am)
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Re: boy warrior
I think the troll story shows up in one of the D'aulaires collections; the boy spends the night telling the troll about the rich&powerful trolls of times past (might have been the Jotunheim giants), and points out where they hid their gold--which is right when the sun comes up and turns the troll to stone.
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Phantoms
Opera
Registered User
(4/26/05 12:29 am)
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Re: boy warrior
Um..Lewis Carrol's (sp?) "Jabberwocky" is a poem, but it could easily be turned into a play.
Phantom
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