Original: Fang Long
Script Adaptation: Upper Class (8) Students: Ning Shujuan Tang Xiaodan Zhang Shuai Lin Kunhua Rong Lihua Lv Jiang Cao Yuxiong Chen Bing Kong Dexi Zhou Hui Gao Bo Wang Hu Yan Jinren Li Chang Wu Hui Cui Jin Wang Mingxi Zhang Yu, etc.
Performance: Students of Upper Class (8)
Instructor: Ren Ling
Main Characters:<
Minor: Herald, Wanderer.
Ashui: Unmei's love interest.
Elders A, B, and C: old guard elders.
Crowd: the villagers of the Valley of Ignorance.
Prologue
(Narrator): In the Valley of Ignorance, tragedy after tragedy of ignorance is played out.)
(Five villagers drag a Wanderer up here, tied up five ways, with a towel around the Wanderer's mouth, and clubbed to death. Then dragged down. Accompanied by extraneous voice - Elder A's pale, eerie, vicious pronouncement ):
He has defied God's will, and dared to escape from the valley unchallenged! Punish him in God's honor! Beat him to death! Drag him to the Greenstone Cliff!
(The villagers beat the Wanderer to death, and together they point to his body with contempt and disdain): This is what happens when you break the Law!
(Then drag the Wanderer's body down)
(Unming goes up, and Shui follows, pulling Unming along, clinging to him. Unmei): Shui, go back!
Ah Shui (pleading): Brother Unming, can you not go?
Weiming: No! For the sake of everyone's happiness, I must walk out! Believe me, I will come back alive!
Ashui: But I'm afraid ......
Weiming: Shui sister, listen to me, in the depths of my heart, flows the blood of the pioneers, the difficult road needs to be opened, the great mission needs to be accomplished, I'll bring back the happiness, and give the hope to this gloomy valley! You must be brave and persevere!
Ah Shui: Brother Miming ......
(Miming lets go of his hand, wipes away his tears, and resolutely walks away without looking back. A-shui makes a sad face and hides her face)
Act I The Quiet Valley
(voice-over): In the quiet valley of ignorance, people lead contented lives. Here, where the eternal mountain ranges meander east and west, north and south, and the brooks of knowledge flow gently along the deep, destructive valleys, people repeat their simple days and enjoy their heavenly pleasures. Here, traveling an eternal and unchanging mission, the villagers abide by the laws given by the gods of heaven, all is calm and peaceful ......)
(five villagers on, looking for a place to sit, chatting)
(A) ai, un-ming that boy, went out for three years, and there is still no news.
(B) Hush! (Looking around, fearfully), maybe he died out there.
(C) Be careful! You are not entitled to your share of the fruit if you speak treasonable words. Don't say it! Don't say it!
(D) Let us be content; our Elder is the son of the God of Heaven, and the God of Heaven will give us happiness!
(The two children run and make a scene, child A runs to C) Father! Father!
Child A: Why is the mountain so high? What's on the other side of the mountain? Do people live there? Are there little goats?
Child B: Are there beautiful rocks on the other side of the mountain? Tell me, tell me!
Father: the elders have said that none of us have the right to know what is on the other side of the mountain. All is God's will, and we can only rest in peace in the arms of the God of Heaven; do not ask, do not doubt!
Child B: When Brother Weiming left the mountain, he said he would bring us back the most beautiful stones!
Child A: We'll know the story on the other side of the mountain by then!
(The old guard old man's pale, sad and majestic voice) Rebellion! Who is that voice of rebellion? Everything here is God-given, everything that the God of Heaven is sovereign over, including your souls, your lives! You can only believe in His holiness, you must never doubt it, you must never question it!
(All kneeling, adults forcibly pressing down children to worship, together, numbly and reverently) We believe in the Elders! We believe in the gods! We believe in the Elders, we believe in the God of Heaven! (Retreat)
Act II The Death of the Wanderer
(Weiming slowly comes on stage, staggers, reaches the center of the stage, and faints)
(Villager A notices Weiming in amazement): Isn't this Weiming?
(shouting): Come on people, Weiming is back! Weiming is back!
(A group of villagers ran up, talking)
(B): Hey! How can he come back? Is he here to get himself killed?
(C): Since the beginning of time, anyone who tries to get out of the valley ends up only in execution.
(D): May God have mercy on this reckless child! Forgive him for his transgressions.
(Shui runs up): Brother Weiming, Brother Weiming, you're back! You're finally back!
(Villagers shaking their heads and sighing)
(Villagers): The Elder is here!
(All kneel respectfully to welcome the Elder, the Elder appeared with the villagers' support, three villagers carried three chairs, and the other three held three "holy books" and respectfully handed them to the Elder)
(Elder A): Ignorant fanatics! Don't confess your sins to God!
(Elder B): What will happen to the rebels? You should know!
(Elder C): You will be judged!
(Unmind struggles to get up, coldly): No! I am not guilty! It was my father's blood that inspired me! I can't forget my mother's eyes flashing with hope! For the sake of the villagers, I have found happiness, I have found light ......
(Elder A): You shut up! This is blasphemy and sacrilege!
(Unmindful, turning to the villagers, enthusiastically): Everyone cheer up! Listen to me, everyone, listen to me, when I was a child, my world was my father's garden. To ask what is on the other side of the border, everyone can not stop shaking their heads, a hush! I preferred to get to the bottom of it, so they took me to the Greenstone Cliffs to see the tired white bones left behind by those who were put to death, and to see the final end of those who dared to defy God.
(Elder B): Shut up, you treacherous scion! You ignorant fanatic! God will punish you!
(Unknown): No! God loves the brave! The holy book of the elders is a false will, and the law of the valley is the yoke of the multitude; it cannot hold back my thirst for truth, and it cannot quench my desire to come out of the valley.
(The old man of the old guard coughed in anger): cough cough cough cough! Quickly bring the holy book, so that he may hear the voice of the God of Heaven.
(The other read from the holy book): God's will has determined the fate of all things in heaven and on earth. God's will cannot be disobeyed! The valleys are ours. By us they are ruled, beasts and flowers, fruits and fishes, all are ours, according to our will. But the mountains are God's, and of things on the other side of the mountains we should know nothing until the end of the world.
(unspoken): no! They are lying! They have deceived me, and they have deceived you! After a journey over a thousand mountains, I have found the world beyond the mountains, a beautiful place where there are cultivated fields, pastures, sweet fruits, blooming flowers, dense forests, rushing rivers, mansions of wisdom, and sweet life ......
(Elder A): A load of nonsense! There is no hope and no happiness without the shelter of the God of Heaven!
(Unknown): Villagers, wake up! Undo the shackles that have been placed on you, tear down that damned law, and drive away the devil that devours your hearts, happiness is getting closer and closer to you, come out of the valley!
(Elder B): Quickly stop this wildly spreading sinful voice! Cough ......
(Unmindful): The existence of truth is a fact that cannot be hidden! I have found an avenue to a better life, and I have seen the dawn of a happy life. Come with me! I lead you to run there ......
(Elder A B C): Blasphemy! This is blasphemy against the divine law! This is rebellion against the God of Heaven! He has committed an unforgivable sin, in the honor of God; gag him for his sin and execute him!
(The villagers gag the unspoken man with a towel).
(Aqua hugs Elder C, pleading): Father! NO! Father!
(Elder C coldly): You are not allowed to plead for him! He deserves to die!
(Shui): Father! Please give him a chance to live! Didn't you say that God has a great heart and the virtue of forgiveness? You forgive him!
(Elders rebuking in unison): Execute him! Why don't you do it? Execute him!
(Then he closed his eyes and mouthed the words as if reciting the Torah and incantations).
(The villagers in unison, and get up to kill the unspecified): kill him! Kill him!
(Shui): No! You guys can't do this! No...... (runs over to protect Weiming and is also killed)
(Old Guard Elders in unison): drag their corpses to the Greenstone Cliff!
(The crowd retreated, sounding thunder, lightning, wind and rain, like sobbing and grief).
Act III Death Approaches
(Background: the wilderness is dry and grassy, the sky is dry and the earth is cracked, in the midst of the plague, the starving corpses are all over the place, it's especially miserable).
(Voiceover): The unspoken story seems to be long in the past. The people still believed in the gods and repeated everything under the Law. However, a huge drought came, the days of hunger and cold, disappointment gave courage to the villagers who had gone against the grain due to fear, and as death approached, people began to awaken ......
(The villagers appeared, with yellow, hungry, ragged, and unkempt faces)
(The old man of old-fashioned ways does not appear, and there is only dialog)
(Villager A): Honorable Elder, can our crops be saved?
(Villager B): Honorable Elder, our livestock is dying!
(Villager C): Honorable Elder, can we still share our fruits?
(A group of villagers in unison): Honorable Elder, we have watched our loved ones die in droves ......
(Elder A): With God, everything will turn around!
(Elder B): With God, all will be safe!
(Villager's daughter ran up crying): My God! How can this day go on, the child's father is dead, the child is also dead ...... What is the point of my living?
(Another villager woman with a child on, the child said): mother, I am thirsty, mother, I am hungry!
(Fainted)
(Mother): God in heaven! Where are you? Stretch out your merciful hand and save my child!
(Villager A): See! So many people are dying of thirst and hunger!
(Villager B): If this continues, they will all die!
(Villager C): Remember Weiming? (Looking around, cautiously)
(Villagers all together): Weiming? Unming!
(A): Yes, Weiming said that on the other side of the mountain ......
(B): there are sweet fruits ......
(C): there is fertile cultivated land... ...
(Q): there is a happy life!
(A): Right! Let's go out on a limb and leave the valley!
(B): right! We are facing death, and if we don't get out, we can only wait for death!
(D): But the Law?
(E): but, the Elders?
(S): but, the gods?
(A):Screw the law, screw the elders, screw the gods!
(B): Where is the power of God's mercy as we watch our loved ones die? Where is the God-given hope?
(C): Even in rebellion, we must leave this valley of death and go forth with courage!
(Crowd): Yes! We're going to walk out!
(A): Let's find the path that Unmind has blazed and get out of here!
(Crowd): go!
(Old Guard Elders on, holding each other up, A says): They're all gone, what about leaving us behind?
(Elder B): starve to death!
(C): Then why don't we go with them?
(Together): wait, we'll go together. ( Lycanthropic and abominable appearance, trailing down)
Scene 4 The Eternal Sacrifice
(voice-over): Bravery finally overcomes timidity, enterprise finally overcomes closure, truth finally overcomes falsehood, and wisdom finally overcomes ignorance! The people came out of the valley of despair and found the happiness that belonged to them. However, they could not forget the path that the pioneers had blazed, and they brought their children and grandchildren back to Castle Rock Cliff to pay tribute to the spirits of the pioneers.
(Background): The cliff
(Villagers and children on)
Villager A: The pioneers are not clear! In the final analysis, you are right and the old guard is wrong!
Villager B: You saved us. But it was we who killed you in the first place!
Villager C: Please accept our bitter remorse and apologies! Herald! We repent for our foolishness!
Villager A: Remember the name of the Herald, children, he was called "Unmind", and it was he who blazed the trail, and it was he who sought the light.
(B): Children, remember the name of the pioneer! He was called "Unmindful", and he was not bound by the old laws, but for the sake of the truth, he raised his voice in rebellion!
(C): Let us always remember the pioneers, whose spirit is immortal, and whose names are worth remembering forever!
(A): Let us also remember the misfortunes we have enacted, so that the tragedies caused by the harshness of intolerance will never be repeated and will not continue ......
(B): We should collect the bones of the pioneers and erect a monument to them, enshrine them in the mansion of wisdom, and write our grateful words, and our children and grandchildren will remember them!
(Crowd): Right!
(The crowd makes a searching gesture, and finally A holds the box with both hands. Together, they go down to the heavy, deep music. End of the play)