AUDIENCE PARTICIPATIONS

The Cowboy’s Life

San Gabriel, Long Beach Area, Verdugo Hills Councils

Divide participants into four groups for the sounds.  Tell each group they are to make a certain sound when ever their word is said. Have them practice as you are assigning parts.

COOK:                 Come an’ git it

TRAIL BOSS:         Round ‘em up

COWBOY:   Git along little dogies

CATTLE:                      Moooooo

Between 1865 and 1887, millions of longhorn CATTLE walked from Texas, through Oklahoma, to Kansas and Missouri on a cattle drive. They were led by 25 to 30 thousand COWBOYS. A herd of about 3000 head would need 10 to 15 COWBOYS; this included the TRAIL BOSS and the COOK. They would travel 10 -12 miles per day and spend 2 to 4 months on the drive.

Usually the oldest people on any drive were the TRAIL BOSS and the COOK whose average age was 30. Most of the COWBOYS were teenagers. The young COWBOY worked an exhausting schedule. He spent about 18 hours in the saddle every day for 2 to 4 months at a time. At night he rolled out his bed roll and slept on the bare ground.

The COWBOY had to stop stampedes of nervous CATTLE. He had to round up strays. He had to outwit CATTLE rustlers. He had to watch out for poisonous snakes, cross wild rivers and keep riding even in hail storms. Sometimes he went for two or three days without water.

The chuck wagon was the kitchen of the CATTLE drive. The COOK was up at 3:00 a.m. making breakfast for the TRAIL BOSS and the COWBOYS. After breakfast, the COOK would pack up and move ahead to find a spot for the dinner meal; the TRAIL BOSS would also go ahead and look for a spot to bed down for the night, a place where the cattle could graze and be watered. The drive started a little after daybreak after the TRAIL BOSS and the COWBOYS had eaten their breakfast. The CATTLE were driven for about five hours when the TRAIL BOSS and the COWBOYS would stop for an hour to rest and graze the CATTLE. Then they would move on until sunset and dinner.

At night the COWBOYS would take turns, working in teams for about two hours each; they would often sing to the CATTLE to keep them calm or to keep themselves awake while the TRAIL BOSS, the COOK and the other COWBOYS slept.

The Tale Of Pecos Bill

Baltimore Area Council

Divide participants into six groups for the sounds.  Tell each group they are to make a certain sound when ever their word is said. Have them practice as you are assigning parts.

PECOS BILL:                       Yippy yi ay!

COYOTES/VARMINTS:                  Howl

INDIANS:                                  Warhoop

PAINTED DESERT:             Swish, Swish

GUN:                                    Bang, Bang

HORSE/WIDOWMAKER:             Whinny

TOAD:                                      Hop-Hop

PECOS BILL fell out of a wagon while going westward with his family. He was found and raised by a bunch of COYOTES and it wasn’t long before PECOS BILL became boss of those VARMINTS.

One day a cowboy came by and told PECOS BILL that since he didn’t have a tail like a COYOTE he figured he was human and that he should have a HORSE to ride. Now PECOS BILL had no idea how to get a HORSE.

A few days later a little strange HORSE wandered into the valley and PECOS BILL was able to save the life of the little HORSE. From that day on PECOS BILL and WIDOWMAKER stuck together like warts on a TOAD. After a few years PECOS BILL and WIDOWMAKER became known as the toughest VARMINTS west of the Alamo.

Now once a tribe of painted INDIANS did a war dance. PECOS BILL took out his GUN and started shooting up their dance. PECOS BILL gave those INDIANS such a scare that they jumped out of their makeup and that’s how the PAINTED DESERT got its name.