1. A play: What Is It?

2. CHARACTERS: Animals: Lion, Hippo, Giraffe, Eagle People: Six tourists, a driver

3. SETTING : The African plains

4. Seven chairs can be used as a safari van. The six TOURISTS sit in three rows, with the DRIVER on a chair in front. a safari van Large cardboard wheels are attached to the front and back chairs on either side.

5. SCENE 1: LION is asleep. HIPPO runs up to him. HIPPO: LION, LION, wake up! LION (yawning): What ’ s the matter? HIPPO: Something terrible ’ s coming! It ’ s as big as an elephant, and it has four round legs. \ LION: Four round legs and as big as an elephant! I ’ m not scared of that.yawning

6. SCENE 2: GIRAFFE runs up to LION and HIPPO. GIRAFFE: Help, help! Something terrible ’ s coming! HIPPO: Is it as big as an elephant, with four round legs? GIRAFFE: Yes, yes! And it has six heads! LION: Six heads! I ’ m not scared of that.scared of

7. SCENE 3: EAGLE flies down to LION, HIPPO and GIRAFFE. EAGLE: Quick, quick! Something terrible ’ s coming! HIPPO: Is it as big as an elephant, with four round legs? EAGLE: Yes! GIRAFFE: And does it have six heads? EAGLE: Yes, yes, yes! And it roars louder than a lion! LION: It roars louder than I? Maybe we should hide.hide

8. SCENE 4: EAGLE flies off. LION, HIPPO, and GIRAFFE hide. The safari van drives up. TOURIST ONE: Where are all the animals? TOURIST TWO: You told us we ’ d see lots of animals today. DRIVER: They should be here. I don ’ t know where they are now.

9. TOURIST THREE: I wanted to see an eagle. TOURIST FOUR: I wanted to see a giraffe. TOURIST FIVE: I wanted to see a hippo. TOURIST SIX: I wanted to see a lion. DRIVER: We ’ ll have to go and look somewhere else.

10. SCENE 5: The safari van drives away. The ANIMALS come out again. EAGLE: You see, I told you it roared louder than a lion. GIRAFFE: And it had six heads. HIPPO: It had four round legs and it was as big as an elephant. LION: You were right – all of you. I wonder what sort of animal it was. Let ’ s hope it doesn ’ t bother us again!

11. END

12. a safari van

13. yawn

14. scared of

15. hide