NARRATOR 1: Once there were three sisters who lived alone in a

cottage in the woods.

NARRATOR 2: They had been there as long as they could

remember,

NARRATOR 3: and they never saw anyone else.

NARRATOR 1: Now, the oldest sister was no different from other

people. Her name was One-Eye. She had just one eye, right in the
middle of her forehead.

ONE-EYE: (steps toward audience, points at the middle of her

forehead, then steps back)

NARRATOR 2: The middle sister was also quite ordinary. Her name
was Three-Eyes. She had one eye in her forehead, and one on each
side of her face.

THREE-EYES: (steps toward audience, points at the middle of her

forehead and at each eye, then steps back)

NARRATOR 3: But the youngest sister was different. Her name was
Two-Eyes, and that’s just what she had.

(TWO-EYES steps toward audience, points at each eye, gives an

embarrassed smile and a broad shrug, then steps back, while ONE-
EYE and THREE-EYES give her dirty looks.)

NARRATOR 1: Because Two-Eyes was not like others, her older

sisters were ashamed of her and picked on her all the time.

NARRATOR 2: They dressed her in ragged hand-me-downs,

NARRATOR 3: and they only let her eat leftovers.

TWO-EYES: (making a face and whining) Yuck.

NARRATOR 1: Now, the sisters owned a goat—

GOAT: (bleats)
NARRATOR 1: —and every day Two-Eyes took it to the meadow to
graze.

NARRATOR 2: One morning, when she’d had hardly anything to

eat, she sat on a big rock and cried her two eyes out.

TWO-EYES: (bursts out in exaggerated crying and sobbing)

NARRATOR 3: All at once, an old woman stood before her.

(OLD WOMAN “pops” into place and sways, looking dazed. TWO-
EYES stares at OLD WOMAN, forgetting to cry.)

NARRATOR 1: But the biggest surprise was that this woman had
two eyes, just like Two-Eyes herself.

OLD WOMAN: (smiles at audience, quickly points at each eye, then

turns to TWO-EYES)

NARRATOR 2: The woman asked,

OLD WOMAN: (kindly) What’s wrong, my dear?

TWO-EYES: (bursts out crying and sobbing again, then

whining) It’s my sisters. They never give me enough to eat. (wails
in grief)

OLD WOMAN: (shakes her head and clucks) Don’t worry about
that! You can have as much as you like. Just say to your goat,

“Bleat, goat, bleat.

And bring me lots to eat!”

Then you’ll have plenty. When you don’t want any more, just say,

“Bleat, goat, bleat.

I’ve had so much to eat!”

Then the rest will vanish. Just like this.

NARRATOR 3: And the old woman vanished—

(OLD WOMAN “pops” out, and TWO-EYES looks around in surprise,
trying to see where she went.)

NARRATOR 1: just

NARRATOR 2: like

NARRATOR 3: that.

NARRATOR 1: Two-Eyes couldn’t wait to try. She said to the goat,

TWO-EYES: (eagerly)

Bleat, goat, bleat.

And bring me lots to eat!

NARRATOR 2: The goat bleated—

GOAT: (bleats)

NARRATOR 2: —and a little table and chair appeared.

NARRATOR 3: The table was set with a tablecloth, plate, and

silverware, and on it were dishes and dishes of wonderful-smelling
food.

TWO-EYES: This sure is better than leftovers!

NARRATOR 1: Two-Eyes sat down and started in hungrily.

Everything tasted delicious.

NARRATOR 2: When she’d eaten her fill, she said,

TWO-EYES: (to GOAT)

Bleat, goat, bleat.

I’ve had so much to eat!

NARRATOR 3: The goat bleated—

GOAT: (bleats)

NARRATOR 3: —and the table vanished.

TWO-EYES: And that’s better than cleaning up!

GOAT: (bleats)

NARRATOR 1: When Two-Eyes got home, she didn’t touch her bowl
of leftovers.

NARRATOR 2: Her sisters didn’t notice till she’d gone off to bed.
Then Three-Eyes said,

THREE-EYES: (excitedly, pointing at the food) Look! Our little sister

didn’t eat anything!

NARRATOR 3: One-Eye said,

ONE-EYE: (suspiciously) That’s strange. Is someone else giving her

food? I’ll go tomorrow and watch her.

NARRATOR 1: Next morning, when Two-Eyes started out, One-Eye

said,

ONE-EYE: (sternly) I’m coming along to make sure you tend the
goat properly.

NARRATOR 2: Then she followed Two-Eyes to the meadow and

kept a careful eye on her.

NARRATOR 3: So Two-Eyes never got to use the old woman’s

rhyme.

TWO-EYES: (whimpers, on verge of tears)

NARRATOR 1: When they got home, Two-Eyes ate her bowl of

leftovers. Then she went off to the woods and cried her two eyes
out.

TWO-EYES: (bursts out crying and sobbing)

NARRATOR 2: The old woman appeared again.

OLD WOMAN: (pops into place looking dazed, then turns to TWO-
EYES) What’s wrong, my dear?
TWO-EYES: (sobbing and whining) It’s my sisters. The goat can’t
bring me food, because One-Eye is watching me. (wails in grief)

OLD WOMAN: (shakes her head and clucks) Don’t worry about
that! You can stop her if you like. Just sing her this song. (singing)

“Is your eye awake?

Is your eye asleep?
Is your eye awake?
Is your eye asleep?”

Keep singing that, and she’ll sleep soon enough.

NARRATOR 3: Then the old woman vanished.

OLD WOMAN: (pops out)

NARRATOR 1: Next morning, when Two-Eyes went to the meadow,

One-Eye again went along.

TWO-EYES: Sister, let me sing to you.

NARRATOR 2: And she sang to her over and over,

TWO-EYES: (singing)

Is your eye awake?

Is your eye asleep?
Is your eye awake?
Is your eye asleep?

NARRATOR 3: One-Eye’s eyelid began to droop, and soon she was

fast asleep.

(ONE-EYE closes her eyes and snores. TWO-EYES checks her sister’s
eye carefully before turning away.)

NARRATOR 1: Then Two-Eyes said to the goat,

TWO-EYES: (in a loud whisper)

Bleat, goat, bleat.

And bring me lots to eat!
NARRATOR 2: The goat bleated—

GOAT: (bleats)

NARRATOR 2: —the table appeared, and Two-Eyes ate her fill.

Then she said,

TWO-EYES: (in a loud whisper, to GOAT)

Bleat, goat, bleat.

I’ve had so much to eat!

NARRATOR 3: The goat bleated again—

GOAT: (bleats)

NARRATOR 3: —and the table vanished. Then Two-Eyes shook her

sister.

TWO-EYES: Wake up, sleepyhead!

(ONE-EYE wakes with a grunt, looking surprised and disgruntled,

while TWO-EYES smiles at her innocently.)

GOAT: (bleats)

NARRATOR 1: When they got home, Two-Eyes didn’t touch her

leftovers. After she’d gone off to bed, Three-Eyes asked,

THREE-EYES: (excitedly) What happened?

ONE-EYE: (grumpily) How should I know? I fell asleep. If you think

you can do better, then you go tomorrow.

NARRATOR 2: So next morning, when Two-Eyes went to the

meadow, Three-Eyes went along and kept three careful eyes on her.
Two-Eyes said,

TWO-EYES: Listen, sister, and I’ll sing to you.

NARRATOR 3: And she sang to her, over and over,

TWO-EYES: (singing)
Is your eye awake?
Is your eye asleep?
Is your eye awake?
Is your eye asleep?

NARRATOR 1: As Two-Eyes sang, the eye in her sister’s forehead

went to sleep—but her other two eyes didn’t!

(THREE-EYES closes her eyes and starts to snore. TWO-EYES checks

her sister’s eyes carefully.)

NARRATOR 2: Three-Eyes pretended, though, by closing

them almost all the way and peeking through.

(As TWO-EYES turns away, THREE-EYES peeks and stops snoring.)

NARRATOR 3: She couldn’t quite hear what Two-Eyes told the

goat—

TWO-EYES: (in a loud whisper)

Bleat, goat, bleat.

And bring me lots to eat!

GOAT: (bleats)

NARRATOR 3: —but she saw everything.

THREE-EYES: (still peeking, smiles wickedly)

NARRATOR 1: That night, when Two-Eyes had gone off to bed,

One-Eye asked,

ONE-EYE: What happened?

THREE-EYES: (excitedly) Our sister knows a charm to make the

goat bring wonderful food. (dejectedly) But I couldn’t hear the
words.

ONE-EYE: Then let’s get rid of the goat.

NARRATOR 2: And they drove it off into the woods.

(ONE-EYE and THREE-EYES drive away GOAT, shouting nastily and
throwing things at it, while GOAT bleats as it goes off.)

NARRATOR 3: Next morning, One-Eye told Two-Eyes,

ONE-EYE: (accusingly) You thought you could eat better than your
sisters, did you? Well, the goat is gone, so that’s that.

NARRATOR 1: Two-Eyes went down to the stream and cried her

two eyes out.

TWO-EYES: (bursts out crying and sobbing)

NARRATOR 2: Again the old woman appeared.

OLD WOMAN: (pops into place looking dazed, then turns to TWO-
EYES) What’s wrong, my dear?

TWO-EYES: (sobbing and whining) It’s my sisters. The song didn’t

work on Three-Eyes. She saw everything, and now they’ve chased
away the goat. (wails in grief)

OLD WOMAN: (shakes her head and clucks) Silly girl! That charm
was just for One-Eye. For Three-Eyes, you should have sung,

“Are your eyes awake?

Are your eyes asleep?”

But don’t worry about that. Here—

(OLD WOMAN reaches out with something tiny held between her
fingers and places it in TWO-EYES’s palm. TWO-EYES pulls it close
to peer at it.)

OLD WOMAN: —take this seed and plant it in front of your cottage.
You’ll soon have a tall tree with leaves of silver and apples of gold.
When you want an apple, just say, (with hand outstretched, palm
up)

“Apple hanging on the tree,

I am Two-Eyes. Come to me!”
It will fall right into your hand. (mimes catching the apple, her hand
dropping a bit under its weight and bouncing back up)

NARRATOR 3: Again the old woman vanished.

OLD WOMAN: (pops out)

NARRATOR 1: Two-Eyes went home and waited till her sisters

weren’t looking, then dug a small hole and planted the seed.

NARRATOR 2: The next morning, a tall tree stood before the

cottage with leaves of silver and apples of gold. Two-Eyes found her
sisters gaping at it in astonishment.

(ONE-EYE and THREE-EYES both stare up into the tree, till THREE-
EYES notices something in the distance.)

NARRATOR 3: All at once, Three-Eyes cried,

THREE-EYES: (excitedly, pointing) Look! A man!

NARRATOR 1: Riding toward them was a knight in full armor, his

visor over his face.

KNIGHT: (still at a distance, bounces up and down on his horse

while holding the reins, enjoying the morning and the leisurely ride)

ONE-EYE: (urgently, to THREE-EYES) Quick! Hide our little sister!

NARRATOR 2: So they lowered an empty barrel over Two-Eyes.

KNIGHT: (pleasantly, as he reaches them and stops) Good

morning, ladies.

NARRATOR 3: . . . said the knight as he rode up.

KNIGHT: Beautiful tree you have there. (thoughtfully, gazing up

into the tree) I would dearly love to have one of those apples. In
fact, I would grant anything in my power to the lady who first gave
me one.

NARRATOR 1: The two sisters gasped.

ONE-EYE & THREE-EYES: (gasp)

NARRATOR 2: They scrambled over to the tree and jumped up and

down, trying to grab the apples.

NARRATOR 3: But the branches just lifted themselves higher, so

the apples were always out of reach.

NARRATOR 1: Meanwhile, Two-Eyes raised her barrel just a bit and

kicked a stone so it rolled over to the knight.

(TWO-EYES lifts the barrel slightly by pushing up with her hand

from inside, then kicks the stone out from underneath. KNIGHT
looks down at the stone, perplexed.)

KNIGHT: That’s odd. (pointing first at the stone, then at the

barrel) That stone seems to have come from that barrel. (still to
ONE-EYE and THREE-EYES) Does anyone happen to be in there?

ONE-EYE: Oh no, sir, not really. (reassuringly) Just our little sister.

THREE-EYES: (confidentially, leaning toward

him) She’s different, so we can’t let anyone see her.

KNIGHT: But I want to see her. (to TWO-EYES inside the

barrel) Young lady, please come out!

NARRATOR 2: So Two-Eyes lifted off the barrel.

KNIGHT: (gaping) My word! She’s the loveliest young lady I’ve ever
seen!

NARRATOR 3: He raised his visor for a better look.

KNIGHT: (raises his visor and keeps gazing at TWO-EYES)

ONE-EYE & THREE-EYES: (screaming out together at the sight of

his face) Oh no! Two eyes!

NARRATOR 1: Sure enough, the knight had two eyes, just like their
sister.
KNIGHT: (leans and smiles toward audience, quickly points at each
eye, then goes back to gazing at TWO-EYES) Dear lady,
can you give me an apple from that tree?

TWO-EYES: (brightly) Of course!

NARRATOR 2: Standing under it, she said,

TWO-EYES: (looking up, with hand outstretched, palm up)

Apple hanging on the tree,

I am Two-Eyes. Come to me!

NARRATOR 3: An apple dropped right into her hand, and she gave
it to the knight.

(TWO-EYES watches an apple fall and catches it, her hand dropping
a bit under its weight and bouncing back up. She hands it to
KNIGHT, who takes it from her.)

KNIGHT: My thanks! (takes a big, noisy bite, then chews noisily

and mumbles with his mouth full) And now I will grant anything in
my power. (keeps chewing)

TWO-EYES: (starting to speak to KNIGHT normally but ending up

yelling at ONE-EYE and THREE-EYES) Well, to start with, you can
take me away from these horrid, hateful sisters! (turns back to
KNIGHT and smiles sweetly)

KNIGHT: (stops chewing in surprise, then looks at ONE-EYE and

THREE-EYES, then back at TWO-EYES and returns her smile)

NARRATOR 1: So the knight took Two-Eyes back to his castle. And

since they had so much in common—

NARRATOR 2: After all, they both had two eyes.

NARRATOR 3: —you can be sure they lived happily ever . . . .

(NARRATOR 1 clears throat to interrupt and get attention. As ALL

OTHERS turn in surprise, NARRATOR 1 gestures for them to wait for
the bit left to go.)
NARRATOR 1: (turns again to audience) As for One-Eye and Three-
Eyes . . .

(ALL OTHERS catch on and resume their roles.)

NARRATOR 2: Day after day they stood under that tree and
repeated their sister’s words.

ONE-EYE & THREE-EYES: (looking up hopefully, each with hand

outstretched, palm up)

Apple hanging on the tree,

I am Two-Eyes. Come to me!

NARRATOR 3: But the apples never fell for them,

NARRATOR 1: and they never did

NARRATOR 2: figure out

NARRATOR 3: why.