ACT I
(Daniel and Ezekiel find woodchuck in trap).
Ezekiel: Well Daniel I see that we have caught the woodchuck.
Daniel: What shall we do with him?
Ezekiel: I think that we should kill him.
Daniel: I think we should take him into the woods and let him go.
Ezekiel: Let us take the matter to father and let him settle it. (Go to father).
Daniel: Father, we have caught the woodchuck and we do not know what to do with him. We have brought the matter to you to settle. Ezekiel wants to kill him and I want to let him go.
Father: Well boys, we will hold a court. I will be the judge and you will be the lawyers. One defend the case and the other prosecute. Ezekiel you may speak first, you are the prosecutor.
Ezekiel: I think we should kill the woodchuck. If we let him go, he will be just as much trouble as ever, while if we kill him he can't eat any more cabbage and we can sell his skin for at least ten cents and small as that sum is it will help pay for some of the cabbage that he has eaten, so in either way he is of more value dead than alive.
Father: Very good, Ezekiel. Now Daniel we will hear from you.
Daniel's Speech: God made the woodchuck. He made him to live in the bright sunlight and the pure air. He made him to enjoy the free air and the good woods. The woodchuck is not a fierce animal like the wolf or the fox. He lives in quiet and peace. A hole in the side of a hill and a little food is all that he wants. He has harmed nothing but a few plants which he ate to keep himself alive. The woodchuck has a right to life, to food, to liberty, for God gave them to him.
Look at his soft pleading eyes. See him tremble with fear. He cannot speak for himself and this is the only way he can plead for the life that is so sweet to him. Shall we be so cruel as to kill him? Shall we be so selfish as to take from him the life that God gave him?
Father: Ezekiel, Ezekiel, let that woodchuck go!