Brief Dialogue Between the Bear and the Nightingale
VOICE: (ala Jersey accent) Okay, so once upon a time…oh, don’t you just love stories dat begin dat way? So once upon a time dere was dis bear. A happy bear. He was just walkin’ around through da forest, laughin’ and jokin’ and growlin’ like happy bears do…and den way up in dis tree …I mean way, way up…dere was dis boid. A nightingale! And dis boid…dis nightingale he said, “Whoa! What’s dat noise down dere?” I mean he was spooked! So he let out a itsy-bitsy cry and he flew up to a higher branch!
VOICE: So da bear…he kept walkin’ an walkin’ and gettin’ closer and closer to da tree….I’m talkin’ about da tree wit da boid in it…And da nightingale thought Whoa! What’s dis! Looks like trouble to me! So he got scared and he startin’ flittin’ and flittin’ and flittin’ around from one branch to anuder.
VOICE: But da bear…he heard all dis flittin’. “Hmmm,” he said. “I wonder what dat is? So he got real quiet…I mean real quiet…and he raised up his eyes to da tree.
VOICE: And den da nightingale looked down. He looked right down to where da bear was standin’ and he thought… “Hmmm…he don’t look so bad. Not mean at all!” So da boid, he calmed hisself down…and he listened to what da bear had to say.
VOICE: And da bear…he looked back up at da boid. He squinted his old bear eyes and he says, “Hey you!” Da nightingale squeaked, “Me?” “Yeah you! Up in da tree! You’re pretty good at dat singin’!” Da nightingale said, “Uh…thanks.” So da bear, he says.. “I like to dance! Sing me a song I can dance to! Sing me a. . . .” and he thought and he thought, then he had it! “Sing me a tarantella!” You see, a tarantella’s a kind of dance dat dey did back in da bear’s home country. “Dat would make me so happy!” said da bear. And so da boid sang…and so da bear danced…and danced…and danced…and …I don’t know if you ever seen a bear dance, but he gets mighty tired…
VOICE: Da bear fell to da ground! I ain’t kiddin’! He just went plop! He tired hisself plumb out and he just ….he just dropped! Da nightingale looked down and said, “Oh shoot! I think I just killed a bear!” . . .and he took off!