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The Frozen Goose
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Subject(s): Canadian History, Canadian Literature, Canadian Social Studies, Character Education, Drama, English, Guidance, Health and Medicine, History, Language Arts, Literature, Music, Social Studies
Grade Level: 6 - 8, 9 - 12, Post Secondary, Adult
Grade Level: 6 - 8, 9 - 12, Post Secondary, Adult
Based on the short story, The Frozen Goose from award-winning Canadian author, artist and photographer Margaret Lindsay Holton. A rural family cope in the aftermath of WWI. Classic Canadiana!
Margaret Lindsay Holton has brought her short story to life in this new production. World War One has ended. The men are coming home from the Great War: tired and worn out. A shell-shocked soldier returns to the farm of his best friend (who died heroically at Vimy Ridge). By virtue of a promise, he tries to 'fill the boots' of Father, Husband and Provider. He fails miserably. The widow is luke-warm, the children are unruly, and he just cannot find work. As his depression prevails, the two young children decide to take matters into their own hands. Bella announces she will work at her Uncle's store, some five miles away. She sets off, with Charlie trailing. All goes well enough. Uncle Harry lends a sympathetic ear to their troubles on the homefront and tops off their visit with a generous gift of a BIG FAT FROZEN GOOSE.
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Running Time: 25:00 Country of Origin: Canada Captions:  |
Producer: MLH Productions Copyright Date: 2016 Language: English |
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The Frozen Goose 25:00
Based on the short story, The Frozen Goose from award-winning...
TRANSCRIPT
Close- [MUSIC PLAYING]
- [EXPLOSIONS]
- Tom, get down.
- [GUNSHOT]
- Helen.
- Helen.
- [FOOTSTEPS]
- [WIND WHISTLING]
- Helen, I'm done. There's nothing here that a man can do. There's nothing here that a man can become.
- Tom, you need to rest. Go to the fire, dry out.
- There's no work in town, Helen. The men are coming home and there's no work. We need to get away from here. We need to move, maybe west. Let's go west.
- You know we can't go anywhere, Tom. The children are settled here. We are settled here. We must make the best of it.
- We'll manage. You'll see. You will find something soon.
- Bella? Charlie? Soup's on.
- All right, mother.
- [CLASSICAL MUSIC]
- Mother and I were bringing in the harvest. We were shelling our peas when my father's best friend, Tom, came to the door. We knew the moment we saw him that father had gone. Father died in France at Vimy Ridge. Before that terrible battle, he made Tom promise that if anything should happen to him, Tom must come home and take care of us.
- The more we heard about father's courage-- he was the first up the ridge-- mother promised Tom that he could do just that. He could look after us. But all the homecoming men were so broken and tired after the war.
- Bella? Charlie? Soup's on.
- All right, mother. Come on, supper's on.
- Look at these amazing wolves, Bella. Look how big and fierce this one is. Did you know that wolves can smell fear from over a mile away? Imagine that.
- Come on, Charlie. Put on your slippers. Supper's on.
- Yuck, it's probably just that same old soup and bread crud again.
- Shh, don't say that. You know Tom hasn't found work. We all have to make do for now.
- I can be the man of this house. I could deliver the country review again. I could put food on our table. Hey, I fixed the wheel on my bike.
- Don't be stupid, Charlie. It's the middle of winter. How could you possibly manage snow and slippery ice on your dumb bike?
- I could do it. I could be the man of this house.
- Shh, don't worry. I'll see if I can get some work in Uncle Harry's store tomorrow. Now come on, shh, not a word.
- Shh, how are we going to get there? Do you want to use my bike?
- I'll walk. Come on, silly. Let's go.
- [DRAMATIC MUSIC]
- I will come with you.
- No mother, you'll just slow me down. I'll be there in no time.
- It's too far in this weather, Bella. It's over five miles. It's just too far to walk.
- Mom, I can do it. You know I've done it many times before, and it's a perfect day. See? Snug as a bug in a rug.
- (SINGING) Hey, what's the use of worrying.
- It never was worthwhile.
- So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.
- [MUSIC - "PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES IN YOUR OLD KIT BAG"]
- Bella, wait for me. I'm coming too. Tom said it was OK.
- We're not going anywhere with you dressed like that.
- Hey.
- There, now maybe I'll make it.
- Let's go this way. I know a short cut. If we cross at McCormack's pond, we'll be closer to Uncle Harry's.
- No Charlie, not the pond. It's too big and I don't know my way around the woods there.
- I do, it's easy. Follow me.
- No Charlie. We're going by the road. It's no longer but it's safer.
- Look, a rabbit.
- I saw cardinal earlier today.
- [MUSIC - "OH! IT'S A LOVELY WAR!"]
- (SINGING) Up to your waist in water, up to your eyes in slush. Using the kind of language that makes the sergeants blush. Who wouldn't join the army? That's what we all inquire. Don't we pity the poor civilian sitting around the fire? Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war. Lovely war. Who wouldn't be a soldier, eh? Yes, it's a shame to take the pay.
- As soon as the revelries gone, we feel just as heavy as lead, but we never get up till the sergeant brings our breakfast up to bed. Let me sleep. Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war. Lovely war. What do we want with eggs and ham when we have plum and apple jam. Form fours, right turn. How shall we spend the money we earn? Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war.
- Oh, oh, oh it's a lovely war. Two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Bang.
- Hello? Uncle Harry? It's Bella.
- And Charlie.
- So, you see Uncle Harry, it's all a bit desperate with Uncle Tom at the moment.
- He's just an old grouch.
- Mother is so unhappy.
- Well, we all miss your father, Bella. Boy, he sure could play that fiddle. Now, just a minute.
- Here, Bella. You take this home to your mother. Tell her it's an early Christmas present from me. I'll send a few other items on tomorrow, and you can start helping here in the new year.
- Whoo hoo, a big fat goose.
- Do you know your father was a very good shot? He always bagged more game than anyone else. I remember once we were at McClintock Park. The geese were migrating south in perfect V formation. There were thousands of them honking, carrying on. Well your father stood up and shot down five, just like that.
- I only got one. That was a long and memorable day. Your father always shared what he bagged with everyone else.
- Is that his goose?
- You could say that. Now, you children get home before that wind really starts howling. The wolves are out and we don't want to lose you to the pack.
- Whoo, yip, yip, yip.
- Can you manage it, Bella? It's not too heavy?
- I can manage.
- I could send it on tomorrow with the other things.
- I can manage. Thank you, Uncle Harry.
- [LAUGHS]
- It's too far. We should go through the woods.
- Stick with me, no horsing around.
- Hold your coat.
- Did you hear that?
- Turn around while I tie it tight.
- Did you hear that?
- No, Charlie.
- All right Charlie, let's go.
- Ow.
- My feet are cold.
- Come on, Charlie. We'll be home soon.
- Can you see the old willow on the side of the barn?
- No. Wait, is that it?
- Yes, yes that's it. Let's go.
- [WOLF HOWLING]
- Come on, Charlie.
- [ICE CRACKING]
- They're coming. The wolves are coming. They're going to eat us.
- Stop it. They aren't interested in us. They want the goose. Look, the ice is split. That'll stop them. Come on.
- Come on, Charlie. So what I do. Do exactly as I do.
- [SOFT MUSIC]
- [MUSIC - "I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER"]
- (SINGING) 10 million soldiers to the war have gone who may never return again. 10 million mothers' hearts must break for the ones who died in vain. Head bowed down in sorrow in her lonely years. I heard a mother murmur through her tears.
- I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier. I brought him up to be my pride and joy. Who dares to put a musket on this shoulder to shoot some other mother's darling boy.
- Let nations arbitrate their future troubles. It's time to lay the sword and gun away. There'd be no war today if mothers all would say I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier.
- What victory can cheer a mother's heart when she looks at her blighted home? What victory can bring her back all she cared to call her own? Let each mother answer in the years to be, remember that my boy belongs to me. I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier. I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
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