A Full-Cast Audio Drama of Exodus 1 to 14
The script of a full-cast audio drama adapted from the Book of Exodus, chapters 1 to 14 (World English Bible, public domain), with Dale Tummins and his friend Phil written in. The words of God, Moses, Aaron and Pharaoh are the Bible's own, trimmed for the ear; Dale and Phil are ours. There is no narrator. Scene, sound and music cues are as performed. Free, not for sale.
Music: exodus theme.
Scene: brick yard.
Sound: whip crack.
THE TASKMASTER (shouting) Faster. The count was short again yesterday.
A MAN We've had no water since noon.
THE TASKMASTER Pithom wants bricks, not water. Fill the mold.
Sound: mud slap.
AN OLD MAN Fill it, son. Don't meet his eyes. Just fill it.
Sound: mud slap.
Scene: throne room.
THE OLD PHARAOH Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.
A MAN Majesty, they make bricks.
THE OLD PHARAOH Today they make bricks. And when a war breaks out, they join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land. Come, let's deal wisely with them.
A MAN We've doubled their burdens, Majesty. Raamses is half built. And still the camps grow.
THE OLD PHARAOH The more we afflict them, the more they multiply. So we stop it at the root. Bring me the Hebrew midwives.
(A pause.)
THE OLD PHARAOH Your names.
SHIPHRAH Shiphrah, Majesty.
PUAH Puah.
THE OLD PHARAOH When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, then she shall live.
(A pause.)
THE OLD PHARAOH You understand me.
SHIPHRAH We heard you, Majesty.
Scene: hebrew house night.
Sound: baby cry.
PUAH (whispering) A boy.
A WOMAN (crying) No. Please. Give him to me.
SHIPHRAH Hush now. Here. He's yours. Hold him.
PUAH Shiphrah. The king.
SHIPHRAH I fear God more than I fear the king. Wrap him tight, and keep him quiet.
Scene: throne room.
THE OLD PHARAOH (angry) Why have you done this thing, and saved the boys alive?
(A pause.)
PUAH Because the Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women, Majesty.
SHIPHRAH They're vigorous. They give birth before the midwife comes to them.
PUAH We run, Majesty. We run as fast as we can.
SHIPHRAH And every time, there he is already. Shouting.
(A pause.)
THE OLD PHARAOH Get out.
Scene: palace corridor.
PUAH (whispering) Shouting, Shiphrah?
SHIPHRAH The one in Levi's row came out shouting. I didn't say which one.
PUAH He believed us.
SHIPHRAH He's never met a Hebrew woman in his life. That's the only reason.
PUAH And when he calls us back?
SHIPHRAH Then we run slower.
Scene: throne room.
THE OLD PHARAOH Then I won't trust it to midwives. Tell all my people. You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.
A MAN All of them, Majesty?
THE OLD PHARAOH Every son.
Scene: brick yard.
THE TASKMASTER (shouting) The king's word. Every son born to a Hebrew goes into the river. Every one.
Sound: crowd gasp.
A WOMAN No. No, he can't.
AN OLD MAN Keep your face down, daughter. Keep working. Don't let him see you.
Sound: mud slap.
Music: sting danger.
Scene: river nile.
Sound: reeds rustle.
MOSES' MOTHER (whispering) The pitch. More. Every seam.
MIRIAM He's asleep, Mother.
MOSES' MOTHER Three months I've hidden him. He won't stay quiet a fourth. Help me. Into the reeds. Gently.
Sound: water splash.
MOSES' MOTHER Stay here. Far off, where no one sees you. Watch what's done to him.
MIRIAM And if someone comes?
MOSES' MOTHER Then you watch that too. I can't stay, Miriam. If I stay, I'll take him back.
(A pause.)
Scene: river bank morning.
MIRIAM Stay asleep, little brother. Ladies are coming down to bathe. Fine ladies. Stay asleep for me.
A WOMAN (laughing) The water's lovely today, my lady.
PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER What's that, in the reeds? Bring it here.
Sound: reeds rustle.
Sound: baby cry.
A WOMAN My lady. It's a baby.
PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER Oh. Oh, hush. Hush now. This is one of the Hebrews' children.
A WOMAN My lady, your father's order.
PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER My father isn't here.
Sound: footsteps sand.
MIRIAM (out of breath) Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?
(A pause.)
PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER Go.
(A pause.)
PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER You. Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.
MOSES' MOTHER Yes, my lady. I'll nurse him. I will.
Music: tender.
Scene: palace corridor.
MOSES' MOTHER (sad) He's weaned, my lady. He's ready.
PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER Come here, little one. You're mine now. Your name is Moses, because I drew you out of the water.
MOSES' MOTHER Moses.
(A pause.)
Scene: brick yard.
Sound: whip crack.
A MAN (whispering) Somebody from the palace. Don't look up.
Sound: whip crack.
A MAN (crying) Please. I'm going as fast as I can.
THE TASKMASTER Then go faster, Hebrew. Up.
Sound: whip crack.
A MAN My lord. My lord, help me.
Sound: footsteps sand.
(A pause.)
Sound: thud.
(A pause.)
Sound: body thud.
(A pause.)
Sound: digging.
(A pause.)
Sound: scuffle dust.
AN OLD MAN Get off me!
A MAN You took my mold. That was my mold.
MOSES Why do you strike your fellow?
A MAN Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?
(A pause.)
MOSES (scared) Surely this thing is known.
Scene: throne room.
THE OLD PHARAOH My daughter's foundling. Raised at my own table. And he kills my overseer, for a brickmaker.
A MAN Yes, Majesty.
THE OLD PHARAOH Find him. Kill him.
A MAN He's gone, Majesty. East, over the border, toward Midian.
THE OLD PHARAOH Then he can die in Midian.
Music: sting danger.
Scene: desert well.
PHIL You've come a long way. Here. Drink.
MOSES Thank you.
DALE Nice robe. Palace robe. I'd give you a goat for it. Not a whole goat.
MOSES Keep your goat.
Sound: bucket well.
ZIPPORAH Fill the troughs first. Father's flock drinks before the sun gets high.
A WOMAN Zipporah. They're back.
Sound: sheep flock.
A MAN (shouting) Off the well! Move your sheep!
DALE Sorry, ladies. Well's taken. I'm holding it for a client.
ZIPPORAH What client?
DALE A big client. Lot of sheep. He'd want me to be discreet.
PHIL Dale, they were here first. They filled the troughs themselves.
DALE Then our sheep can drink out of their troughs. That's efficient. Nobody pours twice.
ZIPPORAH We pour every morning, and every morning you do this.
DALE And every morning it works. That's called a system.
A MAN Go on, shoo.
MOSES Leave them alone.
DALE Sir, this is a private well conversation.
MOSES Then I'm making it public. Step away from the rope.
Sound: scuffle dust.
Sound: water splash.
A MAN (panicked) He's an Egyptian! Run!
Sound: sheep flock.
(A pause.)
DALE (out of breath) Phil. I want it on record that I chose to leave.
PHIL I'm staying. I'm helping with the bucket.
DALE Good. Stay close to him. Find out what he charges.
Sound: bucket well.
MOSES Hold the trough steady. There. Let them drink.
PHIL Your ewe's got a cracked hoof. Keep her off the rocks a few days.
ZIPPORAH Thank you. Both of you. What's your name?
MOSES It doesn't matter.
DALE It matters to me. I'll be handling his bookings.
ZIPPORAH He threw you in our trough.
DALE We had a frank exchange. He put me in the trough, I agreed to leave. Everybody got something.
Scene: midian tent.
JETHRO How is it that you have returned so early today?
ZIPPORAH An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds.
A WOMAN And moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.
JETHRO Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.
Sound: footsteps sand.
DALE Evening, Reuel. He's right behind me. I brought him.
ZIPPORAH You ran away from him.
DALE I ran ahead of him. To get the table ready. You do that for a client.
JETHRO You're one of the shepherds from the well.
DALE Dale Tummins. I'm with the Egyptian.
MOSES He isn't.
DALE We're still working out the details.
JETHRO Sit, stranger. Eat with us. What do they call you?
MOSES Moses.
DALE I'd have gone longer. People respect a long name. Moses Tummins.
Sound: bread break.
DALE Thank you. I'll take the end piece.
JETHRO I was speaking to him.
DALE I'll hold it for him.
Sound: munch.
DALE He wasn't going to eat the end piece. Nobody wants the end piece.
PHIL Sir, your grey camel's favoring her back leg. I think it's a thorn. I can take it out tonight, if you have a lamp.
JETHRO Hm. You can stay, too. The one who notices things.
DALE And me?
JETHRO Does he come with you, Phil?
PHIL He does. I'm sorry.
JETHRO Then he can stay.
(A pause.)
JETHRO And you, Moses. Stay with us. Keep my flock. Be a son in this tent.
MOSES I'll stay.
DALE We'll talk money later.
Music: tender.
Sound: baby cry.
Scene: midian tent.
ZIPPORAH He has your nose. What will you call him?
MOSES Gershom. For I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land.
DALE Gershom. Strong name. Middle name Dale?
ZIPPORAH No.
DALE I'll put it down as a maybe. Moses, now that we're family, I've given myself a title. Assistant shepherd to the Egyptian.
JETHRO I never gave you that title.
DALE That's why I gave it to me. Saves you the trouble.
JETHRO You haven't watered a sheep in a year.
DALE Assistant, Jethro. I don't water them. I assist.
Scene: hebrew house night.
AN OLD MAN The king is dead.
A MAN I heard. And the new one had the taskmasters out before they'd even finished the burial.
A WOMAN They always said it would get better when he died.
AN OLD MAN Then pray. Out loud. Let it go up.
A WOMAN (crying) God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Hear us. Please. Please hear us.
(A pause.)
Scene: mountain wind.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Forty years I've managed Moses, Phil. Forty years. And where does he take the flock? The back of the wilderness. Not the front. Not even the middle. The back.
PHIL The grass is better up here. The goats found wild thyme on the north side.
DALE A man raised in a palace. Ate off gold plates. And he wants thyme.
PHIL He seems happy.
DALE That's his whole problem. No ambition. I told him, Moses, ten years and you could run Jethro's whole operation. He said, I keep sheep. I said, that's step one.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Not you, Gloria. You're doing great.
PHIL Gloria belongs to Jethro.
DALE Gloria belongs to whoever she loves, Phil.
Sound: fire crackle.
PHIL That's not right.
DALE What isn't?
PHIL That bush has been burning since we ate, and it's still green. Fire doesn't do that.
DALE Somebody's cooking. Don't take anything off it, it's rude.
MOSES I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.
DALE If it's somebody's lunch, Moses, ask if they've got extra.
Sound: footsteps sand.
THE LORD Moses! Moses!
MOSES Here I am.
THE LORD Don't come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.
(A pause.)
PHIL (whispering) Dale. Down. Behind the rock.
DALE (whispering) If the boss goes barefoot, we go barefoot. Get yours off.
PHIL (whispering) Mine are off.
DALE (whispering) Copycat.
THE LORD I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
(A pause.)
THE LORD I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
THE LORD I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey.
THE LORD Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
MOSES Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?
THE LORD Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.
MOSES When I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? What should I tell them?
THE LORD I AM WHO I AM. You shall tell the children of Israel this: I AM has sent me to you.
THE LORD The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
(A pause.)
DALE (whispering) Phil. My feet are freezing.
PHIL (whispering) Shh.
MOSES But they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, The Lord has not appeared to you.
THE LORD What is that in your hand?
MOSES A rod.
THE LORD Throw it on the ground.
Sound: staff thud.
Sound: snake hiss.
Sound: footsteps sand.
DALE (panicked) Not this way! Go back to him! Phil, get in front of Gloria.
THE LORD Stretch out your hand, and take it by the tail.
(A pause.)
DALE (whispering) By the tail. I'd never. I'm more of a middle man.
THE LORD Now put your hand inside your cloak.
(A pause.)
MOSES (scared) No. Oh, no.
THE LORD Put your hand inside your cloak again.
(A pause.)
MOSES Oh. Oh, it's mine again.
MOSES O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
THE LORD Who made man's mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn't it I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.
MOSES Oh, Lord, please send someone else.
Sound: fire whoosh.
THE LORD What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
THE LORD You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth. He will be your spokesman to the people.
THE LORD You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.
(A pause.)
Music: tender.
Scene: mountain wind.
Sound: footsteps sand.
DALE Moses. Whatever went on up there, I want you to know I'm a talker. If you need somebody to do the talking, I'll do it.
(A pause.)
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE I'll take that as a yes.
MOSES I'm going back to Egypt, Phil. My brother Aaron will speak for me.
DALE Then I'll speak for Aaron. When he's tired. Or eating.
PHIL I'll come, if you'll have me.
MOSES I'll have you, Phil.
DALE Spokesman's spokesman. That's my title. Phil, you'll carry the bags.
PHIL I understand.
Sound: sandal chew.
DALE Phil, whose goat is that, and why's it chewing?
PHIL That's your sandal, Dale.
DALE Spit that out. That sandal's been on holy ground. Where's the other one?
PHIL You left it by the rock.
DALE Then it stays there. One sandal's no use to anybody. I'll go to Egypt barefoot. Show Pharaoh we're serious.
PHIL It's a long way, Dale.
DALE How long?
MOSES Long enough.
DALE Uh-oh.
Music: sting comic.
Scene: desert well.
Sound: sheep flock.
MOSES Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.
JETHRO Go in peace.
DALE Me too, Jethro. He can't go in peace without his spokesman's spokesman.
JETHRO His what?
PHIL He means he's coming, sir. So am I.
DALE And I'll need a sheep for the road. For morale.
Sound: sheep bleat.
JETHRO That's Gloria. She's mine.
DALE She chose me, Jethro. You can't argue with a sheep's heart.
JETHRO Go in peace, Dale. Bring back the sheep.
Scene: desert road.
Sound: footsteps sand.
DALE Nobody ever told me when to put my sandals back on, Phil. So I'm not going to. Also I can't find them.
Sound: toe crunch.
DALE Every rock in this desert is the same rock. It follows me.
PHIL Walk where Gloria walks. She picks the soft parts.
AARON (excited) Moses!
MOSES Aaron. My brother.
Sound: kiss.
Sound: kiss.
DALE Dale Tummins. Spokesman's spokesman. I'm a cheek man myself, either side.
(A pause.)
AARON Moses, who is this?
MOSES He came with the sheep.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Thank you, Gloria. At least somebody in this family kisses.
MOSES Walk with me, brother. I have to tell you everything the Lord said.
DALE Start with the part about me.
PHIL Dale.
Scene: hebrew house night.
Sound: crowd murmur.
AN ELDER Aaron, son of Amram. We've had forty years of promises. Say what you came to say.
AARON The Lord, the God of your fathers, has seen your affliction. He has visited the children of Israel.
AN OLD MAN Words.
AARON Then see.
Sound: staff thud.
Sound: snake hiss.
Sound: crowd gasp.
A CHILD Mother!
A WOMAN Hush. Hush now. It's a staff again, in his hand.
AN ELDER The Lord has visited his people.
A WOMAN (crying) He's seen us. All this time, he's seen us.
(A pause.)
DALE (whispering) Phil. Are we bowing?
PHIL We're bowing.
DALE Good. I'd hate to be the only one up.
Scene: palace corridor.
A MAN Names.
AARON Aaron and Moses, of the Hebrews.
DALE Dale Tummins. Spokesman's spokesman.
A MAN Whose spokesman?
DALE His. Aaron's. And Aaron's is his brother's, and it goes up from there. I'm near the bottom, but it's a very good ladder.
A MAN Stand at the back. Say nothing.
DALE That's my specialty.
Scene: throne room.
AARON This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.
PHARAOH Who is the Lord, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don't know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go.
AARON The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.
DALE Or two days. We can do it in two if we walk fast.
(A pause.)
PHARAOH Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!
Sound: door slam.
Scene: palace corridor.
DALE He never said no to two days, Phil.
PHIL He threw us out.
DALE Of the room. Not the deal.
Scene: throne room.
PHARAOH Taskmasters.
THE TASKMASTER Great king.
PHARAOH You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.
PHARAOH Require from them the number of the bricks which they made before. Don't diminish anything of it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, saying, Let's go and sacrifice to our God.
PHARAOH Let heavier work be laid on the men. Don't let them listen to lying words.
Scene: brick yard.
THE TASKMASTER (shouting) This is what Pharaoh says. I will not give you straw. Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished.
Sound: crowd murmur.
A MAN Where? The fields are cut to the ground.
THE TASKMASTER Then pull up the ground.
Sound: mud slap.
THE TASKMASTER Foreman. Why haven't you fulfilled your quota, both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?
THE FOREMAN Sir, without straw the bricks crumble in the sun. We...
Sound: whip crack.
(A pause.)
Sound: whip crack.
(A pause.)
Scene: throne room.
THE FOREMAN Why do you deal this way with your servants? No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, Make brick! Your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people.
PHARAOH (angry) You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, Let's go and sacrifice to the Lord. Go therefore now, and work. No straw shall be given to you, yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks.
Scene: stubble field.
Sound: stubble gather.
DALE Ow. Ow. Phil, I'd like to file a complaint about stubble.
Sound: sneeze.
PHIL Sorry. Barley.
DALE Here's how I see it. Pharaoh's playing hard to get. Nobody makes it this difficult unless they're interested.
PHIL Same number of bricks, Dale, and no straw. It can't be done.
DALE That's why it's an opening offer. Nobody opens with what they really want.
Scene: egypt street.
THE FOREMAN May the Lord look at you and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!
Sound: footsteps away.
AARON Moses.
MOSES Leave me, brother. Please.
Scene: river nile.
(A pause.)
MOSES Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent me?
MOSES Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people. You have not rescued your people at all!
(A pause.)
Music: tender.
THE LORD Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he shall let them go, and by a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land.
THE LORD I am the Lord. I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant.
THE LORD I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments. I will take you to myself for a people. I will be your God.
(A pause.)
Scene: hebrew house night.
Sound: water splash.
DALE Easy. Those are the only two I've got.
PHIL Hold still.
DALE I'm going back in there tomorrow, Phil. And this time I'm opening with one day.
Scene: river nile.
(A pause.)
THE LORD Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh.
THE LORD I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand on Egypt, and bring the children of Israel out from among them.
THE LORD When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, Perform a miracle, then you shall tell Aaron, Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent.
Scene: hebrew house night.
AARON Eighty, you said? I'm eighty-three, brother. We're old men to be standing before kings.
DALE Don't you worry about that. That's why you've got me. I'm the young blood on this team.
PHIL You're not young, Dale.
DALE Next to them I'm practically a baby. I've got the lungs, Phil. If anybody needs shouting at, it's me.
Scene: throne room.
PHARAOH You speak for a god. Then perform a miracle.
MOSES Aaron. Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh.
Sound: staff thud.
Sound: snake hiss.
Sound: crowd gasp.
DALE That one's ours. I'm with that one.
PHARAOH Call the wise men. Call the sorcerers.
THE MAGICIAN Rods. All together, on my word. Now.
Sound: staff thud.
Sound: snake hiss.
DALE That's not fair. They brought extras.
Sound: serpent swallow.
Sound: crowd gasp.
(A pause.)
THE MAGICIAN (nervous) My rod.
A MAN Mine. All of them.
DALE I'm sorry, but I've got to give it to Aaron. Theirs had more snakes, but his ate theirs. You have to reward the eating.
PHIL Dale, it isn't a contest.
DALE Then why'd the king bring a team?
PHARAOH Enough. Nothing has changed. Your people stay where they are. Take them out.
Scene: palace corridor.
DALE Sir. Dale Tummins, spokesman's spokesman. If you ever need anything said twice, I'm your man.
THE MAGICIAN I need a rod.
DALE I'll ask around.
Scene: river nile.
Sound: footsteps sand.
A MAN Make way. Make way for the king.
MOSES Pharaoh.
PHARAOH You again. At my river, before I've even bathed.
MOSES The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. Until now you haven't listened.
MOSES The Lord says, In this you shall know that I am the Lord. I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
MOSES The fish that are in the river will die, and the river will become foul. The Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the river.
PHARAOH Then strike it.
DALE Hold on. Before anybody hits anything. Just let me get my feet in. They've been through a lot.
Sound: water splash.
PHIL Dale.
MOSES Aaron.
Sound: water splash.
(A pause.)
Sound: river turn.
Sound: fish thrash.
Sound: crowd gasp.
DALE (scared) Phil. I'm going to get out now.
A WOMAN (shouting) The jars! The water in the house jars too!
A MAN Don't drink it. Nobody drink it.
Music: sting danger.
PHARAOH Magicians.
THE MAGICIAN A bowl. Clean water, from the palace well. Quickly.
Sound: splash small.
(A pause.)
THE MAGICIAN Great king. Ours turns too.
PHARAOH Then it's a trick my own servants can do. Bring my chair inside.
Sound: door slam.
Scene: egypt street.
Sound: digging.
A MAN Deeper. It's still red.
A WOMAN This hole. This one's running clear.
AN OLD MAN Fill the jar. Not that one. That one's been in the river.
A CHILD I'm thirsty.
A WOMAN I know, little one. Hold the cup steady.
Scene: hebrew house night.
Sound: pencil scratch.
PHIL Day seven. The river is blood. The fish died first. Then the smell. The Egyptians dig along the banks and drink from the holes. Nothing I know of does this to a whole river in one morning.
DALE Put down that I was barefoot for all of it.
PHIL I'm not putting that down.
DALE Historians will want to know.
DALE We should dig a hole of our own, Phil, and sell the water.
PHIL We should dig a hole and give the water away.
DALE That's the same plan with less in it.
Scene: palace corridor.
DALE Sir. You work for him, right? You've got the face.
THE OFFICIAL I serve Pharaoh. Who let you in?
DALE Nobody. That's how good I am. What's your name?
THE OFFICIAL I'd rather you didn't know it.
DALE Dale Tummins. Spokesman's spokesman.
THE OFFICIAL Whose spokesman?
DALE Don't worry about that. Hear me out. Half the people. Alternating weeks.
THE OFFICIAL Half.
DALE Half go and worship, half stay and make bricks. Then they swap. Everybody gets a turn. Your river comes back.
THE OFFICIAL Do you know what my house smells like?
DALE I've been barefoot on that bank all week. I've got a pretty good idea.
THE OFFICIAL He won't take half. He won't take anything.
DALE Because nobody's put it to him nicely. That's what I'm for.
DALE Is that water? Clean water?
THE OFFICIAL I dug for this with my own hands.
DALE I'll take a sip, as a gesture of good faith.
(A pause.)
THE OFFICIAL (sighing) One sip.
(A pause.)
THE OFFICIAL That was not a sip.
DALE Pleasure doing business with you.
Scene: kitchen busy.
Sound: frog plop.
A WOMAN (shouting) In the dough! Get it out of the dough!
A MAN There's two in the oven. Who put frogs in the oven?
Sound: frogs swarm.
AN OLD MAN Never mind the oven. They're in the master's bed.
A WOMAN Then who's going to tell him?
Scene: throne room.
Sound: toad croak.
THE MAGICIAN Great king, we have done the same. With our enchantments we too brought frogs up on the land.
PHIL They made more. Why would you make more?
DALE To show they can. You don't let the other side think they're the only ones with frogs.
Sound: toad croak.
PHARAOH Moses. Aaron. Entreat the Lord, that he take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.
MOSES I give you the honor of setting the time that I should pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, and remain in the river only.
(A pause.)
Sound: toad croak.
PHARAOH Tomorrow.
DALE (whispering) Tomorrow. He's good, Phil. He made them wait.
PHIL He's sleeping with frogs tonight, Dale.
DALE That's what makes it leverage. Leverage isn't supposed to be comfortable.
MOSES Let it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. The frogs shall depart from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.
Scene: egypt street.
Sound: digging.
A MAN Another load. Pile them against the wall with the rest.
A WOMAN Shut the shutters. I can't breathe for the smell.
Sound: mud squelch.
DALE Oh, no. Oh, no, Phil. Barefoot. That's a whole different relationship with a frog.
PHIL Stand on the clean stones. Here.
DALE I don't want to be the kind of man who stands on a frog, Phil. I just keep ending up there.
Scene: palace corridor.
DALE So when do we leave? I've already packed Gloria.
THE OFFICIAL He saw the frogs were dead, and he slept well, and this morning he remembers nothing.
DALE Then I've got two new ones for him. First one. They worship here, in the land. In your own backyard. You could watch.
THE OFFICIAL And the second.
DALE They go out in the wilderness, but not far. Just far enough that you can still see them from the roof.
THE OFFICIAL I'll mention it.
DALE Mention the title.
Scene: egypt street.
Sound: staff thud.
Sound: gnats swarm.
Sound: sneeze.
PHIL I'm allergic to gnats.
DALE Since when?
PHIL Since about now.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Get them off Gloria first. She's very private.
DALE I've had worse than gnats, Phil. I just can't think when.
Scene: throne room.
THE MAGICIAN Again. Rods together. Strike the dust.
Sound: staff thud.
(A pause.)
A MAN Nothing, master. It's only dust.
THE MAGICIAN Great king. This is God's finger.
PHARAOH Get out. All of you.
Scene: river nile.
MOSES This is what the Lord says. Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if you will not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, and on your servants, and on your people, and into your houses.
MOSES I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, to the end you may know that I am the Lord on the earth. I will put a division between my people and your people.
PHARAOH Is there no end to you? Get out of my sight.
Sound: fly buzz.
Scene: goshen morning.
Sound: pencil scratch.
PHIL Flies in Egypt. So thick you can't open your mouth in the street. Here in Goshen, not one. The goats are asleep in the sun. A fly doesn't stop at a line on the ground. Somebody drew this line. This isn't biology.
DALE Can we just stay here, then? I like it here.
PHIL It isn't ours to stay, Dale.
Scene: throne room.
Sound: flies swarm.
PHARAOH (angry) Go, sacrifice to your God in the land!
DALE (whispering) That's mine. That's my first one.
MOSES It isn't appropriate to do so. We shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, won't they stone us?
MOSES We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us.
PHARAOH I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me.
DALE And there's my second one.
MOSES I am going out from you. I will pray to the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only don't let Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go.
Scene: palace corridor.
(A pause.)
THE OFFICIAL Not one fly left in the palace. Not one. And he's said no again.
DALE He used two of my pitches and he didn't pay me for either one.
THE OFFICIAL That's your complaint? Of everything, that's your complaint?
DALE I'm not asking to be paid. I'm asking to be credited.
THE OFFICIAL What does a spokesman's spokesman actually do?
DALE This. Mostly this.
THE OFFICIAL I'll mention it.
DALE Next time I want it in writing.
Music: sting comic.
Scene: goshen morning.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Open up, Gloria. Say ah. Phil, she won't say ah.
PHIL She's a sheep, Dale.
DALE Moses said tomorrow, and this is tomorrow. I want her looked at.
PHIL He said nothing would die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.
DALE She doesn't belong to the children of Israel. She belongs to Jethro. She's from Midian, Phil. She's only visiting.
PHIL (gentle) I've had my hand on her side for an hour. It's a good, slow heart.
DALE Then I'm sitting with her. Anything that comes for her has to go through me. Or around me. Plenty of room around me, so I'll keep my elbows out.
Sound: cattle low.
(A pause.)
DALE Phil. Why'd it stop?
PHIL Stay with her.
(A pause.)
Sound: goat bleat.
A MAN Every goat on this side is on its feet. Every one.
A WOMAN Ours too. Not one down.
DALE Gloria too. I'd like that noted. Phil, I think that was for me. Somebody knows about Gloria.
PHIL It was every animal in Goshen, Dale.
DALE Well, she was in Goshen. I put her there. You don't get a favor like that without knowing somebody.
Scene: throne room.
PHARAOH Well?
THE OFFICIAL I sent riders into Goshen, my king. They counted twice. There is not so much as one of the livestock of the Israelites dead.
(A pause.)
THE OFFICIAL Our herdsmen along the river are asking what they should do.
PHARAOH Tell them to dig. The Hebrews stay.
Sound: ash throw.
(A pause.)
Sound: crowd gasp.
THE MAGICIAN (crying) My king, forgive me. I can't stand before him. I can't stand at all.
Sound: thud.
PHARAOH Then sit, all of you, and be quiet. My answer is the same.
Scene: palace corridor.
THE OFFICIAL (sighing) Not now.
DALE Hear me out. Last time I came in too clever. Half the people, I'll admit that was cute.
THE OFFICIAL I can't sit. I can't lean on anything. I've been standing since yesterday.
DALE Then you've got time to listen. They all go. Every one. And I stay behind as collateral.
THE OFFICIAL You.
DALE Me. They'll come back for me. Moses has known me forty years.
THE OFFICIAL Has he ever come back for you?
DALE Never had to. I don't let him out of my sight.
THE OFFICIAL I'll mention it.
DALE Mention my title.
THE OFFICIAL Which one?
DALE Spokesman's spokesman.
THE OFFICIAL I'll mention you.
Scene: throne room.
MOSES This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says. Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues against your heart, against your officials, and against your people, that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
MOSES Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded.
MOSES Now therefore command that all of your livestock and all that you have in the field be brought into shelter. The hail will come down on every man and animal that is found in the field, and isn't brought home, and they will die.
Sound: crowd murmur.
Scene: egypt street.
THE OFFICIAL (shouting) Bring them in. All of them, and the boys who herd them. The storerooms, if they'll fit.
A MAN Cattle in the storerooms. On the word of a shepherd.
THE OFFICIAL Name one thing he's said that didn't happen.
(A pause.)
A MAN Mine stay in the field. I won't have the whole street watch me drive cows through my front door under a clear sky.
THE OFFICIAL Then bring your servants in, at least.
A MAN They have work.
Scene: river bank morning.
THE LORD Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, and on animal, and on every herb of the field.
Sound: staff thud.
Sound: thunder crack.
Scene: desert road.
Sound: hail storm.
DALE (panicked) Under the cart! Phil, under the cart!
Sound: thud.
DALE Gloria first. Get her legs in. Push.
Sound: sheep bleat.
PHIL There's room for one more.
DALE Then it's me. You've got sandals. Your feet are covered. Mine are out here with no protection at all.
PHIL I understand.
Sound: thunder crack.
DALE Ow. Ow. My toes. It came all that way just for my toes.
Sound: fire run.
PHIL (shouting) Feet in, Dale! Pull them in!
DALE I can't. Gloria's lying sideways. She's taken the good part.
Sound: cattle low.
(A pause.)
PHIL Somebody left them out.
DALE Phil. Is it hailing in Goshen?
PHIL No. I don't think it is.
DALE We should be in Goshen.
PHIL We should. You wanted to deliver your offer in person.
DALE It was a good offer.
Scene: throne room.
Sound: thunder crack.
PHARAOH I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Pray to the Lord, for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.
MOSES As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord. The thunders shall cease, and there will not be any more hail, that you may know that the earth is the Lord's.
MOSES But as for you and your servants, I know that you don't yet fear the Lord God.
(A pause.)
THE OFFICIAL My king. It's stopped. Shall I send word to Goshen?
(A pause.)
PHARAOH No.
Scene: hebrew house night.
Sound: pencil scratch.
PHIL Hail, with fire running along the ground. The barley's flattened and the flax with it. The wheat wasn't up yet, so the wheat lived. And in Goshen, not one stone of ice. I keep writing that line. Not in Goshen.
DALE Write down my feet.
PHIL Where?
DALE Under damages.
Music: sting comic.
Scene: throne room.
MOSES This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says. How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.
MOSES Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the surface of the earth. They shall eat that which remains to you from the hail.
MOSES Your houses shall be filled, and the houses of all your servants, as neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen.
Sound: staff thud.
(A pause.)
THE OFFICIAL My king. How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord, their God.
THE OFFICIAL (scared) Don't you know yet that Egypt is destroyed?
Sound: crowd murmur.
PHARAOH Bring them back.
(A pause.)
PHARAOH Go, serve the Lord your God. But who are those who will go?
MOSES We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.
PHARAOH The Lord be with you if I let you go with your little ones! See, evil is clearly before your faces. Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord.
Sound: door slam.
Scene: palace corridor.
DALE You spoke up in there. I heard you through the door. You're on our side now.
THE OFFICIAL I'm on the side of Egypt still being here next month.
DALE Then take him this. The men go. The women go. The children go every seventh day.
THE OFFICIAL Every seventh day.
DALE Then they're back for the other six, making bricks. Everybody wins.
THE OFFICIAL You've just offered him less than he offered you.
DALE That's negotiating. You come in low.
THE OFFICIAL He came in lower. Go home, Tummins. Shut your windows.
Scene: egypt street.
THE LORD Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left.
Sound: east wind.
(A pause.)
Sound: locust swarm.
A WOMAN (shouting) The cloth! Get the cloth over the beans!
A MAN Leave it. They're through the cloth.
A CHILD Mama, why is it night again?
A WOMAN Inside. Inside, now.
Sound: door slam.
DALE Phil, are these the kind you can eat?
PHIL Some kinds are.
Sound: munch.
DALE Then I've solved it. Everybody eats the problem.
PHIL There are more of them than there are of us, Dale. A lot more.
DALE Not if I keep going.
Scene: throne room.
PHARAOH I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore please forgive my sin again, and pray to the Lord your God, that he may also take away from me this death.
Sound: wind gust.
(A pause.)
THE OFFICIAL My king. They're gone. The wind took them into the sea. Not one left.
PHARAOH Then nothing's changed.
Scene: river bank morning.
THE LORD Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
(A pause.)
Scene: darkness silence.
Sound: wall feel.
DALE Phil?
PHIL Here. Left of you. Keep your hand on the wall.
DALE Is this your hand?
PHIL That's a door.
DALE Then whose hand is on the door?
AN OLD MAN (scared) Who's there? Who's walking?
DALE Spokesman's spokesman. Sir, while you're down there, is there a sandal anywhere near you? Left foot.
AN OLD MAN I haven't stood up in three days. Nobody on this street has. I can hear my wife breathing across the room, and I can't get to her.
(A pause.)
PHIL (gentle) We're going to Goshen, sir. Take my arm, if you can find it.
AN OLD MAN I can't let go of this doorpost. I've tried.
(A pause.)
DALE We'll come back for you.
Sound: wall feel.
DALE The wall's stopped, Phil. There's no more wall.
PHIL Hold my belt.
Scene: goshen morning.
A CHILD (laughing) Again! Throw it again!
DALE Ow. Too bright. Phil, turn it down.
PHIL It's just light, Dale. Ordinary light.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Gloria! Somebody's been feeding you Goshen barley. You never had it so good.
Sound: pencil scratch.
PHIL Third day. In Egypt, a dark you can feel on your skin, like wet wool, and nobody moves. In Goshen the lamps are lit and the children are playing. The line runs straight down a street. I stood on it, one foot in each. There's no biology for that. I've checked.
Scene: throne room.
PHARAOH Go, serve the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds stay behind. Let your little ones also go with you.
MOSES You must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings. Our livestock also shall go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind, for we don't know with what we must serve the Lord, until we come there.
DALE (whispering) Not a hoof. Phil, that's Gloria. He put Gloria in.
PHARAOH (angry) Get away from me! Be careful to see my face no more, for in the day you see my face you shall die!
(A pause.)
MOSES You have spoken well. I will see your face again no more.
MOSES This is what the Lord says. About midnight I will go out into the middle of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of livestock.
MOSES There will be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been, nor will be any more. But against any of the children of Israel a dog won't even bark or move its tongue, against man or animal, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.
MOSES (angry) All these servants of yours will come down to me, and bow down themselves to me, saying, Get out, with all the people who follow you. And after that I will go out.
Sound: staff thud.
Sound: stone steps away.
(A pause.)
Music: sting solemn.
Scene: goshen dusk.
Sound: crowd murmur.
A WOMAN Let the elders through. Let them get close.
AN OLD MAN Is that him? I can't see over you.
DALE Spokesman's spokesman. If anybody in the back needs anything repeated, louder.
AN ELDER Hush. Let him speak.
MOSES Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover.
MOSES You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
MOSES For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.
MOSES You shall eat the meat that night, roasted with fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning.
DALE (whispering) Nothing left over. Phil, I was made for this.
PHIL (whispering) Listen.
MOSES This is how you shall eat it. With your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.
DALE (whispering) Phil. Sandals.
PHIL (whispering) I know.
DALE (whispering) On your feet, he said. Not in your hand. Not up on a mountain with a goat.
PHIL (whispering) I've got spares.
MOSES You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. And when your children ask you, What do you mean by this service? you shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover.
(A pause.)
AN ELDER Go home. Do as he said.
Scene: goshen dusk.
Sound: sheep bleat.
MIRIAM Moses eats with us tonight. He's bringing his two from Midian.
AARON Both of them?
MIRIAM And their sheep.
AARON Is that the one who calls himself my spokesman?
MIRIAM Your spokesman's. He says it's different.
AARON Put a basin by the door. Put the hyssop where he can't reach it.
Scene: hebrew house night.
Sound: sheep bleat.
MIRIAM The sheep stays in the yard.
DALE Then I'm staying in the yard. She's slept in every house I've ever had.
AARON Nobody stays in the yard tonight.
PHIL (gentle) Dale. Come here a minute.
PHIL The lamb was chosen four days ago. A male, a year old, no blemish. Gloria's a ewe. She's six, and she's got the bad knee.
DALE So she's no good to anybody.
PHIL So she's safe.
(A pause.)
DALE Can she come in, though?
AARON Bring her in. Before the door is shut.
Sound: sheep bleat.
AARON The hyssop. Who has a steady hand?
DALE Me. I painted a fence once. People still bring it up.
PHIL I'll do it.
DALE Long strokes, Phil. Long strokes is the whole secret.
PHIL The lintel, and the two doorposts. That's all he said.
Sound: hyssop brush.
(A pause.)
Sound: hyssop brush.
(A pause.)
Sound: hyssop brush.
DALE Not bad. I'd have gone longer.
PHIL Here. My spares.
DALE Phil, these are a child's sandals.
PHIL They shrank in the hail.
DALE My heels are on the floor.
PHIL Your toes are in. That counts as on your feet.
DALE Belt, I've got. Sandals, nearly. Can a stick from the yard be a staff?
AARON Any stick. Stand and eat. All of you.
Sound: bread break.
DALE This bread never rose.
MIRIAM There wasn't time. There won't be time.
DALE Then I'll take two, for the road.
MIRIAM And the herbs. With every bite.
Sound: munch.
DALE Somebody picked these wrong. They're bitter.
PHIL They're meant to be. So we remember the bricks.
DALE I remember the bricks. I did the bricks barefoot. Nobody gave me an herb for it.
MIRIAM Eat it anyway.
A CHILD Father. What do you mean by this service?
(A pause.)
AARON It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. Tonight he passes through Egypt. When he sees the blood on our door, he will pass over this house, and spare it.
A CHILD And the sheep?
AARON The sheep too. Eat now.
(A pause.)
AARON Shut the door.
Sound: bolt slide.
Music: passover.
(A pause.)
DALE (whispering) Phil. I'm keeping your sandals on all night. Even lying down. I want to be ready when he says.
PHIL (whispering) Keep them.
(A pause.)
Scene: hebrew house night.
(A pause.)
A CHILD (whispering) Is it morning?
MIRIAM (whispering) Not yet. Sleep.
(A pause.)
Sound: distant wailing.
(A pause.)
A CHILD (whispering) Father?
AARON Stay by me. Nobody opens the door.
(A pause.)
PHIL (whispering) Dale.
DALE (whispering) I'm here.
(A pause.)
Scene: palace corridor.
THE OFFICIAL My king. The city. There isn't a house. Not one.
PHARAOH Where is Moses?
THE OFFICIAL In Goshen, my king. In his brother's house. He said he would see your face no more.
PHARAOH Then he won't see it. Go to him. Say this to him.
PHARAOH Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. Go, serve the Lord, as you have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone.
(A pause.)
PHARAOH And bless me also.
THE OFFICIAL My king.
PHARAOH (shouting) Go!
Scene: hebrew house night.
Sound: door knock.
AARON Nobody opens. Not until morning.
THE OFFICIAL (muffled) Moses. I come from Pharaoh. You don't have to open. Only hear me.
MOSES We hear you.
THE OFFICIAL (muffled) He says go. You and all the children of Israel. The flocks, the herds, everything you asked for. Go and serve your God.
(A pause.)
THE OFFICIAL (muffled) And he asks you to bless him.
(A pause.)
MOSES At first light.
(A pause.)
Scene: goshen dusk.
Sound: door creak.
DALE You waited all night?
THE OFFICIAL Where would I go?
Sound: gold jingle.
THE OFFICIAL Take these. Silver. Gold. A cloak. Sandals, good ones. Whatever you want, ask for it. Only go before the sun is up.
PHIL We didn't ask.
THE OFFICIAL Then ask. Please. We are all dead men.
(A pause.)
THE OFFICIAL No offer this morning?
DALE No.
(A pause.)
DALE You could come with us. There's room. I'd vouch for you.
THE OFFICIAL Go, Dale.
Sound: footsteps away.
A WOMAN Take the earrings. Take them, and go.
A MAN My cloak too. Go, before it's light.
(A pause.)
PHIL (gentle) Put them on.
DALE Not yet.
Scene: exodus march.
A MAN Bind the dough in your cloak! It hasn't risen!
A WOMAN Then it can rise on the road!
Sound: cart creak.
AN OLD MAN Rameses to Succoth! Keep the children in the middle!
Sound: cattle low.
A WOMAN Four hundred and thirty years we were in that place.
AN OLD MAN To the day. My grandfather's grandfather made bricks for them. Tell your children about this night.
A WOMAN I will. Every year.
DALE Phil, I don't know half these people. Who invited the ones with the camels?
AN ELDER Make room! The mixed multitude goes up with us. Anybody who'll come, comes.
DALE Mixed multitude. Phil. That's me.
PHIL You're from Midian.
DALE I'm from Midian, I've got an Egyptian cloak, a borrowed sheep, and a stick that's a staff. If that's not mixed, I don't know what is.
DALE Mixed Multitude Tummins. Spokesman's spokesman was getting long anyway.
PHIL I understand.
DALE Mixed multitude. You?
A MAN Mixed multitude.
DALE Small world.
DALE Phil, what'd they give you?
PHIL A blanket. And some honey.
DALE I got calfskin sandals and a ring with a bird on it. I'm not saying I'm better liked.
PHIL You're saying it a little. And you're barefoot again.
DALE These are calfskin, Phil. Egyptian. I'm not wearing calfskin in a crowd with cattle in it.
Sound: sheep bleat.
MOSES Dale. Carry this. Don't set it down.
DALE Finally. Somebody trusts me with the luggage. Who packed this? It weighs nothing.
PHIL (gentle) Dale. It's Joseph.
DALE Which one's Joseph?
PHIL Before any of this. Before the bricks. He's the one who brought his family down to Egypt in the famine, and fed everybody.
MOSES He made the children of Israel swear. God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away from here with you.
(A pause.)
DALE Oh.
(A pause.)
DALE I'll keep him level, Moses. All the way.
Scene: desert road.
MOSES Remember this day, in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place.
Sound: crowd murmur.
Sound: bread break.
MIRIAM Flat again. It never had the chance.
DALE I carried that dough in my cloak all day, Miriam. I was rooting for it.
MIRIAM It doesn't rise for rooting. Seven days without yeast. Eat.
DALE Seven days of this. Phil, I'll be flatter than the bread.
Sound: munch.
PHIL You can put him down to eat.
DALE He said don't set it down. He's on my cloak. A cloak's not the ground.
PHIL That's fair.
(A pause.)
DALE (whispering) Goodnight, Joseph. First night out.
Music: tender.
Scene: exodus march.
Sound: pillar fire.
A WOMAN Keep the children up near the light. Up near it.
A CHILD Does it ever go out?
A WOMAN Not yet. Walk.
DALE Phil, I'm not saying we stop. I'm saying it's the middle of the night, and normal people stop in the middle of the night.
PHIL It's still going. So we're still going.
DALE My feet don't know that.
PHIL Put the sandals on, Dale.
DALE Those are calfskin. I'm not walking calfskin over gravel. I heal. Sandals don't heal.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Gloria agrees with me.
PHIL Gloria's wearing four hooves.
AN ELDER (shouting) Etham! We camp at Etham, at the edge of the wilderness!
DALE The edge. Phil, we spent forty years in the middle of the wilderness. The edge is a step up. I'd like a spot near the fire.
PHIL It isn't that kind of fire.
Sound: pencil scratch.
PHIL Third day out of Egypt. By day a cloud goes ahead of us. By night, a fire. It doesn't drift with the wind. It doesn't burn down, and there's nothing feeding it. I've watched it three nights and I can't explain it. I've stopped needing to.
DALE Put down that I carried Joseph the whole way and didn't set him down once.
PHIL That's not science, Dale.
DALE That's history. Put it in.
Sound: footsteps sand.
A MAN Why this way? The coast road's shorter. We'd be there by now.
AARON God said, Lest the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.
DALE Somebody was thinking of me. I'd have seen one spear and gone straight back.
AN ELDER Aaron. Who's that, with the box of Joseph?
AARON That's Dale. He's Moses's... friend.
(A pause.)
DALE (whispering) Phil. Did you hear that?
PHIL I heard.
DALE Friend. Out loud. To an elder. I didn't even ask him.
PHIL You've been asking him for forty years.
DALE Not out loud. Not lately.
Scene: throne room.
A MAN My king. The people have fled. They aren't coming back from the wilderness.
PHARAOH What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
A MAN They took the gold with them, my king. The silver. Our cloaks.
PHARAOH We gave it to them.
THE OFFICIAL We begged them to take it.
THE MAGICIAN Who will make the bricks, my king?
A MAN They've turned back, my king. They're camped by the sea, at Pi Hahiroth.
PHARAOH They are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.
THE OFFICIAL My king. Let them go. Let them go this once, and stay gone.
PHARAOH Prepare my chariot. Six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, with captains over all of them.
THE OFFICIAL My king, I can't.
(A pause.)
PHARAOH Then stay.
Music: sting danger.
Scene: camp night.
Sound: chariots approach.
A MAN (shouting) Chariots! On the ridge! Pharaoh's chariots!
Sound: crowd gasp.
AN OLD MAN Lord, help us. Lord, help us.
A WOMAN (panicked) Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?
A MAN Why have you treated us this way, to bring us out of Egypt?
AN OLD MAN Didn't we tell you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.
DALE Moses. Moses, hear me out. We go back. We say it was a misunderstanding. We give back the gold, we keep the sandals, and everybody's home by supper.
PHIL Dale.
DALE I'll do the talking. Somebody else stands in front.
DALE Phil, the cart. There's room under it for two and a sheep. It worked in the hail.
PHIL They have chariots, Dale.
DALE Then we get under something bigger.
Sound: crowd murmur.
MOSES Don't be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For you will never again see the Egyptians whom you have seen today.
(A pause.)
MOSES The Lord will fight for you, and you shall be still.
(A pause.)
Sound: wind gust.
Sound: east wind.
Scene: sea shore.
Sound: wave crash.
DALE Phil. How far across is it, would you say? I'm a strong floater.
PHIL Too far.
DALE Gloria could do it. Sheep float.
PHIL Wool soaks, Dale. She'd go down like a sack.
DALE Then I'll carry her. And Joseph. And you, if you get tired.
PHIL Hush, Dale. Moses wants quiet.
DALE Then he should go and test it. Quietly.
Sound: wave crash.
(A pause.)
THE LORD Why do you cry to me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward.
THE LORD Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. Then the children of Israel shall go into the middle of the sea on dry ground.
Sound: pillar fire.
A CHILD Mother, the light's going the wrong way. It's going behind us.
A WOMAN Hush. Let it go where it goes.
AN OLD MAN Good. Let it stand between us and them all night.
Scene: darkness silence.
A MAN Captain. I can't see their fires. I can't see my own hand.
THE TASKMASTER Then wait. They have the sea in front of them. They aren't going anywhere.
A MAN The wind's changed. Do you hear it?
THE TASKMASTER Wait for the morning.
Scene: sea shore.
(A pause.)
Sound: staff thud.
Sound: east wind.
AARON All night, if it takes all night. Keep your cloaks on. Keep the animals close.
DALE Phil, I've been in wind my whole life. Not this. Nobody's ever moved a whole sea for me before.
PHIL Hold on to me.
Sound: east wind.
(A pause.)
Sound: sea parting.
Music: sea miracle.
Sound: crowd gasp.
MOSES Go forward.
AARON Up. Everyone up. Bring the children. Bring the flocks.
A WOMAN Take my hand. Don't let go of my hand.
Scene: sea walls.
Sound: footsteps sand.
AN ELDER Keep moving. Children in the middle. Nobody stops.
PHIL Dale. Feel the ground. It should be mud. It's been under the sea since the world began, and it's firm.
DALE Let Moses go first, Phil. That's not fear. That's respect.
PHIL He went first an hour ago.
A WOMAN Don't touch the wall. Don't touch it.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Come on, Gloria. It's just a sea with the water out. You've been in worse. You've been in Egypt.
PHIL Mind your feet. There's starfish all along here.
DALE I'm barefoot, Phil. They should be minding me.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Phil. Hold Joseph a second. I want that one.
PHIL Dale. Keep walking.
DALE One grab. Dinner for both of us. He's right at the edge, looking at me like he wants to come.
PHIL Walk.
DALE Fine. But when we're hungry out there, remember I had a fish by the face and you said walk.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Gloria's on your side. You two always gang up.
(A pause.)
DALE Dry. Bone dry. I could've worn my good sandals.
PHIL You still can.
DALE Not in here. Not with the sea standing around watching.
DALE Nearly there, Joseph. Stay level.
Sound: chariots approach.
A MAN (shouting) They're coming in after us!
AN ELDER Walk. Don't run. Walk.
DALE (scared) I'm walking fast, Phil. Fast walking is still walking.
Scene: sea walls.
Sound: chariots approach.
A MAN Into the sea, captain? After them?
THE TASKMASTER (shouting) It's dry, isn't it? Drive! Drive them!
Sound: pillar fire.
A MAN Captain, the fire. The fire's turned on us.
Sound: chariot crash.
A MAN The wheels. The wheels are coming off.
THE TASKMASTER Drive, I said!
Sound: chariot crash.
A MAN (panicked) Let's flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians!
Scene: sea shore.
Sound: footsteps sand.
PHIL Up the bank. Give me your hand.
DALE Is everybody out? Count them, Phil. You're good at counting.
PHIL I can't count this many. Nobody can.
THE LORD Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.
Sound: wave crash.
(A pause.)
Sound: wave crash.
(A pause.)
A CHILD (whispering) Is it over?
A WOMAN (whispering) It's morning. It's over.
AN OLD MAN He said we would never see them again.
MIRIAM The Lord saved us.
AN ELDER The Lord did this. We believe the Lord, and his servant Moses.
(A pause.)
DALE I hope he stayed home, Phil. The one with the sandals.
PHIL I think he did. I hope he did.
AARON Dale. You can give him to me now. You can set him down.
DALE Not yet. He's not where he's going.
Sound: pencil scratch.
PHIL Fourth day out of Egypt. We walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground. All of us. Gloria too. I don't have a word for it in any book I know. I'm writing it down anyway.
Sound: sheep bleat.
DALE Put down she didn't complain once. Not once, the whole sea.
PHIL I'll put it down.
MIRIAM Women. Where are your timbrels? Every one of you. Bring them.
Sound: timbrel.
MIRIAM Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously!
Sound: timbrel.
Sound: footsteps sand.
DALE Phil. They fit.
Music: end credits exodus.