Theatre

1. ACTING OUT DEMOCRATIC VALUES IN A UNITED EUROPE: FORMING RESILIENT CITIZENS
Fifth meeting – March 11 to 17 – 2018 – Albufeira, Portugal
Agrupamento de Escolas de Albufeira Poente
Theatre presentation – class 9B (teacher Luís Miranda)
13th
march 2018 – 14h30
Tales of the lusophony –
a linguistic friendship
INTRODUCTION
Portuguese is the language that the Portuguese, the Brazilian, many Africans and some Asians learn in
the cradle, recognize as a national heritage and use as an instrument of communication, both within their
community and in the relationship with other Portuguese speaking communities.
This language does not have a continuous territory, but numerous separated territories, in several
continents, and is not exclusive of a community, but is felt like its own, equally, in distanced
communities. It is the seventh native language of the world, and its range is huge, spanning four
continents - Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.
This means that Portuguese was and continues to be felt as a single language as long as the peoples of
the various Portuguese speaking countries feel the need for ties that unite them. Language is perhaps the
most powerful of these ties, and it is through it that the friendship between them is demonstrated many
times.
A language of culture like ours carries a long history, which serves as raw material and is the product of
various literatures. A language like this lives in history, society and the world. And it lives equally in the
oral and written traditions, which inspired us for our "Legends of Lusophony - a linguistic friendship”...
THE LEGEND OF THE ALMOND BLOSSOM (PORTUGAL)
A long time ago, before the independence of Portugal, when the Algarve belonged to the Moors, there
was a Moorish king who had married a girl from northern Europe, called Gilda. This being was lovely,
whom they called the "Northern Beauty," and so it is no wonder that the king, with a coppery
complexion, so brave and bold in war, wanted her to be his queen.
Despite the festivities that took place at that time, a sadness seized Gilda. Not even the richest gifts given
by her the husband made a smile emerge on those lips now discolored: the "Northern Beauty" was longing
for her land. The king was finally able one day to have Gilda, in tears and sobs, tell him that the reason
for all her sadness was due to not seeing the fields covered with snow, as in her land.
The great fear of losing his beloved wife then suggested to the king a good idea. He gave orders to have
almond plantations all over the Algarve, and by early spring they were all covered with flowers.
The good king, anticipating the joy that Gilda would feel, said to her:
- Gilda, please come with me to the balcony of the highest tower of the castle and you will see a charming
sight!
As soon as she reached the top of the tower, the queen clapped her hands and cried of joy as she saw all
the lands covered by a white robe, which she thought were snow.
- See, - said the king, smiling, - how Allah is kind to you. Your wishes are fulfilled!

2. The queen was so pleased that soon she was completely healed and stopped longing for her homeland.
The sadness that was killing her slowly disappeared, and Gilda felt joyful and pleased with the king who
adored her. And each year in early spring she could see from the top of the tower the almond trees
covered with beautiful white flowers that reminded her of the snow-covered fields, as in her land.
THE LION AND THE JACKAL (ANGOLA)
One day Onhossi, the great lion king, was sitting under an enormous baobab tree, when someone came
and told him that the jackal wanted to talk to him. Once in his presence, the jackal said:
- You are the king of all the animals. Have mercy on me and do me a favour. Please lend me your male
goat so that my female goat can start to breed.
- Ok, you may take my goat – said the lion. – And as a payment, you’ll give me one of the baby goats
when they are born.
- It’s a deal.
The jackal thanked the lion and went to the farm to get the king’s goat. He took it to his female goat and a
few weeks later, two little kids were born: a male and a female. The jackal was an animal of honour and
went to see the lion.
- Here’s your goat back and I’m also making my payment. I brought the little female goat that was born.
- But this is an insult! – Cried the angry lion. – So you want to give me the female? To me, the king of all
animals? If you didn’t have my male goat, you wouldn’t have those kids, would you? My goat is what
made the kids. So they are mine.
- Don’t be mad. I’ll explain the reason for my decision: if I keep the male, my old goat will be able to keep
having babies.
- Not a chance – said the lion, angrier than ever.
And he called the guards, ordering them to put the evil jackal in jail.
- No – said the jackal. – You can’t send me to jail without a trial. Let’s call all the animals of the forest and
let them say if what you are doing is right or wrong.
The king agreed and called for all the animals. The jackal was somewhat relieved for not dying right
away, but he felt he was in a desperate situation. He decided he would ask the turtle for help, since he was
believed to be a great philosopher. He took a long time to find him but finally saw him by the river. After
telling him what had happened, the turtle said:
- Ok. I will defend you. But don’t let the trial start before I arrive.
The animals started to gather. At one given moment, the lion said that the trial would begin.
- It can’t star yet, - said the jackal. – The animals are not all here. The turtle is missing. And you asked for
all the animals to be present.
They waited, and waited until finally they saw the turtle coming from afar. When he arrived, he said:
- I’m late because my father gave birth.
The animals were all amazed at this phrase. But only the hyena commented:
- What? That’s impossible! Who knows of a male giving birth?
- We don’t. – Promptly answered all the animals. – Only females give birth.
- Is that so? – Calmly said the tortoise. – But one of you has been saying that his male goat had kids.
Given the logic of the words of the turtle, all the animals in the forest realized that Onhossi was not right
and gave the two kids to the jackal.
THE BLUE JAY (BRAZIL)
It was dawn. The sky was already red. The Sun would come up briefly. The jay was still well
accommodated in one of the small pine branches where she spent the night. She enjoyed that moment.
The night was already over, but the day hadn’t started yet. Peace was still very much present in the forest.
Suddenly, her rest was disturbed by a dry, deep sound:
- What’s this? – asked the jay.
And again that awful sound. But this time, the entire pine tree vibrated. The jay got scared. And she saw
that a lumberjack was cutting down the pine tree.

3. ACTING OUT DEMOCRATIC VALUES IN A UNITED EUROPE: FORMING RESILIENT CITIZENS
Fifth meeting – March 11 to 17 – 2018 – Albufeira, Portugal
Agrupamento de Escolas de Albufeira Poente
In a moment of despair, the jay flew away well beyond the clouds. There she wouldn’t hear the quivers of
his friend the pine tree. But suddenly she heard a voice telling him:
- It’s a good thing when birds get angry when others are in pain.
She got even more scared. She flew even further away and kept flying. But even there, in the middle of the
sky, she heard that voice again telling him:
- Come back, little kind bird. Go back to the forest. I’ll dress you in blue, the colour of the sky. From now
on, you will help the forest.
- How? – asked the jay.
- Like when you eat the pine nuts you like so much, you’ll drop some on the ground. There, where they
fall, new pines will be born. And so there will always be pines.
The now blue jay was so happy she started singing, so happily it sounded like a group of children laughing
and playing.
GRANDPA CROCODILE (EAST-TIMOR)
Once upon a time there was a crocodile living in Timor. One day it started to get very hot and the
crocodile thought he was going to die because he could not find his way to the river. A little boy, who was
bathing in a nearby river, heard moans and decided to go and see who was suffering so much. He saw the
crocodile almost dying and felt sorry for him. He took him and led him into the river.
- A few more minutes, and I would have died, - said the crocodile. - I'm forever grateful. To prove my
gratitude, I want to make a pledge of friendship with you. We will be friends forever. Whenever you feel
like going to the high sea, you just have to call me and I'll take you there.
From that day on, the little boy would often go to the river and play with the crocodile, which led him to
discover new places of the sea. One day, however, during one of the walks, the crocodile had an
overwhelming desire to eat the little boy. He repressed this desire, but after leaving the little boy ashore, he
returned to the sea and asked the little fish:
- A little boy saved my life. Can I eat him or not?
The fish almost jumped up onto the crocodile:
- Not at all! We should never harm those who do us good!
The crocodile was not satisfied with the answer and asked a whale:
- A little boy saved my life. Can I eat him or not?
The whale responded immediately:
- Not at all! We should never harm those who do us good!
- The fish don’t know what to do or not! I will but advise myself with the animals of the forest! - Thought
the crocodile.
At that moment a monkey passed by, and the crocodile asked him:
- A little boy saved my life. Can I eat him or not?
- What? Do you want to eat who saved your life? Are you not ashamed?! Never, but never should we do
evil to those who do us good!
The crocodile was finally convinced. He never thought of eating the boy again and continued to take him
out on the high seas. One day, the crocodile took the little boy to the East. On the way, he felt he was
going to die soon and said to the boy:
- You know, I'm already old, and I'm going to die soon. I'm going to take you ashore. All crocodiles will
be submissive to you. Words were not spoken and the crocodile died.
In that place came an island with the shape of a crocodile. And that's why the inhabitants of this island
still call the crocodile "grandfather".

4. Final song: CONQUEROR, by Da Vinci
It was a new world, a poet’s dream
To go far away, singing new victories
And to raise flags proudly
To live warrior adventures
A thousand epic poems, life is so full
There were oceans of love
I’ve been to Brazil, Praia and Bissau
Angola, Mozambique, Goa and Macau
Oh, I’ve been to Timor
I’ve been a conqueror
A whole nation guided by the skies
Spread around the world, following
their heroes
And they brought the light of
culture
They made tender seeds grow
A thousand epic poems, life is
so full
There were oceans of love
I’ve been to Brazil, Praia and
Bissau
Angola, Mozambique, Goa
and Macau
Oh, I’ve been to Timor
I’ve been a conqueror
I’ve been to Brazil, Praia and
Bissau
Angola, Mozambique, Goa and Macau
Oh, I’ve been to Timor
I’ve been a conqueror Days after days,
months and years on the sea
Following a trail of stars to conquer
I’ve been to Brazil, Praia and Bissau
Angola, Mozambique, Goa and Macau
Oh, I’ve been to Timor
I’ve been a conqueror
I’ve been to Brazil, Praia and Bissau
Angola, Mozambique, Goa and Macau
Oh, I’ve been to Timor
I’ve been a conqueror (2x)
I’ve been a conqueror (3x)
___________________________________________________________
Musical presentation – classes 7D-8B-8C (teacher Daniel Mendes)
13th
march 2018 –15h30
SONGS
GROUP 1
Menina estás à janela Portuguese traditional song, from the Alentejo region
Ó rama, ó que linda rama Portuguese folk song from the Alentejo region
Amar pelos dois
(students’ choice)
Portuguese winning song of Eurovision 2017
GROUP 2
Stars Project song
Imagine
(students’ choice)
Song written and performed by English musician John
Lennon. Its lyrics encourage the listener to imagine a
world at peace without the barriers of borders or the
divisions of religion and nationality and to consider the
possibility that the whole of humanity would live
unattached to material possessions.