'The Troupe of Ten' | Ep. 163 (2)
TROUPE LEADER: I am so nervous!
NARRATOR: But she was also tired.
TROUPE LEADER: But I'm also tired!
NARRATOR: So she settled down in the luxurious satin sheets…
TROUPE LEADER: (contented sigh as she settles down)
NARRATOR: …and joined her fellow actors in dreamland.
TROUPE LEADER: (ad-lib sleep/snore)
NARRATOR: A little while later, she was dreaming so deeply that she didn't hear her door creak open…
[SOT: creak]
NARRATOR: … and she didn't see the palace guard come tiptoeing into her room. The same palace guard who'd overheard her talking about the gold coins at the party!
Quick as a wink, the guard did exactly as the King and Queen instructed: he grabbed a bottle of ink from the desk in the corner, and made a mark on the troupe leader's left hand. Then he put the ink bottle back, crept out of the room, and softly closed the door.
[SOT: soft door close]
NARRATOR: Now… you may recall that the troupe leader was an early riser. So even though her mattress was softer than a bag of marshmallows, she woke before dawn. But when she opened her eyes…
TROUPE LEADER: What's this?!? ?
NARRATOR: …she spotted the ink mark on her left hand!
TROUPE LEADER: Where did this come from? I didn't spill ink on myself last night! That could only mean somebody came in here and… (GASP as she figures it out)
NARRATOR: The troupe leader's eyes fell on the ink bottle in the corner. Suddenly she understood exactly what the King and Queen were up to.
TROUPE LEADER: I understand exactly what the King and Queen are up to! (beat) And two can play at this game. In fact, everyone can!
NARRATOR: Without wasting a minute, the troupe leader grabbed the ink bottle, and made for the door – with a skip in her step and a scheme in her head.
Later that morning, the King and Queen summoned the actors to the throne room – supposedly to say a ‘proper goodbye,' but you know what the King and Queen really wanted, right?
To catch the thief! And make their big arrest!
So when the troupe leader came walking in, and the King and Queen saw her left hand, their eyes lit up!
KING: You have an ink mark on your left hand!
QUEEN: So you are guilty of stealing the gold coins!
NARRATOR: But then the second actor walked in.
KING: You have an ink mark on your left hand!
QUEEN: So you are guilty, too!
NARRATOR: Then the third actor walked in.
KING: You have an ink mark, too?! ?
NARRATOR: Then the fourth.
QUEEN: And you?!? ?
NARRATOR: Then the fifth.
KING: And you?! ?
NARRATOR: And so on and so on…
QUEEN: And you?!? And you?!? And YOU?! ?
NARRATOR: All the way down to… the tenth.
KING: And you…!? ?
QUEEN: So all of you are guilty?! ?
TROUPE LEADER: With all due respect, Your Majesties, we could ask you the same question!
NARRATOR: The King and Queen gave the troupe leader a blank stare.
TROUPE LEADER: Go ahead! Look at your hands! Tell me what you see!
NARRATOR: The royal couple glanced down at their hands. And can you guess what they saw?
Their left hands… were marked with ink!
TROUPE LEADER: And your guards! Looks like they're guilty too!
NARRATOR: The guards all stared at their hands. Indeed, their left hands were also marked with ink!
KING: But that's now how our plan was supposed to work!
QUEEN: What is going on here?
NARRATOR: Indeed! What was going on here?
Do you know the answer to the Queen's question?
Well, earlier that morning, while everyone else was still sleeping... the troupe leader went quickly and quietly from room to room, making ink marks on the hands of all her fellow actors... and the King and Queen... and their guards!
And now the King and Queen didn't know what was what.
KING: But this isn't right!
QUEEN: We're not the guilty ones!
TROUPE LEADER: Not guilty of stealing, perhaps. But guilty of trying to tarnish the good name of a humble troupe of actors! An honest bunch of performers who seek only to entertain people! To make them laugh and cry and think! (beat) And if you would have looked a little more carefully, you would have found your gold coins.
Check out the palace courtyard. Your pot of gold awaits.
NARRATOR: The guards hurried to the courtyard and indeed, hidden in one of the potted plants, they found the King and Queen's gold coins.
So the actors went free, and continued traveling the country, putting on performance after performance.
And everywhere they went, they always stole the show… and nothing else.