Submitted by
S. Daly

Age Group
4-11

Aim
To learn about Noah
To learn that we should do as we are told

Resources
A piece of bright blue material and a piece of orange-red material.

Other Details
The child playing the part of the kingfisher could be dressed in grey. The blue and red material is put on the child at the appropriate time in the story. The 'kingfisher' can act while moving around the edge of the hall, dressing up as he goes.

Script
1. Good morning everyone.
We have been learning about kingfishers. We discovered that there is a legend called "The Kingfisher and Noah's Ark."

2. A legend is a story which is not true. Legends are usually made up by people, to try to explain something. The legend of "The Kingfisher and Noah's Ark" was made up to explain why kingfishers are often seen staring at rivers and seas.
Here is a play about the kingfisher and Noah's Ark.

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3. A long time ago, when the world was very young, there was a man called Noah. He was a good man. He was wise and kind and honest. God was pleased with him.
BUT - God was not pleased with the other people in the world. They spent their time fighting and stealing. God said:

GOD: This is dreadful. I can't bear to watch these wicked people. They are spoiling my beautiful world.

4. God decided what to do. He said to Noah:

GOD: I am going to send a great flood. The water will wash away all the bad people. But you are good, so I am going to save you.
Here is what you have to do.
Build a very big boat. It has got to be big enough for your family - and for a male and female of every animal on Earth.

5. God told Noah how to build the ark. Noah did what God said. It took months to build the ark and to find all the animals.
At last, everything was ready. God said:

GOD: Well done, Noah. You have finished just in time. I will send the flood in seven days. It will rain for forty days and forty nights. Then the world will be clean again.

6. A week later, the sky turned black. A cold wind was blowing. The rain began to fall. Noah sighed. He did not know what was going to happen, but he trusted God.
The water rose higher and higher. The ark began to float. Soon nothing could be seen from the window but water.

7. One morning, after forty days, Noah woke up early. Everything was strangely quiet. Then he realised - it had stopped raining! He looked out of the window. The sky was clear and the water was calm, but it stretched as far as the eye could see. They would have to wait for the water to go down. God had not told them how long this part would take.

8. The ark drifted across the quiet sea. One day, it stopped moving. It had come to rest on top of a mountain. But there was still no dry land to see. Noah had an idea. He let one of the doves fly out of the window. He said:

NOAH: This dove can fly further than I can see. Maybe she will come back with a sign that there is dry land somewhere.

9. But that evening, the dove came back, tired and wet. She had found nothing. Noah said:

NOAH: I still trust God. I will try again soon.

10. A week later, Noah sent out the dove again. This time she came back with a green leaf in her beak. Noah said:

NOAH: Look, she must have found a tree. The water is going down.

11. A week later, he sent out the dove again. This time, the dove did not come back. She had found enough dry land to live on.
This is where the legend of the kingfisher begins.
At that time, the kingfisher was just an ordinary grey bird. Noah sent out the kingfisher, to make sure that there really was some dry land.
But the kingfisher was bored with being cooped up on the ark for such a long
time. The kingfisher thought to himself:

KINGFISHER: I'm not going to waste time looking for land. I'm going to stretch my wings. I haven't flown for such a long time.

12. The kingfisher flew high up into the sky. The sky dyed the kingfisher's back bright blue.
The sun burnt the kingfisher's chest an orange-red colour.
After a while, the kingfisher decided to go back to the ark. But - by this time, the flood had gone down, Noah and the animals had left the ark and the ark had been destroyed.

13. The kingfisher was upset. He had disobeyed Noah. He wanted to say sorry. He decided to try to find Noah and the ark. He sat on a branch by a river and stared at the water. He hoped that the ark would come floating along.

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14. This is how early people tried to explain why the colourful kingfisher stares at water.
Of course, nowadays, we know that the kingfisher is waiting for a fish to swim by, but it is still a lovely story.

15. The story of Noah's Ark is in the Bible. It was written about three thousand years ago. The kingfisher is not mentioned in the Bible story.

16. The Church now says that we do not have to believe everything in the story of Noah's Ark. The story of Noah's Ark is an exciting way of teaching us that God loves us and wants us to be good.
It also teaches us that if man is not good, he will be given a second chance.
If we are naughty and we are sorry, God will forgive us.

17. Dear Lord, we thank you for all the beautiful birds in the world, like robins and wrens, sparrows and blackbirds, swallows and kingfishers, kestrels and eagles.
The world you made is such a beautiful place. We will try to look after it.
Amen.

18. Our hymn is "All things bright and beautiful" By Cecil Alexander. (Celebration Hymnal for Everyone number 27)