The Plum Tree on the Hill [Screenplay]

Scene 1: The Beginning

NARRATOR: The fox spirit first met the young boy on a chill, pre-spring day. The winter days had been cold, the harsh snows driving away most of the fox's sources of food, but today was a day of respite: the sun was shining down through the limbs in the forest trees and melting the snow. Tired, and driven hungry by the past months, the fox spirit laid down beneath a barren plum tree on a hill to rest before continuing on with her search for food, when, suddenly, a young boy approached her with a jar of pickled plums.

Frightened, the fox spirit immediately backed away from the boy. He was certainly one who could do harm to her, and she was much too tired to call upon any of her defenses. But the boy surprised her: instead of reaching out to hurt her, he instead extended his hand to offer her a small, pickled plum from his jar.

YOUNG BOY: Are you hungry?
[The boy bends down, smiling.]

NARRATOR: The fox spirit eyed the boy warily, not wanting to approach him. But the aroma from the plum in his hand proved to be too enticing, and she found herself slowly inching towards him to smell it.

YOUNG BOY: Do you want one? Here you go!

NARRATOR: The fox spirit hesitantly took the plum, and she ate it slowly, relishing in its taste. After she finished it, she looked back up to the boy. He was holding out another to her.

YOUNG BOY: You can have another one! Here!
[The boy holds out his hand to her again.]

NARRATOR: Having found the plums so delicious, she was unable to resist taking more and more from him until all were gone.

YOUNG BOY: Shh!
[The boy puts a finger to his lips.]
[The fox spirit looks up from the now empty jar to gaze at the boy.]
[The boy reaches out and takes the jar back.]

YOUNG BOY: Don't tell anyone that I gave you the plums! My mommy made them for me, but I don't like them.
[The boy stands up.]
YOUNG BOY: I have to go home now. But it was really nice to meet you!
[The boy waves, and then turns and runs away.]

NARRATOR: The fox spirit watched the boy depart, a strange feeling coursing through her. She had never before met a human so kind, and she wondered if she would ever see him again. Each new day brought her back to the plum tree, but the boy did not show, and she began to grow sad.

NARRATOR: But when spring bloomed, she would finally meet him again. Once more, she found the boy sitting beneath that same tree: a fresh jar of pickled plums at his side. As he had that pre-spring day, he would again offer her the plums; and she would again take them. This became a tradition between the two: every day, they would meet beneath the tree and share a jar of plums.

NARRATOR: It would be inevitable that she would fall in love with him as time passed; and this love formulated a resolve in her to find some way in which she could stay with him.