Pecos Bill Drama Worksheet
Arizona HMH Into Reading • Grade 3 Drama • pp. 298–301
The Saga of Pecos Bill by Anthony D. Fredericks
Name:
Date:
STAGING: The four narrators sit on stools or high chairs with scripts on music stands. Other characters stand or move around the staging area. CHARACTERS: Narrator 1, Narrator 2, Narrator 3, Narrator 4, Pa, Ma, Cowboy 1, Cowboy 2, Pecos Bill, Mountain Lion
Act I: From Grizzly Bear to Coyote Pack
Text Lines 2–25
2 NARRATOR 1: Now as you all know, Texas is a pretty big state. In fact, it's the biggest state of them all. And 'cause it's such a big state, it has big heroes. And the biggest of all the heroes was Pecos Bill, the King of the Cowboys.
4 NARRATOR 2: You see, Pecos Bill wasn't originally from Texas. No sir. He was from somewhere back east. From a family of 15 or 20 kids. In fact, there were so many kids in the family that the parents just didn't remember all the names of all the children.
5 NARRATOR 3: Well, as I heard it, Bill wanted a teddy bear—just like any other kid. But 'cause his family was so poor they couldn't afford a teddy bear just for Bill. So he decided to go out and get his own. So one day he crawled out of his crib and into the woods. There he found a genuine grizzly bear, which he wrapped up in his arms and took on home. Seems like Bill was going to be a little different from everyone else.
6 NARRATOR 4: Our saga begins when one day Bill's parents heard about some new land in the West. They heard that there was plenty of land . . . plenty of land for families with 15 or 20 children.
7 PA: Hey, Ma, I hear that there's plenty of land in the West for families with lots of children.
8 MA: You mean families like ours with so many children that we just can't remember their names?
9 PA: Yup!
10 MA: Well, why don't we just up and move out to that there West so we can build us a house big enough for all these children?
11 PA: Sounds like a grand idea!
12 NARRATOR 1: And so Pa and Ma packed all their children and all their animals in the back of their wagon and headed out for the West.
13 NARRATOR 2: However, as soon as the wagon went over the state line between Arkansas and Texas, it bounced Bill clean out of the wagon and alongside the road.
14 NARRATOR 3: Since there were so many children and animals in the wagon, nobody noticed that Bill wasn't in the wagon until about a week later. By then it was too late to go look for him, but Bill's parents figured that any baby who could wrestle a grizzly bear was certainly tough enough to survive in the wilds of Texas.
15 NARRATOR 4: As it happens, Bill got along fine. After falling out of the wagon, he crawled into a cave of coyotes and fell asleep. The mama coyote took a liking to Bill and began to raise him as her own. Bill soon learned all the ways of coyote life. He learned how to bay at the moon, how to hunt for rabbits, and how to wrestle with all the other coyotes in the den. Pretty soon, Bill was just a regular coyote.
16 NARRATOR 1: One day Bill was lapping up some water from the Pecos River along with the other coyotes. That's when a cowboy spotted him.
17 COWBOY 1: What in tarnation! You're just lapping up water like you was a regular coyote.
18 PECOS BILL: Well, that's what I am—a coyote. Anyways, ain't you never seen a real coyote afore?
19 COWBOY 1: 'Course I have. But you're not like any coyote I've ever seen. You look more like a human than you do a coyote.
20 PECOS BILL: But I am a coyote. I have fleas just like a coyote, don't I?
21 COWBOY 1: That don't mean nothin'. The thing that all coyotes got is a tail.
22 NARRATOR 2: With that, Bill turned around and looked back. It was then, for the first time in his life, that he realized he didn't have a tail.
23 PECOS BILL: I don't have a tail like my brothers and sisters. But if I'm not a coyote, then what am I?
24 COWBOY 1: You're a human being.
25 NARRATOR 3: Pecos Bill began to growl just like his coyote mother had taught him. But he knew deep down in his heart that he wasn't a real coyote. So he figured he might as well go along with the cowboy and begin acting like a real human acts.
Annotation Station • Act I
Use symbols to mark details as you read:
⭐ Key Plot Event
🎭 Staging / Drama
💥 Tall Tale Hyperbole
❓ Vocabulary Word
Lines 2–13: The Bear & The Wagon Tumble
Lines 14–15: Growing Up in the Coyote Den
Lines 16–25: Cowboy 1 & The Missing Tail
genuine: Real and exactly what it seems to be.
saga: A long, detailed story about heroic events.
Drama Connection: Why does Cowboy 1's proof (the tail) convince Bill he is human?
Arizona HMH Grade 3 • The Saga of Pecos Bill • Act I Standards: 3.RL.2 • 3.RL.4 • 3.RL.5 Page 1 of 4
Arizona HMH Into Reading • pp. 301–306
The Saga of Pecos Bill • Act II (Lines 26–53)
Lines 26–53 Full Script
Act II: Mountain Lion Horse, Snake Lasso & The Twister
Script Text
26 NARRATOR 4: Bill started walking alongside the cowboy. Suddenly, a huge mountain lion jumped down from a cliff and right onto Bill's back. Without a thought, Bill just up and wrestled that mountain lion to the ground.
27 MOUNTAIN LION: I give up! I give up!
28 PECOS BILL: Your huntin' days are over. Seeing as how I need to be more like a human, I'll use you like a horse.
29 MOUNTAIN LION: A horse! 30 PECOS BILL: Yep, a horse! So let's be on our way.
31 NARRATOR 1: Bill jumped on the back of the mountain lion, and he and the cowboy continued on their way.
32 NARRATOR 2: They hadn't gone but 10 miles when a 10-foot rattlesnake swung out of a cactus plant and down on top of them.
33 NARRATOR 3: Bill jumped off the mountain lion's back and grabbed the end of that snake. He swung that snake around and around his head. As the snake was spinning round and round, it grew thinner and thinner. It also got longer and longer. By the time Bill was done, that 10-foot rattlesnake was 30 feet long.
34 NARRATOR 4: Bill coiled up that 30-foot snake just like it was a rope and slung it over his shoulder. From then on cowboys always carried a rope with them just like Pecos Bill carried a 30-foot snake with him wherever he went.
35 NARRATOR 1: After that, Bill and the cowboy rode on until they got to the ranch alongside the Pecos River. The other cowboys didn't know what to make of Bill, riding his mountain lion and carrying a snake wrapped across his shoulders. But I guess they could see that he was a good man, so they figured he'd be a good cowboy, too.
36 PECOS BILL: Howdy, folks, I'm new in these here parts. I just want to learn how to be a cowboy and help you fellas out.
37 COWBOY 2: Well, friend, you're welcome to stay as long as you want. We're always looking for new help, seeing as we have the whole state of Texas to take care of and lots of cattle to keep an eye on.
38 PECOS BILL: I appreciate that. By the way, what would you like to have me do now?
39 COWBOY 2: Well, I don't think it's anything you can help us with. See, we're just in the biggest drought that Texas ever had. We ain't had no water for months and months now.
40 PECOS BILL: Well, I reckon I can help with that.
41 NARRATOR 2: And with that, Bill just swung his rattlesnake lasso round and round and he roped up all the water from the Rio Grande River. After that there was no more problem with any drought.
42 NARRATOR 3: Seems like there was nothing that Bill couldn't do. Like that time when the biggest and meanest tornado that ever was came into Texas. Bill decided that the only way to tame that tornado was to ride it until it spun itself out.
43 NARRATOR 4: So Bill just waited until that tornado came up and over the state line with Oklahoma. It slowed down a little as it crossed into Texas, and that's when Bill just up and jumped on that tornado's back.
44 NARRATOR 1: Now, that tornado didn't like anybody ridin' its back. It turned itself from green to brown to black and began to leaping around like it was full of about a hundred wildcats. That tornado whipped and whirled and whipped and whirled some more, just tryin' to throw Bill off its back.
45 PECOS BILL: Yowee! Hold on tight! I aim to tame you, seein' as how I'm the toughest cowboy in these here parts. You ain't about to throw me. No sir.
46 NARRATOR 2: Well, that tornado started to do all kinds of mean things as it spun faster and faster. It humped its back, it threw itself all about, it jumped up and it jumped down, trying to toss Bill back on to the ground. It just got meaner and meaner every way it twisted and turned.
47 NARRATOR 3: In fact, it got to be so mean and so ornery that it tied up rivers into knots and emptied lakes of all their water. Why, Bill and that twister went from one end of Texas to the other—the twister was twisting and Bill was hangin' on for dear life. But try as it might that twister could never throw Bill. No way! Bill just rode that tornado like it was the meanest bull at a rodeo. He jabbed it with his spurs and wrapped his arms tighter and tighter around that spinning tornado.
48 NARRATOR 4: Finally, that tornado figured it wasn't going to get Bill off its back. So it headed itself out to California and just rained itself out. Seems it rained so much water that it washed out the Grand Canyon. Why, that mean old tornado was worn down to nothing, and by the time they both reached the Pacific Ocean, that tornado was nothing but a little bitty puff of wind.
49 NARRATOR 1: When Bill fell off, he hit the ground so hard that the ground just sank right below sea level. Folks in those parts now call that part of California Death Valley. 50 PECOS BILL: There, that should teach those tornadoes a thing or two!
51 NARRATOR 2: When Bill got back to Texas, he started to clean up the mess he and that tornado made.
52 NARRATOR 3: When he first climbed on the back of the tornado, Texas had been covered by forests of trees. But now all the land had been swept clean of every single tree from the full force of that wrestling match between Bill and the tornado.
53 NARRATOR 4: And if you go and visit Texas today, you will see lots of wide open spaces all over the state. Wide open spaces thanks to that wrestling match between the greatest cowboy who ever lived and one mean and wild tornado. Yup, Pecos Bill was the best cowboy there ever was . . . the meanest, the strongest, and the best there ever was!
Annotation Station • Act II
Track how each feat builds on earlier events:
Lines 26–34: Mountain Lion & 30-Foot Snake
Lines 35–41: The Drought & Rio Grande Roping
Lines 42–48: Riding the Oklahoma/Texas Twister
Lines 49–53: Landforms (Canyon, Death Valley)
coiled: Shaped into loops or rings.
whirled: Spun and turned very quickly.
tame: Teach a wild animal to do what you want.
Tall Tale Geography: According to the play, what caused Texas's wide open spaces?
Arizona HMH Grade 3 • The Saga of Pecos Bill • Act II Standards: 3.RL.2 • 3.RL.4 • 3.RL.5 Page 2 of 4
Part 1: Close Reading Comprehension
Standards-Aligned Multiple Choice Questions
Score: _____ / 6
Directions: Carefully read each question based on Anthony D. Fredericks' script and fill in the bubble beside the single best answer.
Standard 3.RL.2 Question 1
In lines 13–14, why did Pa and Ma not notice that baby Bill had bounced out of the wagon at the Arkansas-Texas border?
A. Bill crawled into the woods to hunt jackrabbits on his own.
B. There were so many children (15 to 20) and animals that nobody noticed for a week.
C. Pa told the family that Bill stayed behind to help build a cabin.
D. Grandy Coyote told Pa that she was adopting Bill as her pup.
Standard 3.RL.2 Question 2
Look at lines 52–53. What central message or purpose does this tall tale convey about the legendary King of the Cowboys?
A. Settlers should avoid Texas because dangerous twisters destroy all ranch property.
B. Bill’s extraordinary courage and grit humorously celebrate the wild spirit of the frontier.
C. People must have magic wands to tame storms and survive western droughts.
D. Wild animals should always be feared and kept away from cowboys.
Standard 3.RL.4 Question 3
In line 5, the narrator says baby Bill wanted a teddy bear so he brought home a “genuine grizzly bear.” What does the word genuine mean here?
A. Stuffed with cotton and sewn by hand
B. Real, living, and exactly what it appears to be
C. Broken and dangerous to touch
D. Inexpensive and easy to buy in a frontier store
Standard 3.RL.4 Question 4
In line 44, the narrator says the tornado “whipped and whirled” and leaped “like it was full of about a hundred wildcats.” What does this figurative comparison show?
A. A real pack of wildcats was flying inside the funnel cloud.
B. The storm was vicious, unpredictable, and violently thrashing around.
C. The storm was moving very slowly and gently across the desert.
D. Texas cowboys trained wildcats to predict bad weather.
Standard 3.RL.5 Question 5
Look at the STAGING note at the start of the script. What is the structural purpose of this drama instruction?
A. It directs the actors and narrators on where to sit, stand, and hold scripts.
B. It provides the definitions of difficult frontier vocabulary words.
C. It tells the audience what lines they must repeat aloud.
D. It explains why Anthony D. Fredericks decided to write the tall tale.
Standard 3.RL.5 Question 6
How does Bill’s realization in lines 22–25 (that he has no tail) lead directly to the events in lines 26–34?
A. Bill runs back to Arkansas to look for his coyote mother.
B. Knowing he is human, Bill seeks human cowboy tools—taming a mountain lion horse and making a snake lasso.
C. Bill decides to leave Texas forever because he is embarrassed by his lack of a tail.
D. Cowboy 1 and Cowboy 2 tell Bill he must live alone in a mountain cave.
Drama Elements in the Script:
Staging: Layout & position of actors Narrator: Tells the story events Dialogue: Words characters speak aloud
Arizona HMH Grade 3 • The Saga of Pecos Bill • Assessment Multiple Choice Standards Review Page 3 of 4
Part 2: Constructed Response Task
Summarize the Play: The Saga of Pecos Bill
3.RL.2 • 3.RL.5
Writing Task Prompt:
Write a summary of Anthony D. Fredericks' play The Saga of Pecos Bill. In your summary, recount the main characters, the frontier setting, the key events across the scenes, and Bill's exaggerated tall tale feats (grizzly bear teddy bear, mountain lion horse, 30-foot snake lasso, Rio Grande drought roping, and riding the Oklahoma tornado). Use drama words (such as narrator, dialogue, and events) to explain how each part of the saga builds on earlier sections.
Step 1: Drama Elements Planning Organizer
SOMEBODY Pecos Bill & family
WANTED Move west / be cowboy
BUT Fell out & wild trouble
SO Wild taming feats
THEN Canyons & open spaces
Step 2: Written Play Summary Paragraph Draft your complete summary paragraph below
Writer’s Self-Check
Named main characters & Texas setting
Used drama terms (narrators, dialogue)
Retold major events in order
Described tall tale exaggerations
Used capitals & end punctuation
Stated the central message / legacy
Teacher Rubric Score: __ / 4
4 Advanced
3 Proficient
2 Approaching
1 Beginning
Evaluates 3.RL.2 (Summary) & 3.RL.5 (Drama Structure)
Arizona HMH Grade 3 • The Saga of Pecos Bill • Constructed Response Play Summary Task Page 4 of 4
