What does friendship mean to you?

Does it mean having someone to share secrets with… or a double-decker ice cream cone? Maybe it means having someone to play and laugh with, or someone to lift you up when you’re feeling down.

We’re about to meet two farmers who have been friends forever – until an unexpected occurrence puts their friendship on the rocks!

Our story is called “A Tale of Two Neighbors.” You’ll find versions of this tale from Appalachia, in the mountains of eastern North America.

We recorded this episode before a live audience of excited kids and grown-ups at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium in Cleveland, OH. Joining host Rebecca Sheir on stage was a talented trio of local actors: Nina Domingue, Xavier Heipp, and Bob Keefe. And playing live music on the tenor banjo (learn more about this stringed instrument originally from West Africa below) was Eric Shimelonis.

This episode was adapted for Circle Round by Rebecca Sheir. It was edited by Dean Russell. Original music and sound design is by Eric Shimelonis. Our artist is Sabina Hahn.

(Sabina Hahn for WBUR)

GROWN-UPS! PRINT THIS so everyone can color while listening. We’re also keeping an album so please share your picture on Facebook and Instagram, and tag it with #CircleRoundPodcast. To access all the coloring pages for past episodes click HERE. Our resident artist is Sabina Hahn and you can learn more about her HERE.

Now It’s Your Turn

What’s one kind thing you can do for a friend?

Can you give them a handmade card? Share a book or snack? Maybe you can offer help with schoolwork… or just offer a kind word!

Pick a kind act, then go out and do it. Your friend will feel great – and you will, too!

Musical Spotlight: Tenjor Banjo

Fun fact about the tenor banjo: the name “tenor” has nothing to do with pitch, as it would with a vocalist or saxophone!

No one knows for certain where the “tenor” came from. Some experts believe it was a mistake made somewhere in history, since this type of banjo was used during the American tango craze of the early 20th century and was often referred to as the “tango banjo.” Perhaps “tango” mistakenly turned into “tenor” somewhere down the line…?

In any case… the tenor banjo has four strings, and a shorter neck than most other banjos. Traditionally, tenor banjos are tuned in the musical interval of fifths: the same as most members of an orchestra’s string family (violins, violas and cellos…but not bass!).

You’ll find two varieties of tenor banjo: 17-fret and 19-fret. Frets are the thin metal strips embedded into the fingerboard of a banjo. When you press the strings against these frets, you shorten their length to raise the pitch.

Script:

NARRATOR: Joe and Josephine had known each other all their lives. They had grown up in the same town. They had attended the same schools. They had played with the same friends.

And when they grew older and struck out on their own, they went into the same line of work:

Farming.

JOSEPHINE: Great news, Joe! I found two farms, set side by side in a beautiful valley. I figured I could buy one of the farms…

JOE: (GASP!) …And I could buy the other??? That’s a swell idea, Josephine!

NARRATOR: Joe and Josephine loved being farmers. They also loved being neighbors. And every day, after plowing their respective fields, cleaning their respective barns, and feeding their respective animals, they’d catch up over a potluck dinner in one of their respective kitchens.

JOE: So Josephine! How are your chickens doing?

JOSEPHINE: They’re doing well, Joe – thanks to you! That hole in the coop was letting all the foxes in! I appreciate you patching it up for me. (beat) How’s your horse?

JOE: She’s feeling better – thanks to you! You know how upset her stomach was. That chamomile tea you brewed up worked like a charm! (beat) Hey, can you pass the biscuits and gravy? Your recipe is so good, I need a second helping!

JOSEPHINE: I could say the same about your mac and cheese!

NARRATOR: Joe and Josephine got on so well, they were like soup and crackers. Like chicken and dumplings. Like –

JOE: (as if finishing NARRATOR’s sentence but really saying in scene) Bread and butter?

JOSEPHINE: No thanks, Joe! I’m too stuffed to eat anything more!

NARRATOR: The friends never had an argument, never exchanged a harsh or bitter word.

Little did they know, that was about to change.

Early one morning they were awoken in their respective beds in their respective houses by an unexpected sound.

COW: MOOOOOOOO!

JOE: Is that…

JOSEPHINE: … a COW???

NARRATOR: As it happens, neither Joe nor Josephine owned a cow. They owned chickens, and horses, but no cows. So to be startled from sleep by a loud, brawling…

COW: MOOOOO!

NARRATOR: … was, well, startling!

The farmers sprang from their beds, jumped into their slippers, and raced outside. And there, munching on a patch of clover on Josephine’s land, was a big brown cow.

JOSEPHINE: Goodness! Isn’t she a beauty!

JOE: She sure is! But where did she come from?

JOSEPHINE: Not a clue! Ours are the only farms for miles around!

JOE: And neither of us owns a cow!

JOSEPHINE: Well, it looks like one of us owns a cow now!

NARRATOR: Joe stared at Josephine, his mouth wide open.

JOE: Hang on a minute! Whaddya mean “one of us owns a cow”???

JOSEPHINE: Think about it! The cow is on my land, eating my clover!

JOE: True… But we could just as easily have found her on my land!

JOSEPHINE: In which case she would have been your cow. (beat) But she’s not!

NARRATOR: Joe’s brow knotted. His nostrils flared. Frustration bubbled inside him like a geyser.

JOE: You know what, Josephine? You’re nothing but a no-good CATTLE RUSTLER!

NARRATOR: Josephine froze.

JOSEPHINE: Did you just call me a cattle rustler? Rustling means stealing! And I am not “stealing” this cow!

JOE: Looks like you are to ME!

NARRATOR: The two farmers glared at each other. They were so mad, you could practically see the steam coming out of their noses and ears.

JOSEPHINE: You know what, Joe? You are being impossible!

JOE: Well YOU are being unbearable!

JOSEPHINE: And YOU are being intolerable!

JOE: Then maybe I should go!

JOSEPHINE: Not if I go first! (beat) With MY cow!

NARRATOR: Josephine shot Joe a stormy look. Then she spun on her slippered heel and led the brown cow away.

JOE: Boy oh boy! I had no idea Josephine could be such a stick in the mud! And to think I considered her my best friend! What a load of bunk.

NARRATOR: Well… as you might guess, there was no potluck that night.

Or the next night.

Or the next.

Not only did Joe and Josephine stop dining with each other, they stopped speaking! They wouldn’t even look at each other as they plowed their respective fields, cleaned their respective barns, and fed their respective animals.

The tension grew and grew. Then one morning, when Joe woke up and glanced out the window, he saw something that made his blood go hot.

JOE: (GASP!) There’s a CREEK! Running between my farm and Josephine’s! (beat) She must have hitched up her plow and dug a furrow from the pond up yonder! So now our farms are separated by water! What a sneaky, backhanded – (gets interrupted)

[SOUND ON STAGE: KNOCK]

JOE: Is someone knocking at my door? If it’s Josephine, I am most definitely going to give her a piece of my mind!

NARRATOR: Joe opened the door. But it wasn’t Josephine he saw. It was an old man with a long thin nose, bespectacled eyes, and a weathered face salted with silver stubble. He was dressed in ragged overalls. Slung over his shoulder was a beat-up box of tools.

CARPENTER: Good morning, sir! I’m a carpenter in need of a job. (beat) I know I may look too grizzled and gray to wield a hammer or saw, but I assure you: I’ve been in this trade longer than you’ve been alive, and my work shows it. Might you have anything that needs building? Or fixing?

NARRATOR: Joe paused. He didn’t need anything fixed. But now that he thought of it, he could use something built. 

Something that would teach Josephine a lesson she would never forget!

[BREAK]

NARRATOR: I’m Rebecca Sheir. Welcome back to Circle Round, live at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio!

Today our story is called “A Tale of Two Neighbors.”

Before the break, longtime friends Joe and Josephine had a fight over who should keep the cow that wandered onto Josephine’s property.

Josephine was so miffed with her neighbor that she dug a ditch between their two farms – and turned it into a creek!

When an old carpenter showed up at Joe’s door, looking for work, Joe knew exactly what to tell him.

JOE: As it happens, sir, I believe I have a job for you. Do you see that farm over there?

NARRATOR: He motioned toward Josephine’s property.

JOE: That farm belongs to Josephine. She’s my neighbor – and my FORMER best friend. That creek running between our properties is brand new. ‘Cause just last night, she PUT it there! To spite me! (beat) Can you believe it?

NARRATOR: The carpenter cocked his silvery head.

CARPENTER: It does seem a bit unusual…

JOE: It’s downright antagonistic! Josephine and I have known each other all our lives. Then we have one little spat and she goes and digs a CREEK between us? (beat) Well! Little does she know, but I can do one better than that. If she really wants the two of us to be divided… after all we’ve been through… then I am going to build… a WALL! (beat) Or rather, YOU are.

CARPENTER: You want me to build a wall between your farm and your best friend’s farm?

JOE: My FORMER best friend! (beat) And I want this wall to be so tall, so high to the sky, that I won’t have to see Josephine’s farm anymore! Or her FACE! I never want to lay eyes on that stick in the mud again!

NARRATOR: The carpenter took off his spectacles and gave them a wipe.

CARPENTER: I believe I can help you out, Joe. If you have lumber and nails, I can use my tools to build something you’ll like.

NARRATOR: The two men shook on the deal. Then, while the carpenter fetched lumber and nails from the shed, Joe climbed into his cart to run errands in town.

The carpenter labored all day long… taking measurements, sawing wooden planks, fitting them together with nails. He worked slowly but carefully.

He was finished by sunset. And when Joe came back in his cart, and his farm rolled into view, he glanced toward Josephine’s property, eager to catch sight of his towering, glorious new wall.

But that towering, glorious wall… wasn’t there.

JOE: What in blazes??? Why didn’t the carpenter build the wall???

NARRATOR: Within moments, his question was answered. Because as he drew closer, he realized that the carpenter hadn’t built the wall because he had spent all day building something else.

JOE: (surprised, floored) A BRIDGE!

NARRATOR: Indeed! Spanning the creek… from one side to the other… was a fine wooden bridge, solid and sturdy, with handrails and an arched cover.

Standing beside the bridge, with his weathered hands stuck in his ragged pockets, was the carpenter. And on the other side, with shimmering tears trickling down her beaming face, was Josephine.

JOSEPHINE: Joe! My dear, dear Joe! I dug that ditch and built that creek to separate us. But YOU! You built this bridge to bring us together! (beat) (teary) I missed you so much!

NARRATOR: She raced across the bridge, arms outstretched, and wrapped Joe in a hug. When he felt something wet on his cheeks, he wasn’t sure if it was Josephine’s tears, or his own.

JOE: (teary) Oh Josephine! I was a fool to get angry at you. I’m so sorry!

JOSEPHINE: And I’m sorry, too. Can we be friends again?

JOE: No. (beat) But we can be BEST friends again!

JOSEPHINE: Oh Joe!!!!

NARRATOR: While the teary friends reunited – (gets interrupted by JOE)

JOSEPHINE: (interrupting/correcting NARRATOR) The teary BEST friends!

NARRATOR: …the carpenter loaded his toolbox and hoisted it over his shoulder. But before he could walk away, Joe stopped him.

JOE: Wait a minute, sir! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the work you did today. (beat) Any chance you could stay on and help me and Josephine around our farms? Now that I think of it, I’ve been wanting to expand my stables…

JOSEPHINE: …And I would LOVE a bigger chicken coop!

JOE: We’d be grateful if you’d come work for us! Just for a little while! We’d pay you handsomely!

NARRATOR: Joe and Josephine gazed at the carpenter with hopeful expressions. The old man blinked his bespectacled eyes and scratched his stubbly chin.

CARPENTER: Joe? Josephine? I appreciate the offer. And much as I’d like to say yes, I’m afraid I’m needed elsewhere. (beat) But you two be well. And be good to each other! After all, soup is much better with crackers. Chicken is much better with dumplings. And bread with butter… well, could anything be better than that?

NARRATOR: His weathered face creased into a smile. And then… with his silvery hair gleaming in the moonlight… and his beat-up toolbox swinging by his side… he shuffled off down the road, knowing that in this tremendous, topsy-turvy world – where so much is beautiful… and so much is broken – he had other bridges to build.

Plenty of them.

And what better time to start… than now?