Length: approximately 12 minutes
One distinct voice - the clown narrator puppet

The Good Samaritan Skit
A Cowboy Clown Version

[Western music plays for clown narrator puppet to enter. Music fades as clown puppet begins to address the audience.]

Howdy, partners and welcome to the Red Nose Ranch! We all act a little funny around these parts. I reckon it's because we're all clowns - go figger. It's kinda like being smackdab in the middle of a circus with all the clowns around this ole western ranch. But don't git me wrong. We're the real McCoy when it comes to being a cowboy. After a long day on the trail, we love to sit around a campfire at night and swap stories. In fact, didya ever hear the one about the hat rustler of Twin Rock? No? Well, let me tell 'ya.. [music begins to play to signal the start of the story] [As the clown parts are introduced within the story, the clown characters appear and act out their parts.]

Once upon a time, in a place very close by, was the fanciest cowboy you had ever wanted to meet. [Clown #1 enters riding his horse,] His name was Cowboy Bob. [Clown #1 removes his hat and with a grand gesture takes a bow. Then he places his hat back on and rides around on his horse.] Now Cowboy Bob had the reputation for being the best dressed cowboy around. Yep, he was spiffy all right! Why even his horse had shinny silver horseshoes. [Stop and show one of the horse's huffs.] Anyways, one day while Cowboy Bob was out for a ride on his horse, he was surprised to see a tall suspicious character standing in his path. [Clown #2 appears and boldly stands in front of Clown #1. Clown #1 raises his horse up as to suddenly stop in front of Clown #2.] Upon closer inspection, Cowboy Bob realized that this was no ordinary stranger! This was Big Jim - the hifalootin', scootin' shootin Hat Rustler! Big Jim was meaner than a rattlesnake. He had rustled hats from cowboys all over the territory. Now he was staring down at Cowboy Bob's fancy hat. Cowboy Bob knew he was in a mess of trouble. [Clown #1 holds his hat on his head with both hands.] Shore 'nuff, Big Jim pulled his gun on Cowboy Bob and demanded his hat. [Clown #2 pulls out a bubble gun.] When Cowboy Bob refused to let go of his hat, Big Jim began shooting. Bubbles filled the air and went everywhere! Bubbles even got into the eyes of Cowboy Bob's horse. This made the horse buck, throwing its legs high into the air. [Clown #1 makes the horse buck and go crazy, riding around in circles] Cowboy Bob held onto the reins with all of his might but that darn horse just kept going crazy. Then without warning, the horse slipped and down went Cowboy Bob - hitting his head on a rock. [Clown #1 falls to the ground.] Seeing that Cowboy Bob was hurt and couldn't fight back, Big Jim snatched the hat off of that fancy cowboy. [Clown #2 takes Clown's#1 hat and exits.] With Cowboy Bob's hat in his greedy hands, Big Jim high tailed it out of there leaving Cowboy Bob badly hurt. Pinned under his horse and ale-ing badly, Cowboy Bob was fixin' to yell for help when he spotted someone coming down the trail.

[Clown #3 enters slowly strolling down the path.] Why it was Sally Sue - the mayor's daughter. Surely she would know how to help him. When Sally Sue saw Cowboy Bob lying on the ground, she strolled over to him and asked him what was wrong. "I'm been hat rustled," explained Bob. "Big Jim shot at me and left me for dead. Please help me," pleaded Cowboy Bob. "You must be kidding," replied Sally Sue. "I'm on my way to town. If I stop to help you I might get dirty. No one in town expects to see the daughter of the mayor dirty! I have my reputation to think of. Besides, you need to stop being a cry baby and get up from there on your own. That way you will be the only one dirty. Then Sally Sue turned on her heels and walked away. [Clown #3 exits leaving Clown #1 on the ground.]

[Clown #4 enters.] It wasn't long after Sally Sue had left, that Cowboy Bob heard someone else walking toward him. This time it was Ms Janie, the daughter of the parson. "Oh, good," thought Cowboy Bob, "Ms Janie will help me." However, when Ms Janie saw that Cowboy Bob was bad off, she began fussing at him. "Just look at the mess you've gotten yourself into Bob. You've dern near got yourself killed! If you had been going to choir practice like me this wouldn't have happen to you. Now you just think about what I said and stay out of trouble. I gotta skedaddle lickety split before I'm late for today's choir practice." And with a swish of her skirt, Ms Janie left poor old Bob lying on the ground. [Clown #4 exits.]

[Indian clown enters.] Well, the more that Cowboy Bob lay on the ground waiting for someone to help him, the more he felt like he wasn't going to make it. So he closed his eyes to try to git some rest. That was until he heard something that warmed his ole ticker! It was a friendly voice asking how she could help. At first, Cowboy Bob thought he was dreaming as he opened his eyes; but shore nuf bending down beside him was ----an Indian girl! Oh no! First he had lost his hat and now he was going to loose his hair too! But to his surprised, the Indian girl was plumb friendly. She bandaged up Cowboy Bob's head and also attended to the wounds of his horse. Then she managed to get both Cowboy Bob and his horse to their feet. She explained to Cowboy Bob that there was an inn just a hoot and a holler from there where he and his horse could git some rest. Beholden to the Indian girl, Cowboy Bob allowed her to show him the way to the inn. [The Indian clown slowly leads Clown #1 to the inn.]

[Clown #5 appears as the innkeeper. She displays one or two props to indicate an inn.] Once at the inn, the innkeeper met the Indian girl and Cowboy Bob at the door. "Whatja got here?" she asked. The Indian girl explained how she had found Cowboy Bob and asked the innkeeper if he could stay at her inn until he was better. The innkeeper wasn't in too big of a hurry to lend a hand. Instead, the innkeeper rubbed her chin and replied, "I dunno. It's gonna cost to feed this feller vittles until he is feeling better." The Indian girl pulled out two silver coins from her pocket and gave them to the innkeeper. "These coins auda do for your trouble, she said. When I come back this way at the end of the week, I will give you more if needed." So the innkeeper accepted the Indian girl's offer and took Cowboy Bob into her inn.

[All the clowns come on stage and stand in a line for the ending.] Now I asked you, which of these clowns were a good neighbor to Cowboy Bob? [When the clown name is mentioned, the clown takes a step forward from the line.] Was it Big Jim? Was it Sally Sue? Was it Ms Janie? Was it the innkeeper? Then I guess we all agree that it was the Indian girl who treated Cowboy Bob with mercy. Right? Well, buckaroos I am telling you to go and do likewise!

Now hang around a moment longer because we got a song for you!

[All the clowns do the song number - I'll Be Ridin' with My Pardner on Heavenly Hoedown, One Way Street]

[At the end of the song, all the clowns say in their own voices, "Bye now. Ya'll be good neighbors, yer hear?"]

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