Lyrics Book: Tuck Everlasting

Song #8: The Story of the Tucks

MAE: once upon a time, once upon a time... can I start like that?

MILES: shouldn't start like that.

MAE: be patient with me, Winnie; I've never told this before. Once there was a man, a man with a wife and family-

JESSE: that's Miles and me!

MAE: Jesse, let me tell the story. I don't wanna start a war. We tore from the west to settle in the east, looking for a farm or some land at least.

JESSE: get to the part where I fall from the tree-

MILES: no, you've got it all wrong!

MAE: Miles, Jesse! Then we found a wood-

JESSE: yes, we found a wood. Can you guess which wood?

WINNIE: mine?

JESSE: you're good!

MAE: when we found ourselves a clearing and camped for the night, just the four of us-

MILES: plus the cat and the horse. They play a crucial part.

MAE: yes, Miles, of course. We slept by a spring near an old ash tree.

JESSE: and that's where I carved a "T"!

MAE: Jesse!

MILES: in the morning, in the morning...

MILES, JESSE, MAE: we had no way of knowing. Without even thinking, we drank from the spring. Who knew that spring would change everything?

MAE: except for the horse, everybody drank, even the cat.

MILES: remember that?

JESSE: you can lead a horse to water-

MILES: I think she knows the phrase.

MAE: so then days went by, then months, then years, with an ordinary life...

MIlES: so it appears.

MAE: the old horse died at twenty-five.

JESSE: but the cat was still alive!

MILES: we weren't changing

JESSE: we weren't changing

MAE: we weren't changing

MILES: we weren't growing

JESSE: we weren't growing

ALL THREE: we had no way of knowing; nobody was thinking it was because of the spring... who knew that spring could change everything?

MAE: the town began to talk, the people shied away. (JESSE: Winnie, look at me, Winnie, listen here, though...) They were so outraged, we hadn't aged. Our lives in pious, our looks perverse. (JESSE: I survived a tree fall!) He's survived much worse.

MILES: shut up, Jesse!

MAE: Still we didn't know (JESSE: yes, of course we knew), didn't know the spring was the cause of it (JESSE: how could we not know, though) or where we'd sit on the delicate balance (JESSE: the greatest family) between a blessing and a curse.

JESSE: in the universe!

MILES: don't confuse the girl.

ALL THREE: the cat and the horse, the "T" on the tree, the drink that changed us eternally. That's our secret, keep it locked up tight.

WINNIE: but I still don't understand!

MILES: enough! Alright. We're not aging, we're not growing, and none of us know why. Once upon a time, we drank from your spring, and now we'll never die.

JESSE: that's the story of the Tucks. The end.