Week 15 Story: The Huge Alligator

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Once upon a time, long ago, there was a huge alligator. The alligator was so big that his tale was as large as a school bus. The alligator lived in a swamp in the Everglades. The alligator had a huge mouth that he was able to eat any animal that came close to the swamp. He patrolled up and down the swamp looking for more animals to eat. The spot he found the most animals in was at the very end of the swamp with the cleanest water. The alligator was so big that he took up most of the swamp, therefore he was always alone. The other animals began to fear the swamp because of how many animals died there due to the huge alligator. One day, a group of woodpeckers heard about all of the harm the alligator was causing and wanted to put an end to it. They decided they would fly above the swamp and once the alligator tried to eat them they would peck its eyes out. They began their plan with a huge group of woodpeckers and once the alligator's eyes popped out of the water he began snapping at them. He took a second to notice a beautiful female woodpecker and stopped snapping. He was so captivated by her he kept staring at her. The alligator had been lonely for a long time and asked the female if she wanted to get dinner sometime. The female decided to stay longer in front of the alligator to distract him from the others. The male woodpecker noticed this and decided to attack. A swarm of them took out the alligator's eyes. The alligator screamed with anger. The alligator could no longer see to eat the animals and began to shrink in size until he was no longer.



Author's Note:
I was inspired by the Giant Crab story and wanted to make my own version. I had never done a story with swamp animals so this was fun to write. I also wanted to make the woodpeckers the heroes because I have never read a story where they are able to save the day. I kept the storyline the same for the most part but changed out the scene and the ultimate defeat of the large animal.

Bibliography:
Title: The Giant Crab
Author: W. H. D. Rouse 
Link: Story

Story: Week 13: Blue and Spike

 

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Long ago there were there two swordfish. The two swordfish were brothers and their names were Blue and Spike. Blue and Spike lived with their parents in a community of swordfish deep into the ocean. The community of deer were really close to each other and always looked out of one another. During the fishing season, all of the swordfish community were in danger.  The father of Blue and Spike warned the two siblings that they needed to take their own group of swordfish to the faraway coral reef to keep the community out of danger. The reason that the swordfish become so endangered is that the fishermen bait the water with food for the swordfish then capture them when they get to close. Blue, the swordfish, asked if the community should swim as a whole to the reef, but the father wanted to look out for his home. The father warned them that they should avoid the shallow waters as fishermen were always there fishing, and to travel at night. Blue did what his father told and took his group of swordfish through the deeper water to get to the reef and they left at night. Blue and his swordfish all arrived at the reef alive. Spike, lead his group early in the morning through the shallow coast. They swam through fishing boat, after fishing boat with over half of his group being captured by fisher men. When the fishing season was over it was finally safe for the swordfish to travel back.  Blue still led his group through deep waters and during the night back home to the community safely. Spike left that next morning, he led his whole crew past a few fishing boats, and once again, half of his group was captured. Spike arrived with only one swordfish left that next morning.

Author's Note

I decide to take this story and put it into my own group of animals. The original starts with a community of deer who have to leave during the crop season. I decided to do the same thing but with swordfish. 

Bibliography: 

Author: Ellen C. Babbitt

Title: Beauty and Brownie 

Link: story

Week 11 Story: The Urchin in the Ocean

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One day a group of fish was swimming about the ocean looking for a coral reef to stay in for the night. At night, the fish have to sleep in a coral reef because they are so small they have a risk of being an animal’s meal. In one particular reef, there was a sea urchin who lived there and waited for prey. The urchin was very scary and did not go outside of the reef as he was the local whale’s favorite snack. If any animal tried to stay in his reef, he would use one of his spikes to enable him from swimming away then he would eat them for his meal. The group of fish was swimming all day looking a reef to stay in when they all saw one insight. The reef was perfect, it was big enough for all of them to stay, and was dark in color so it would not attract as many animals to it. One brave fish decided he would go scope it out and swam swiftly over to the reef. He started going in towards the reef and disappeared. All of the fish were shocked that he was gone so quick. Another fish, worried for his friend, quickly followed after him. He slowly approached the reef and began to swim inside. The urchin spiked him and the fish was soon consumed by the urchin too. All of the fish began to panic and swim around the reef sad that two of their friends had disappeared. The fish started to think they would have nowhere to stay for the night and would all be eaten alive. A dolphin swam over and saw the fish looking worried and sad. He asked what was wrong and the fish told him that two of their friends had been taken in this reef. The smart dolphin knew it was an evil urchin. He remembered that all urchins had their spikes as weapons so he told the fish he would be back and hurriedly swam away. A few minutes later he came back with a handful of long, sticky seaweed. He told the fish to hold on to one side of it while he grasped the other side of the seaweed. They began to floss the coral reef. The local whale swam by to see what was going on, and at the same time the fish and the dolphin pulled up on the seaweed to see the mean urchin sticking to it able to get out. The local whale saw his favorite snack and immediately swam over to eat it. The fish were pleased and happy they had somewhere to stay for the night. They thanked the dolphin and the whale and settled down in the reef for the night.

Author’s Note: I was inspired by the jakata tale, The Goblin in the Pool and wanted to create my own story. In the Goblin story, the mean goblin stopped the monkeys from drinking the pool water until they figured out a way to trick him. I wanted the same idea behind my story, except with characters from the ocean. I thought using the school of fish would be a unique idea similar to the group of monkeys, and I wanted my hero at the end to be the smart dolphin. The dolphin was ultimately able to figure out how to trick the urchin into attaching to the sticky seaweed and pulling him out of the reef to be eaten. I really enjoyed writing this story, and hope it was interesting to read!

Bibliography:

Author: W.H.D Rouse

Title: The Goblin in the Pool

Link: Story

Week 10 Story: The Mysterious Waterhole

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Long ago, a group of animals from the Sahara desert gathered around the sand dune on a hot, sunny day.

“We have to find a way to find some water or all of the animals could suffer,” said the camel.

“Okay, then how about we send the snake up that sand dune to see if he can see any waterholes?” the fox said.

The snake took off for the large sand dune and scanned the desert looking for a waterhole. He squinted and saw what looked to be an area full of trees indicating water was near them. He reported back that he indeed saw a waterhole, but he would go by himself to make sure he was correct. He quickly slithered over to the trees and saw a gleaming pool of water. As he got closer to the bank, he heard a voice call out to him.

The voice shouted to the snake, “Answer my question, and you will be able to drink from my waterhole.”

The snake was too thirsty to listen to the voice so he ignored it and began to drink anyway. The snake took one sip and then rolled over dead.

The sand cat wondered what was taking the snake so long, so he sprinted over to the area abundant with trees to investigate. He saw the water and felt his mouth begin to dry up. The voice called out to him just as it did for the snake. The sand cat ignored the voice and raced over to the water to take a large gulp. He too passed away by the waterhole.

The camel was curious if the two animals had found the waterhole yet, so slowly but surely, he made his way over to the tall green trees. He saw the two animals dead by the waterhole and sorrowed over them. The voice called out, “Answer my question and you shall drink from my waterhole! Ignore me and pay for the consequences!”

“Who goes there? Reveal yourself or else,” the camel said angrily. He drew his sword and scanned the pond for the voice. As he was looking at the pond he could not resist the way it sparkled in the sunlight and went over to take a sip. He immediately fell to the ground, just as the other animals did, and died.

The fox, being the last one standing behind the sand dune, was worried that the other animals were drinking water without him. He sneakily sprinted over to the area with the trees and saw all of his animals fallen over dead. Full of anger he screamed, “WHO DID THIS?”

The voice called out, “It is me! Your friends did not listen to me before. All they had to do was answer my question and then they could freely drink from my waterhole.”

The fox called back, “What question do you want to be answered?”

The voice, giddy that someone finally was going to answer his question, stated, “Ahh, glad you asked. My one question is….what is black and white and red all over? You get the one answer, so think hard!”

The fox, being sneaky, had always been strategic and loved tricking his friends with riddles. He had heard this one a handful of times so he confidently answered with “A newspaper!”

The voice screamed with excitement. “You got it right! You got it right! No one has ever gotten it right before. Since you are the first I will bring back your friends for being correct.”

The animals around the waterhole began to rise back to life and they all happily drank from the mysterious waterhole.

Author's Note:

For this story, I was inspired by the "Riddles at the Lake" story in the Mahabharata. The story originally began with a group of men who were in the forest searching for water and each one failed to listen to the voice and was killed. Finally, the wise man answered all of the questions and was granted access to the pond as well as bringing back his brothers. I did the same storyline but thought it would be interesting to do this with animals. I finally had the sneaky fox be the one who could trick the voice and save them all. I really enjoyed getting to write this story. I think giving human-based stories a twist by using animals is always fun to write and can be very entertaining to read. I used typical desert animals in this story to make it seem as realistic as a fiction story can be. I also made the fox be the one who saves the day at the end due to his sneaky, sly personality traits. I liked the idea of the setting to be in a desert because it could explain why the animals were so thirsty they decided to ignore the voice each time. I made some revisions to the story by adding more descriptive adjectives. I think stories that the reader is able to visualize are entertaining to read. I also was able to revise my story by correcting grammatical errors making it easier to read.

Bibliography: 

Author: Donald A. Mackenzie

Title: Riddles at the Lake

Link: Link to story