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

Reading Notes: Jakata Tales Part B

 

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The Ox Who Envied the Pig

The Ox named Big Red had a little brother named Little Red. They both did work on a farm by carting. The farmer who lived on the farm had a daughter who was about to get married and the mother said that the pig who lived on the farm needed to be fattened up so they could use it for the wedding feast. The Ox Little Red noticed that the Little Pig was getting special kinds of food and envied him. He asked his brother why they were only fed grass and straw and they are the ones who do all the work on the farm, yet the pig who was lazy and did nothing all day got special treatment with food. The older brother told his brother that he should not envy the little pig because the farmer was feeding him food to feed the pig to death. He told him that the farmer wanted to fatten the pig up so he could be the meal at the wedding. He told his little brother that he should be content with eating the straw because that meant they would live for long. A few days after, the pig was killed and served at the daughter’s wedding. The Big Red Ox told his brother to see what happened to the pig after all of the food he consumed. The little ox knew that their plain food was perfectly fine, unlike the pig who ate his way to death.

Author's Note

I focused on this story because I thought it was interesting and it stuck out to me. I liked that although it was a short story, it was very entertaining and had a great plot. In my storybooks, I have like telling Animal stories or sometimes turning human-based stories into one with animal characters. I think this story would be fun because I could do the opposite and take an animal-based story and make it human-based.

Bibliography:

Author: Ellen C. Babbit

Title: THE OX WHO ENVIED THE PIG

Link: Story

Reading Notes Week 10: Jakata Tales Part A

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The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking
The story begins with a turtle at the edge of a pond. Two geese who were also at the pond saw the turtle when they were out looking for food to eat. The turtle and the geese began talking to each other and this happened day after day. One day when they came to the pond, the geese and the turtles were good friends, and the geese offered to take the turtle to their home. The turtle asked how he could do that without wings and the geese said they would take him if he kept his mouth shut. The turtle agreed and they were on to fly to the geese’s home. The geese had a stick they brought and would hold in their mouth and the only way the turtle could be transported is if he held on to it with his mouth which required him not to speak. The geese flew with the turtle and they flew over some children. The children made fun of the geese and turtle and the turtle snapped back at them. When he opened his mouth, he fell to the ground and died at the children’s feet.

I picked this story to focus on this week because one, the turtle reminds me of myself, and two I thought it had an unexpected ending. I think this would be fun to recreate for a story because it was a quick story, yet very entertaining to read.

Bibliography:

Author: Ellen C. Babbit

Title: The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking

Link: Link to story

How the Turtle Saved His Own Life

A King had a lake for his princess daughter to play in. He had told a group of boys to go gather fishes for him. They brought back fish and one turtle. The boys had never seen a turtle and thought it was a demon so they ran and told their father about it. The King did not want his sons being scared so he ordered to kill the turtle. Everyone had a plan on how to kill the turtle but an old man who was afraid of water said they should throw it into the lake. The turtle heard this idea and said how cruel that would be. The men took the turtle to the lake and threw it in. The Turtle laughed and swam down the river feeling safe in his home.

I also enjoyed reading this story because I feel like I could put my own twist on it. I think I could possibly even combine the two.

Bibliography:
Author: Ellen C. Babbit
Title: How the Turtle Saved His Own Life
Link: Link to story