Week 2 Story
The Demon and the Foolish King
Image Details: Turtle, Source: SVG Silh
Authors Note: This story was based on the story "The Turtle and the King." I changed the story around making the old man who gave advice seem like he was tricking the king rather than the turtle.
Bibliography: The Turtle and the King, Ellen C. Babbitt. Web Source
In a kingdom far, far away, there lived a king with his two
sons. One day while traveling through the jungle, the boys wandered off while
their father attended to his kingly duties.
While the boys chased each other, they stumbled upon a small
cottage. The cottage was surrounded by huge trees and vines. The roof of the
cottage was covered with a thick layer of moss, while thick vines covered the
cottage. There was a small vegetable garden on one side of the house and a huge
fountain in front of the cottage.
One of the princes said, “This place looks
creepy. Let’s go back.” The other prince looked at his brother with sneaky
smirk, “What’s wrong? Are you scared and want to go back to daddy.” The more
sensible brother, named Ramu, looked at his brother and said, “No, I’m not
Krish. But it’s not right for us to trespass on someone else’s property. Dad’s
going to kill us. Let’s go!”
Ramu began to turn around when he noticed a huge lake. Krish
noticed his brother stop and followed his gaze until he saw the lake. Krish ran towards the
edge of the lake. “Look at this Ramu! There are so many fish!” Ramu joined his
brother and they boys began to dangle their feet in the water until they
noticed a huge moving rock. Krish screamed, “There’s a demon in the water! Run
Ramu!”
Krish and Ramu ran as fast as they could back to their
father. “Father, Father!” they called out, “There’s a demon.” The king rode his
fastest chariot along with some townspeople while the boys led the way back to
the cottage. Once they arrived at the cottage, the boys led their father to the
lake and showed him the moving stone. “It is true. There is a demon here” the
king proclaimed. He turned his attention to the townspeople and asked “Well,
does anyone have an idea of what we should do?”
“I have an idea.” The king turned to the direction the voice
was coming from and saw and old man walking out of the cottage.
The old man
looked at the king and said, “I am the owner of this house and this lake. Now,
you proclaim that there is a demon in my lake. If so, then ask your men to
throw it in the river over the rocks. There is no way that it will be able to
survive such a fall.” The king gazed at the old man and a smile grew on his
face, “Yes! This is what we must do. Thank you for your advice.” The villagers
then picked up the rock in a net and threw it in the river over to sharp rocks,
just as the old man had instructed them to do.
The king turned to his minister, “Give this old man some of
our royal treasure for he has saved us from the terrible demon.” The minister
pulled out twenty gold coins and placed them in the old man’s palm. Then the
king, the princes and the villagers proceeded back to the kingdom. The old man
placed the coins in a draw string pouch and put the pouch in his pocket. Then
he walked over to the river and placed his hands inside the water, pulling out
the rock. “Come on out little friend” said the old man. Out of the shell popped
out four feet and a little head.
The old man looked at the creature and said, “Such
a foolish king that he could not realize that what he proclaimed to be a demon
was actually a turtle. This plan of ours is going to make us rich” Then, he chuckled
to himself and carried the turtle back towards the cottage and waited for his
next victim to fool.
Bibliography: The Turtle and the King, Ellen C. Babbitt. Web Source
I like your twist. You make the old definitely seem like a shady dude. In your twist it seems the turtle and old man are in cahoots with one another. It’s strange that the turtle can be a convincing demon isn’t it? I like the dialogue between the two boys, but it definitely made me think they were the main characters from the start.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed this story! I liked how you waited until the end to reveal that the "demon" was actually a turtle- the timing of it was quite funny seeing as the king had already paid the old man lots of gold. It might be helpful to not draw so much attention on the boys, only because the story wasn't really about them. You could even elaborate on the old man a bit more in the beginning. Good job!(:
ReplyDeleteHi there and thanks for such an interesting tale! WWW comments...
ReplyDeleteWOW- I really enjoyed the simplicity of your story. This is something I have struggled with, and I am going to take some notes of how you achieved this. You had a simple outline, and filled it in with dialogue, great idea! Also, another WOW, is how detailed you were in describing the cottage. I was able to really picture it!
I WONDER...I wonder if the old man had made money from people thinking the turtle was a demon, before? Or was this the first time, and this experience gave him the idea to make money from people thinking his turtle was a demon?
WHAT-IF...oh this part is hard, I really enjoyed your story, and I cannot think of much for the "what-if" section....maybe what if...more than one person made the suggestion? Sorry, I can't think of much.
I really enjoyed your story, and I feel as if I learned from your storytelling abilities, thank you!!
Hi Rachana! I like your twist on the jataka tale! I think the way you had to old man tell the king he's an idiot is funny because a lot of kings in these stories tend to be foolish. It seems like the old man and turtle are friends, could it be possible that they wanted to trick the king?
ReplyDelete