Week 11 Storytelling: The Man and His Dog

One day an old man came across a large lump of gold and he had no idea what to do with it! "I have no use for gold! I shall sell it at the market and get myself a dog!” So the man set out and got his dog. Walking home the man came to a bridge, but the dog refused to cross the stone bridge. He was scared of drowning and was upset at the thought of possiblity falling into the water. 

The man left the dog and walked down the road. Soon he came across a woodpecker. “Woodpecker! Woodpecker! Would you please gently peck my dog so he will go across the bridge and so that I may go home?” But the woodpecker refused. 

Man with Dog

The man continued down the road and came across a cat. “Cat! Cat! Would you please chase the woodpecker out of the tree to go peck my dog so he will cross the river and so I can get home?” But the cat refused.

The man continued down the road and came across a hawk. “Hawk! Hawk! Please, will you threaten the cat with your talons so she will chase the woodpecker; cat won’t chase woodpecker; woodpecker won’t peck dog; dog won’t go over the bridge; and I won’t get home tonight." But hawk confused. 

So man continued down the road and came across fire. “Fire! Fire! Please go and burn hawk. Hawk will not threaten cat; Cat won’t chase woodpecker; woodpecker won’t peck dog; dog won’t cross the bridge and I won’t get home tonight.” But Fire refused. 

Finally, man came across water. Water agreed to help the man, but first man had to do something for water. “If you can fetch me a home to live in I will help you dowse fire.” So man set out to find a home for water. He came across a place where water could live. It was a nice and quite ravine near his home. He showed water the home he had found. Delighted, water dowsed fire and fire then burned hawk, who then threatened cat, who then chased woodpecker, who then pecked dog, who jumped frightened over the bridge and the man made it home in time for dinner.

Happily Ever After!

Author’s Note: The Old Woman and Her Pig - I have never read this story before, but I found it to be a great read with fun with a strange concoction of words to match. I rearranged this story to be of a man’s perspective, but I wanted to leave the story much the same. I think to change this story would have really made it feel less powerful. What are awesome little story! So it begins, as you would expect, with a problem. A woman needed to get her pig across a stile so she could get home, but she couldn’t get the pig to jump over the stile. The woman ask multiple animate and non-animate object to help her and if they said no she would ask the next thing to make the chain of beings do what she ask so she could get the pig over stile and go home. Finally, cow agreed to help her if she gathered him hay. I feel like she probably would have just been better off if she had just done it herself.

Week 10 Storytelling: All for One and One for All

    Not long ago the world was dark and there was not a light on Earth that could be seen except for one. This light was owned by the president of the world and he was greedy. He owned all the light and did not wish to share it with anyone. 
    One night, cold and hungry, the lonely fox walked up to the immaculate white house that stood proudly upon capital hill and knocked on the president’s door. “Excuse me sir” The fox muttered, “I was wondering if you could spare some light for my children. They are hungry and nothing will grow without light.”
    The president laughed at the fox and forcefully said, “You do not deserve light for you are weak and unintelligent.” It was at this moment that fox decided that if she couldn’t have a little light for herself then she was just going to take it all and force the president to live in the dark. So fox set out to cross the country and ask all the animals she passed if they would assist her in her struggle to win light for all. All agreed and together they stepped forward once again to the door of the president. When the president answered the fox kindly said, “Good evening Mr. President would you please allow us to come in?”
    The president agreed and so the animals entered his home. Once they had entered fox set up her boom speakers and played Lady Gaga. All the animals raved and danced the night away. With each step they took they stole a little more light into the sky until finally they had taken enough light to rise the morning sun. And thus light was made!

The White House

Authors Note: This story was all about how light was created on Earth. The story starts out by saying that in the beginning all of the world was dark, all but the old chiefs tepee. The old chief refused to give any of the animals light so the animals decided to take the light by craft. The animals gather and went to sing and dance at the chief tepee. They sang, “light, light, light” and soon light was stolen from the old chief and drew upwards into the sky. It was faint, so they continued to dance and sing. More and more light was stolen up into the sky until the chef in his confusion said... “let there be - light.” Now all the animals owned the light even though the old chief did not mean it.

Week 9 Storytelling: The Origin of Countries

Once in the history of the world, was a great field and that field was full of plants and crops that were precious for the life of the people who lived in the area. One day a monster of sorts came to the field and decided this is where he would like to live his life. He was a greedy creature that was interested in none other than himself. He was very large standing taller than most trees, his head seemed to scrape the clouds. He had horizontal stripes up and down his body and he wore the ugliest of all sweaters! He refused to share the precious crops with the people that lived in the area. 

One day the bulldog heard of the injustice that was happening in the plains. He decided being the most courageous and cunning of all animals to investigate the situation and attempt to help the people. He set off on his new adventure all the while trying to think of how to trick the creature. Just before he arrived at the edge of the crops he had finally rendered a plan to deceive the ugly sweater wearing monster and save the people of the plains. 

Being so cunning the bulldog started tending to the crops and this soon came to the attention of the creature. With a mighty roar that sounded like the howling of mighty winds the monster awoke and ran to the bulldog. “Why do you take MY crops?” The Monster asked. “Oh... Mr. Monster I am gratefully sorry, but I am the crops health inspector and your crops are not healthy enough for consumption. I am going to have to confiscate all your crops, but do not weep for your loss because I have brought you new crops that will be the healthiest crops ever!”

Superhero Bulldog

“Well, thank you inspector. I really appreciate it.” Said the creature. 

So the bulldog set out to harvest all of the “rotten” crops and when he finished he gave the ugly sweater wearing creature a bag of seeds. But, these seeds were not ordinary seeds they were laced with Ricin, a powerful poisonous drug that would cause instant death. 

Once the monster was dead the bulldog cut him up into little pieces. He planted the pieces in different areas of the world and this is how there came to be different countries! He also gave the harvested crops to the Plains people who waited so patiently for their crops. 

Authors Note: The Origin of Tribes - For this story I retold a story that explain the origin of Tribes. So it starts with a very pristine and beautiful lake were a giant beaver lived. Animal people wanted to fish in the lake, but they could not because the giant beaver named Wishpoosh would kill the people. A coyote decided to challenge the great beaver. He began fishing and was quickly attacked. The coyote speared the great beaver and Wishpoosh fell to the bottom of the lake drag gin the coyote with him. The coyote fought back though and soon the had created many lakes from the fighting. Finally coyote being so cunning allowed Wishpoosh to swallow him and coyote then cut open his intestines and dragged the giant beaver to shore. He cut Wishpoosh up and from various body parts created different tribes!

Week 7 Storytelling: The Lucky Cricket and the Starving Children

     One dark night, cold and pouring rain, a cricket clamored out of his home in a pile of crumpled old newspapers and set out in search of food for his four-hundered and sixty three children. Edward became an only father when his beloved wife, Matilda, passed away giving birth to their last son. Disgruntled from the death of his wife and forced to provide for all his children alone, Edward was, as you can imagine, in rough looking shape. His face was covered in black stains acquired from his full-time position at the factory. His hands were rough and worn, and his eyes were glazed over like he had been sleep deprived for three weeks, in fact he had been sleep deprived for three weeks!
     Edward was not the kind of guy to ask for help. He was capable of finding food for his yougins’ on his own. He finally came to a place that seemed to glimmer with hope! It was a Taco Bell!!! If he was lucky he would be able to find a freezer with food or collect enough crumbs to feed his children. He set out to start the search, but it was not long until suddenly became enshrouded with a dark shadow and as soon as it had started it had ended. Edward has been squished by an employees shoe. 

Jiminy Cricket in the original trailer for Pinocchio

    All of Edward’s children were at home starving and they hadn’t a clue what to do or how to get some food. One of the cricket siblings piped up and said, "I had a dream, that our father has died!” Next a sister spoke and said, "I had a vision about where he is I can lead us to his body.” The cricket siblings set out to find their father and search for food. When the arrived at Taco Bell and found their father deceased on the cold tile floor all the children wept, with the exception of the youngest child who said, “When I was born and I killed my mother I inherited the power to bring people back to life. So, I shall now bring Papa back to us.” Conjuring up a spell the youngest cricket worked his magic and soon the father sprang back to life. 

     With his children at his side the father led the children to a Cheesy Gordita Crunch with No Baja Sauce and Substituted Beans for Beef and everyone was happy!

Authors Note: For this weeks reading I choose to retell the story How the Wives Restored their Husband to Life. I choose to retell this story because I believe it went nicely paired with my storybook project theme of the undead. This story was very interesting and started off with A man who had three wives. The man set out to feed his wives and while he was away he decided he want to get an ox so he tracked the ox far away. When he took his arrow to kill the ox another ox came from behind and killed him too! The wives starving at home did not know what to do. One of the wives dreamt their husband was killed by an ox, another led them to his body and the third resurrected him from the dead. The woman fought over whose food he would eat first. When the man was able he said I will eat the food of the wife that brought me back to life because she is the one that allowed me to eat again.

Week 6 Storytelling: The Man and the Bear

              Once there live a man and his family who lived in a small city on the west coast of North America. The man was about middle aged, probably mid forties. He was tall for an American, standing over most of his peers, his hair showed signs of turning grey from stress and he had hideous large framed bifocals that outlined his eyes. He did not speak much, but his presence spoke much about him. His face was scarred with ancient war injuries and his facial expression gave a sense of emptiness. Still he was always protective of his family and his heritage. The man was in northern Oklahoma on his way meet with a realtor who was showing him some properties in a very desirable neighborhood. The man was moving to Norman, OK from the West coast for his new job in the oil fields to better support his family. 
              While he was on his way to the third property the man stopped by a pristine lake and decided this is where he would like to live! He went over to an old picnic area to take a nap in his tent. While he was sleeping the ground beneath him shook; the earth melted beneath him and he slid into the lake. Unable to swim he called for help!

Brown Bear, Ursus arctos in Norway

              Nearby the water with his family was a large and strong bear. He had the strength of twenty men, but was shorter then the average bear. Unable to swim himself the bear said, “Hold on I will use my wits to save you." The bear thought and thought about how to save this drowning man, when it suddenly became clear. He stood behind a tall  and ancient tree and roared back on his two back feet. Using all of his might the bear slammed against the tree until it fell into the water next to the drowning man. the Bear clamored out onto the fallen tree’s gargantuan trunk and rescued the man from his sure demise. 
             Grateful the man thanked the large bear. Saved from drowning the man found himself quite tired and decided that before he continued he was going to rest for a while. The man was severely tired from his struggle to survive, but could not get to sleep because the bear's family was making too much noise as they were playing Frisbee. Angry at the bear's family and with his desire to live in this beautiful area, he devised a plan to rid the place of the bears and move his family from the west coast to this new location.
            Once the Bears fell asleep for the night the man decided to capture the bears and use them as bait and food for the winter. He also though of how wonderful the bears warm skins
would feel as they kept his family warm throughout the winter!

The Man and the Monkeys & The Ingratitude of Man: 
For this story I decided to combine two of the stories I read in the Unit Tibetan Folk Tales. This story of The  Man and the Monkeys which I really based the storytelling on is describe below. You can see other descriptions from this story here. This story starts out with a man entering into the Garden of Eden. A beautiful place he eats some food and decides to take a nap in a tree. While sleeping he turns over and falls into the lake below. A monkey nearby sees the man struggling and tries to rescue him. Unable to do so he say if only I were taller and stronger I could help you. For many days the Money lifted stones to become strong until he was strong enough to help the man. He helps the man, but it was not soon after until the man begins to think the monkeys are too loud and decides they should all die so he can live in a peaceful place. So he shakes the trees they are sleeping in and they all fall to their death. The End. 

Week 5 Storytelling: The Perfect Match

Once upon a time in a very large and prestigious kingdom live three mighty men. Each one of the men possessed a quality that challenged even the greatest men in the kingdom. The queen who had just turned fourteen was in search of a suitor. Her father had passed away when she was a child and her mother had recently died from the bubonic plague leaving her two children with out parents or relatives. This made the eldest daughter the Queen of the kingdom and the youngest daughter princess. The royal council gave the queen two months from her coronation to find a husband. So the queen set out on her mission to find true love and find herself a husband.

The queen called a kingdom wide competition for her hand in marriage. She staged the competition to be the most competitive competition the world had seen and to demonstrate the talents she thought would lead to the perfect husband. These talents would be demonstrated by two different events and each event would be taking place on a different day.

The first event she choose was a test to demonstrate strength, for only a man with strength would be able have her hand in marriage. To test strength the queen set up a quiz. Whom ever had the highest score on the quiz would win this challenge. The men competing were perplexed.

“What is the purpose of a quiz?” They questioned the queen, “This does not demonstrate our strength... we should be lifting stones are fighting each other.”

“I am not interested in your physical strength.” The queen responded. “I am looking for a husband who has strength of mind; for only someone with a strong mind will be able to hold my attention for life.”

Irritated by the queen’s deception the men agreed to take the quiz. They took their seats in a great reading hall and began their test of strength. Before they began the queen was curious about how the men would test against her own strength of mind so she too took the exam, but in secrecy. When they finished the exams were scored and the winner of the event was sealed in an envelope and would not be announced until the final day. The next day the second event began at noon. The event was to take place in a large open field outside the castle gates. When the sun was highest in the sky the competitors lined up to take their positions in the field. In front of each of them men sat a five foot rope and an egg. The queen arrived on horse back and looked at the men.

Empress Elizabeth of Austria

“This is an event of endurance. If you are to have my hand in marriage then you must be able to demonstrate both patience and endurance. For this event you will hold each end of the rope in each or your hands. I will come and place the egg in the center of the rope and the man who can balance the egg the longest on the rope shall be the winner of the competition!”

The men began the challenge, but no winner was declared. None of the men were able to hold the egg longer than a second after the queen placed the egg on the rope.

“This is an outrage, no one would be able to complete this task!” The men exclaimed!

The queen upon her horse took the rope in her hands and asked her maiden to place the egg as she had upon the rope. For twelve hours the queen rode around the castle with the egg in perfect balance.

 When the time came to announce who would have the hand of the queen and become the king of the kingdom the queen stood up in front of her loyal subjects and announced the winner of the competition.

~ ~ ~

Who was the winner of the competition?

~ ~ ~

The queen announce that she had won the competition and would not be married to any of the men. She was the perfect match for herself. 

Her sister on the other hand choose to marry the strongest women in the kingdom because that is what she was attracted too. Go figure. 

The Three Delicate Wives: So I was originally inspired by the story of the Three Delicate Wives as described below, but I ended up adding many more elements to the story. Once I really got started writing I enjoyed the story to much and didn’t want to limit it to the one story. I would like to think of the final product as a nice mixture of many of the stories from this unit. 

This story begins at a distant land where there is a king with three wives. When the king saw his first wife a lotus flower landed in her and she was severely bruised by this instantly. The second wife was lying in bed with the King and when the moonlight shone on her skin she was severely burned! Crazy, I know Right! It gets better. The third wife is walking down a corridor an hears the pestles and the sound alone gave her bruises. OMG IKR?! So that is the story, of the three delicate wives and when the Goblin asked the King who was the most delicate the King answered The one who was bruised by the sound of pestles for she was the only one that was hurt by something that was not physical.  

Week 4 Storytelling: The Virtue of Listening

A long time ago, in a village quite far away lived a simple beggar and his pet parrot. The beggar lived in a humble shack about ten miles outside of the small village and had been blind since his birth. His parrot was his eyes and the two of them had a bond that was stronger than any other force on Earth. The beggar was elderly; his skin sagged on his face and left his forehead with three distinct wrinkles. He had a shiny baldness to his head, but he had a wonderfully long white beard that flowed down to his weak knees. On his shoulder he held his parrot and in his hand he held a short wooden cane. Much like the elderly man the parrot too was growing older. He could no longer fly and spoke in short and sometimes inaudible squawks.

The elderly man knew much wisdom, but his words were not headed by young travelers. Everyday the man would sit on the side of the road that lead straight into town. He sat under a shady tree with a used pale bucket. Leaning against the bucket was a sign that read, “Alms for the poor.” As weary travelers came upon the old man he would try to strike up conversation. Some of the travelers would stop and listen to the elderly man while others would ignore him completely and continue on their path. If the travelers stopped to listen to the beggar, he would give them advice and if they did not stop he would give them no warning. 

“I know of the secrets this forest offers.” Said the beggar.

“Secrets... Secrets.” The man’s parrot would squawk.

"If you see a red haired mermaid sitting on the shore of a small lake just before the entrance of the town do not listen to her stories!” He warned the travelers, “she will try to lure you to her cave where she will devour your soul.” 

The knight and the mermaid, by Isobel Lilian Gloag, c. 1890

All the travelers who were kind enough to listen to his stories thought he was mad! Why would a mermaid want to eat a persons soul and besides mermaids don’t even exist. Travelers would continue on their way, but none would make it to the village. A humble merchant traveling to the village stopped to listen to the elderly beggar. He gave alms to the man and headed his words. When he came upon the mermaid he ran as fast as he could into town while plugging his ears. As he was running he saw the cave the old man described. There were bones stacked up high and the was a road that ran from the cave to the entrance of town. He also saw three burly men near the cave. Two of the were ripping belts and belongings off dead bodies while the other stood guard. When the merchant arrived at the towns entrance the towns-people were shocked. 

"How did you make it past the soul eating mermaid?” The village questioned. They were baffled by the simple merchant for not one person had made it to the village in over seventy-five years! When the merchant told his story of the elderly man and his advice the towns people became fiercely angry.

“You mean there is a man that was telling you to avoid the cat?” The Towns people asked.  

“Well... yeah and I’m sure glad he did. He has saved my life and my soul.” The merchant answered. 

To investigate the merchant’s claim a handful of towns people followed the road back to the elderly man, but instead they found nothing but a note. It read:

Dear Towns People. I know what you have been up to. 

I have finally found a man that is willing to listen. 

You will no longer be able to take the belonging of these murdered people,

just like my brother from seventy-five years ago.

I have sent out my parrot to alert the emperor of your wrong doing

and I now have someone who will believe me. 

Sincerely, The one who lived

Authors Notes: For this weeks Storytelling post I chose to retell the story of The Poisonous Trees from the reading unit Jataka Tales. TO start I will say that I was inspired in part by some Harry Potter Scenes. This story was about Buddha who was reincarnated as a merchant. He led a caravan of 500 into a forest. Before they entered the forest he warn the people traveling with him that there are fruit in the forest that are deadly if eaten. Before they eat any fruit they promised to first ask the merchant leader if it was safe to eat. Some of the caravan traveled ahead of the others and soon came upon a village. Before the entrance of the village there was a tree that appeared to be a mango tree. Before getting approval from the Buddha about weather or not the fruit was safe to eat some people ate the fruit while others waited. When the Buddha arrived he explain how the fruit was from the what-fruit tree. This tree’s fruit looked exactly like the fruit of a mango tree. The Buddha gave the men who ate the fruit a remedy to cure them. The villagers were outraged! They expected to find dead men and take their belongings. Instead they found the caravan of people. When they asked the merchant how he knew

Jataka Tales Unit. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock (1920).

Week 3 Storytelling: Trevor and Tyler

As the president of a large Fortune 500 company Trevor was very used to getting what he wanted. In fact, there was only one instance in his life that involved him being denied what he wanted and that was a boy that he had fallen in love with during high school; You see, Trevor came from a family that frowned upon being gay, and so it was not meant to be. Years later, after college and working his way up the corporate later, Trevor met a beautiful women name Nikki. They became best of friends and to them it seemed only logical to complete the next step and get engaged. Stepping forward again a few years Trevor now had two children, a wife, A large house and was CEO of his company! 

All was going well in Trevor’s life and for years he lived happily. But, like many men in positions of power Trevor soon became uninterested in the life he had built. Some would call this time in his life a “midlife” crisis, but Trevor recognized that he wasn’t just unhappy with his life, but he was missing something. He soon turned to alcohol and drugs trying to dull the thoughts away. Unfortunately it didn’t work. Trevor’s lust grew and grew until he was no longer able to control it. 

One day walking from his limousine to his hotel room in the Grand Hotel of New York. He saw a young man doing the Ice Bucket Challenge. Interested in what was happening Trevor decided to strike up a conversation with the guy. His name was Tyler and he was a student at the University of New York City. Trevor invited Tyler to stay the night with him in his hotel room. Tyler agreed and Trevor’s emptiness he had felt was dissipating. Later that night, while things were getting heated in the bedroom, Trevor’s wife was trying to enter the bedroom, but the door was locked. She left to get a key. Alarmed at his wife’s presence Trevor decides that he will dress up both himself and Tyler in slacks and a pressed shirt. Trevor had successfully transformed Tyler into a business partner. When she returned she found no incriminating evidence of her husbands betrayal, but instead a business meeting that had gone well. Trevor went to the grave with his secret and continued to live a happy life with his wife and kids. 

Authors Notes: Greek Myths: Ovid’s Metamorphosis: Io
For this story I tried to retell it in a contemporary setting. I included details such as a gay relationship and my favorite the Ice bucket Challenge. The story if Io was very gruesome, but also interesting. The story was about Jupiter raping a young women name Io. When Jupiter’s wife came to find Jupiter, he quickly turned Io into female cow. Juno, Jupiter’s wife, was unsuspecting but eventually she finds out about Jupiter raping this women. 

Illustration of Io as a Heifer

Week 2 Storytelling: The Slaying of Prince Jack

This story starts out in a distant land, far from those known to you and I, known as Catlandia. This world was inhabited by an ancient and intelligent race of Felines. Their city of Meowton is surrounded by a large and sturdy wall that is impenetrable to any opposing enemies. The King of Catalonia is referred to as King Nala. He was a just king who always treated his subjects fairly. He was a proud king and a proud parent of two beautiful children. His firstborn was a handsome lad named Jack and his youngest was a beautiful princess named Pepper.

One day in the land of Catlandia Pepper was off on her daily stroll by the ocean when she came across a strange man passed out on the beach. His name was Sargent. He was a rough looking mutt from a land on the other side of the ocean called Barkersfield. Unknown to Pepper or Sargent at the time their paths had just crossed and would forever be intertwined.

Cat and Dog Love

“Meow, you okay?” Pepper questioned Sargent.

Scratching his ears he stood on his four feet, “Yeah, I’m fin...” He caught hold of the princess beautiful eyes and paused for a moment, “Fine... Who are you?”

"Princess Pepper", she replied.

Skipping ahead several hours Pepper and Sargent were still talking. Little by little they were falling in love and soon Sargent would ask Pepper to run away with him. And so she did leaving all she had ever known behind to start a new life in the land of Barkersfield.

King Nala was worried about his darling daughter when she did not arrive at supper that night. He sent all of the guards he could afford to search for her. Unable to find his daughter the King finally came across a humble farmer who told the King he had seen his daughter with a dog sail on the ocean toward Barkersfield! The king outraged ordered his troops to go fourth and retrieve his daughter.

Soon, the troops returned empty handed. They told the King they had not enough troops to find or force Princess Pepper back home. On their voyage home the troops were followed by the Barkersfield Army who were ordered by their king to lay siege to Catlandia. At once King Nala ordered his entire army to ready themselves for war. They did as the King said and started to prepare. Before they knew it Dog Warriors from Barkersfield were unloading onto the shores of Catlandia and the War had begun.

Both sides suffered major injuries. Bites, scratches and disgusting slobber attacks. The war ended for the night and proceeded the next day. The second day advanced and many more casualties followed on each side. Finally each side agreed to send out their best fighters for Victory. With many years of experience in the field of Marshal Arts, King Nala sent his son, Prince Jack. During the time of his sisters running away to Barkersfield, Jack was very upset about the kidnapping of his Sister.

The King of Barkersfield sent his best man, Sargent. A proven warrior in combat, Sargent was the best hope the King of Barkersfield had. Sargent was ready to fight for the hand to his new girl, Pepper, and Jack was ready to fight to have his sister back.

The battle between the two was finished almost as soon as it had begun; It was over. Jack was able to get in a few good hits, but Sargent was victorious in the Battle and ended the battle with a final chomp on Jack’s neck.

Depiction of the Battle between Jack and Sargent

As the battle ended it was evident that the Barkerfieldians were superior to the Catlandians. All was well in the lands again, and soon Sargent and Pepper were wedded and live a very happy life together!


Author’s Note:
I choose to do a funny style of writing with new characters that closely matched the events that took place in the original story, Homer’s The Iliad. I choose this style of writing because eI felt like I would be better able to engage the readers into the story. I based some of the characters off of pets that I own or that my relatives own. The original story had a women who was taken by greeks from troy. A battle occurred in Troy and eventually the hero Achilles defeated the Champion of Troy.

Bibliography:
The Iliad by Alfred J. Church (1907)

Week 1 Storytelling: The Boy who Planned on Getting a New Toy

Timothy was a very young lad and had a fruitful mind. He knew exactly what he wanted and he was very careful about planning out how to get what he wanted. For two whole weeks Timothy had his eye on a brand new toy car that had just come out. During this time he had created a plan to get what he wanted. He asked his mother if he could clean the house for some allowance. She was hesitant at first because the family did not have much money to spare on frivolous items such as toys.

"Why don't you help me set the table, and then go and play with your friends? You don't need a toy to be happy" She said.

“Oh, please mom, the whoooole house,” he begged.

She could not say no to her precious boy and he was soon at work cleaning the house. While his friends played outside he found himself sweeping and mopping, dusting and scrubbing and worst of all changing the cat's littler! All the while he cleaned he could only think about the brand new toy he would get, but first he had to come up with a plan to make enough money for even cleaning the house was not going to be near enough to afford the new toy.
 

He planned to buy an apple from the grocery store and plant the seeds in the into the garden of his backyard. When his apple tree was grown he would then sell the apples and make a very large profit, enough to buy many toys.  

“Soon,” he exclaimed “I will have that toy.”

He was given his allowance, as promised by his mother, and ran as fast as possible to the grocery store. As he walked into the entrance he was stopped by a beautiful gum ball machine. With money in his hand he wasted no time and was soon happily chomping on a bubblegum flavored gum ball. Continuing on his journey to buy an apple his dream of owing this brand new toy was unknowingly cut short when the cashier said, “That will be thirty-eight cents please.” Panicked Timothy had just learnt of his mistake, he had spent all but a nickel of his allowance. With the purchase of the gum ball vanished his apple seed, tree and all hopes of every owning that new car toy.

Kids at a Gumball Machine

Authors Note: Don’t count your chickens before they hatch!
This story was about a milkmaid who planned to use her milk to make butter to sell to then buy eggs and hatch chickens and then sell to buy a dress and look good for potential suitors. Unfortunately for her, the milk spilled and he dreams and plans were washed away and she could no longer find a suitor.

Bibliography:

The Aesop for Children. Aesop. N.p.: n.p., n.d. The Project Gutenberg. Rand McNally & Company, 2 Dec. 2002. Web. 13 Aug. 2014.