Week 2 Story - The Girl, The Beaver, and The Eyes
Once upon a time, in a forrest far away, lived a young girl who took care of her sheep. This job was very hard, because of the mountainous region she resided in. There was harsh weather, unforgiving predators, and hunters out to steal the sheep's wool and meat. This may seem like too hard of job for a young girl, but she was very good at it. In four years, she only lost two of her sheep.
One evening, as the sun was setting and the wind was blowing through the leaves of the trees, the girl notices a glowing pair of eyes in the distance and a strange noise she had never heard before. She stood tall, not allowing anything to sense her fears. The eyes slowing dissipated into the night after a few moments and the girl's worries fell.
The following night, under the bright moon and twinkling stars, the girl shepherded over her sheep, guarding their helpless souls. She looked off into the night, and appeared the eyes once more. The yellow glow of the creature's eyes continued to stare into the girls herd of sheep. She then began to fear, and this time she didn't stand as tall, letting her fear seep through the air. Despite her fears, the eyes disappeared once again.
The next day, after she woke from her rest, she noticed three of her sheep had been mangled. This had never happened before, and she couldn't let it happen again, so she took action and began to set a trap for the intruder. She was angry with herself.
"How could I have been so careless and let my sheep roam free when I slept?"
"I must ask if anyone has seen the creature who has damaged my herd," she said.
She visited the tree. "Have you seen the monster that killed my sheep?" she said.
"For I am a tree, I blow in the wind and sway to the melody of the birds. I couldn't have seen much, but I did see fur," said the tree.
She the turned to the stone. "Have you seen the monster that killed my sheep?" she said.
"For I am a stone. I stand strong no matter the weather or time of day. I couldn't have seen much, but I did see big teeth" said the stone.
The girl pondered, and then saw the beaver, who has big teeth and is covered in fur.
She then turned to the beaver who lived peacefully by the dam. "The tree says the monster who killed my sheep has big teeth and fur, "the girl said, "are you the monster who killed my sheep?"
"For I am a beaver, I must build my home and care for my river. Yes, I have big teeth and fur, but I am not the only creature who does. The eyes that glow in the forrest also have big teeth and fur, he is the killer of your sheep" said the beaver.
The girl believed the beaver, and blamed the creature with the glowing eyes.
She was determined to catch the creature, so she assembled her trap and then fell asleep gracefully under the stars.
As she slept, the glowing-eyed creature appeared from the woods. He was a fox, with big ears and a fuzzy tail. The fox saw the beaver sneaking away from the dam, beginning to approach the sheep.
The fox had witnessed the incident, and knew the beaver was tricking the girl about being the killer.
He was not happy about being blamed for the murders, so he wanted to trick the beaver back.
The fox whispered to the beaver, "hey, the biggest sheep is this way, follow me."
The beaver followed the fox, until he stumbled into the trap that the girl set for the killer.
The next day the fox did not seek shelter in the woods. Instead he waited for the girl to wake up.
"Beaver," the girl said, "you tricked me into believing it was this fox with the glowing eyes, but really it was you all along."
"The trickster has been tricked," said the girl. Now you will spend forever in this trap, and my new friend, Fox will help me look after my sheep.
creature's eyes
Author's notes: The original story was based on a tale that involved a tiger, a brahman, and a jackal. Each character played an important role in the story, and all were tricked except the jackal. For my own personal version of the tale, I wanted to emphasize the characters that were tricked, and mimic the pattern of the characters. For example, in the original story, the tiger first tricked the man by saying he wouldn't eat him if he let him out of his cage. In my story, the similarity is seen when the beaver tricks the girl into believing he was not the one who killed the sheep. Towards the end of the original story, the jackal tricks the tiger into getting back into the cage. In my story, the fox tricks the beaver into getting trapped. This is where I got the idea of "the trickster has been tricked."
Story Link
Bibliography - Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912).
I really enjoyed this story. I like how you changed up the story a little and had the trickster being tricked. It was a nice new touch. I also liked how you had the girl set up a trap for the culprit instead of like in the original story where the man just went looking for people to help him. She actually took action and did something to help herself.
ReplyDeleteHey there again. I was really impressed with how you changed up this story. I was in the mythology and folklore section of this course last semester and created a storybook of tricksters so I really enjoyed this story. The way you changed the ending to have it to where the trickster was the one that really ended up getting tricked was great! Sometimes that is hard to do and you made it seem effortless. Keep up the good work for the rest of the semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Gracie! I remember reading the original story last semester. There are quite a few other stories that are like this. I enjoy them because it is a big “he said, she said” tale. I would never know who to trust if I were in the same situation. Reading about tricksters also makes me think of some Norse mythology stories with Thor and Loki. Thank you for sharing your story! It was well written and entertaining.
ReplyDeleteHi Gracie!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your paragraph about the second night. The detail about the setting was nice. I also enjoyed the parallel structure between the different things the girl questioned. It made that part of the story flow nicely and easy to read! Another thing I enjoyed was that the fox, typically a trickster animal, was not the one actually killing the sheep. Even past that, he helped catch the beaver and show the girl who was really doing it.
Reading the beginning, I wondered how the girl had become such a wonderful shepherd. Perhaps she is from a family of sheep herders and started helping when she was very young. Or maybe she was just a natural at it. If these stories could be longer, I think that would be an interesting thing to go into and explain.
What if you had added some more detail about the night the fox caught the beaver? Some details like in the first few paragraphs could really amp up the tension right at the climax, making the reveal that much more exciting!