Week 2 Story
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The Cunning Crane and the Crab
A large group of fish lived in a little lake that was plentiful of water in the Winter, but when summer came around the pool dried up and water was scarce. Next to them was a beautiful lake with a very cunning crane. The crane loves to eat fish and saw an opportunity to take advantage of the fish struggling in their pond. The Crane flew over to the fish and enticed the fish by telling them about this beautiful lake next to them with a plentiful amount of water. Soon, all the fish in the lake were gathered around the Crane while he went on and on about the lake he lives in with lots of water. The fish were all thrilled to hear this but also very suspicious of the crane because they knew that cranes feast on fish. They asked many questions but the crane was quite convincing. The fish gathered together to decide and wound up deciding to give the Crane a chance, but they would only send one old fish to accompany the crane to see for the old fish itself. The crane brought the old fish to show him the lake with plentiful water and then brought the old fish back to tell his friends. The old fish told all the other fish the news that this lake was beautiful and had enough water for all of them. This news made all the fish very excited and anxious to go to the new lake. The Crane then allowed the old fish to come with him first, but this time he killed the old fish and ate him for food. Then one by one the crane went back and forth, and back and forth until he had cleared out every single fish in the dried up lake. The Crane had eaten every single one of the fish! All that was left in the lake was a single crab. The Crab was much smarter than the fish and was fine with staying in the lake he was already at. The Crane could not settle and continued to pester the Crab, but the Crab could see through the Cunning Cranes plan and didn't believe him. The Crab then made a deal that if the crane were to take him to this new lake the crab would be allowed to have his claw around the crane's neck for liability. The Crane feeling cocky and confident after feasting on all the fish, agreed to the Crabs' wishes. The Crab grabbed onto the Cranes neck and they took off. While in the air about to be dropped off in the new lake the crab saw all the dead fish and threatened the crane that he knew his plans. The Crab knew what was going to happen if they got on the ground so the Crab strangled the Crane and killed him. The Crane had been caught by his own trick and the Crab lived happily in the beautiful lake for the rest of his life.
Author's Notes:
This story was a loose re-telling of the original story with minor details added. Basically a large group of fish got tricked by a cunning crane to come to a better lake with plentiful water. The Crane took advantage of all the fish and wound up eating all of them for personal benefits. In the end when the Crane tried to get the last crab the crab was smarter and had a plan to stop the crane in case it was a trick. It was a trick and the crab wound up killing the crane.
This story was very fun to write because of the constant reminder of my favorite childhood book growing up "The Turtle and the Rabbit." This book was about a slow turtle and a fast rabbit racing each other to the finish line. The turtle had his mind set the whole time and was slow and steady, while the rabbit knowing he’s much faster than the turtle was quite cocky and took detours to eat and laugh at the turtle being so slow. Eventually the rabbit was so distracted that the turtle won the race which taught many lessons similar to this story. The moral of the story you learn from the fish is to not trust anyone blindly and look for possible motives when helping. You learn from the Crane that his arrogance making him feel invincible is ultimately what got him killed. In my portfolio my goal will be to provide life lessons with this story being the first of many lessons.
I have to agree, many times slow and steady will always win the race. Even in some of my most proud moments in life, I feel like I always could've done that much better if I just paid attention to certain details. I would have caught these certain details if I were the crab in your story: observing, wise, and sharp. This story is definitely a great lesson that can provide not just one single moral when it comes to the end.
ReplyDeleteHi Joshua! I liked your story, but I also saw you are from Oklahoma City, so that got me thinking: what if you retold the original story as if it took place near the riverwalk in OKC? That would be fun for a lot of us who have visited OKC because we could imagine all the places and restaurants in the city where the Crane, Crab, and fish are interacting! Just a thought for some of your future stories!
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