There was once a mother Blue Crane who looked after five of her children. One day, while feeding her child in the wetland areas of the Western Cape, a brown hyena approached her. He demanded that the Blue Crane give up one of her children or else he would swim across and take her entire family. The Blue Crane was immensely worried. Here she was, a small and weak mother bird, merely trying to take care of her family. As she sat in her nest pondering of what to do, she came up with an idea. She yelled to the hyena to give her another day to choose which of the five children she would give up. The hyena, knowing that he was guaranteed a meal tomorrow, quickly agreed and head off. Now the Blue Crane was in a conundrum. What could she do to save her children? As she thought, she remembered the favor she had done to the queen of the lands, the Lioness. Just recently Blue Crane had informed Lioness of her son's willingness to explore the lands late at night, a behavior that easily worried and angered his mother, the queen. Hoping her plan would work, she traveled to the queens abode. As she approached the lioness, she explained her predicament, doing her best to persuade the queen. The lioness listened attentively and could see the distraught in the Blue Crane's eyes. Never forgetting her subject's favor, she acquired to her plan. The next day the hyena came hurriedly to the Blue Crane's home, drooling for his meal. He shouted to the Blue Crane to give up one her children or else he would take them all. Yet, as he shouted his demand, a loud roar erupted from behind the hill near the wetland. Slowly, a pride of lions gathered on top of the hill as the Lioness glared at the hyena. She shouted to the hyena to leave Blue Crane alone or face the wrath of her family. The hyena, with his tail between his legs, sprinted away from the wetland to forever leave the Blue Crane alone.
Author's Note: The original story had a jackal, dove, and heron. Because it was a South African story, I wanted to include the blue crane, which is the national bird of South Africa, and the brown hyena which is commonly found in Southern Africa. I also changed the outcome of the story by having the hyena punished for his deeds. This unlike the original story where the jackal is not faced with any consequences for his actions. Moreover, I included the lioness as a character to bring resolution to the story.
Bibliography:
South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910).
Hi Neal! I really liked your story. I thought it was very clever of you to change the characters in the story to reflect the common animals in Southern Africa instead of keeping the original characters. How cool! I also appreciated that you changed the outcome of the story so that the hyena was punished for his deeds. Great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Neal. Nice job on your story! Your writing really brought across what a hard decision the mother was being faced with. I like how you described everything in your story in a very clear way. I think that you made some really good decision with ways you changed your version of the story. Did you consider including any dialogue? That might have added even more personality to your characters.Good job!
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