Week 2 Story: The Turtle And The King
The Turtle And The King
Some time ago there was a King who lived on a large lot of land with his wife, two sons, and staff. One spring the King decided it would be nice to have a lake put in on his property as him and his sons really enjoyed fishing and swimming with the majestic sea creatures. So, the King ordered his workers to create this lake and add fish but when adding the fish a turtle managed to get in the mix! The King and his sons were so excited for the completion of their addition to the palace and so the sons when out to play in the lake one day. The kingdom is fairly small and does not have much exposure to water creates beside fish so when the boys saw a turtle in the bottom of the lake they were frightened. "There's a demon father! There's a demon!" said the boys as they ran home to the King and Queen. King, also having never seen a turtle before, was disgusted by this and ordered his men at once to gather the turtle. Little did they know the Queen thought the turtle was beautiful but since it could be a demon she kept quite. They could not have a demon in their presence and all at once the ideas on how to handle it started spilling out. Nothing seemed good enough for King until one guard came up and suggested throwing him into the lake where the water flows and letting him suffer as he may there. In dismay the turtle expressed that this would be the worst punishment of them all! The King ordered his men to take the turtle and put him back in the water, back where he belonged. The Turtle completely fooled the King and his men and rested back in his home.
Author's Note: I told this story kind of in the way I read it. Although I enjoyed both short stories about the turtle this one in particularly stood out.
Bibliography: "The Turtle And The King" from the Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt https://sites.google.com/view/jatakas/turtle
The King and his men discussing how to dispose of the demon.
Some time ago there was a King who lived on a large lot of land with his wife, two sons, and staff. One spring the King decided it would be nice to have a lake put in on his property as him and his sons really enjoyed fishing and swimming with the majestic sea creatures. So, the King ordered his workers to create this lake and add fish but when adding the fish a turtle managed to get in the mix! The King and his sons were so excited for the completion of their addition to the palace and so the sons when out to play in the lake one day. The kingdom is fairly small and does not have much exposure to water creates beside fish so when the boys saw a turtle in the bottom of the lake they were frightened. "There's a demon father! There's a demon!" said the boys as they ran home to the King and Queen. King, also having never seen a turtle before, was disgusted by this and ordered his men at once to gather the turtle. Little did they know the Queen thought the turtle was beautiful but since it could be a demon she kept quite. They could not have a demon in their presence and all at once the ideas on how to handle it started spilling out. Nothing seemed good enough for King until one guard came up and suggested throwing him into the lake where the water flows and letting him suffer as he may there. In dismay the turtle expressed that this would be the worst punishment of them all! The King ordered his men to take the turtle and put him back in the water, back where he belonged. The Turtle completely fooled the King and his men and rested back in his home.
Author's Note: I told this story kind of in the way I read it. Although I enjoyed both short stories about the turtle this one in particularly stood out.
Bibliography: "The Turtle And The King" from the Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt https://sites.google.com/view/jatakas/turtle
Man, turtles can be scary.
ReplyDeleteThis one time I found a snapping turtle under my car. I didn't want to move my car, for fear of turning him into a turtle pancake. So I tried multiple methods to get him to leave. First I put a stick under my car to get him to bite it so I could pull on it and possibly yank him out. Unfortunately for me, he dug in and wouldn't budge. Then I tried luring him out with food, but he didn't seem to care, he just kept hissing at me. Finally, with some inspiration from Sun Tzu, I had my friend distract Henry (we had named him by this point) with the stick method, while I flanked around and crawled under my car to get a grip on him from behind. After I had one hand on either side of him he was rendered pretty much powerless, and I managed to shimmy out from underneath my car with him in my grasp. I set him down in the yard and he sat around sort of confused, and then took off like a shot.
Despite all the trouble he caused me, I'd hesitate to call him a demon. Thinking of Henry makes me feel bad for the poor turtle in this story :(
Hi Madison,
ReplyDeleteGreat story! I really appreciated the detail you added to your story that wasn't present in the original. It helped to explain the thought process that might have gone into the king's fast decision to try and end the turtle's life. I related to the queen in this story because I think turtles are so cute so it was nice that you mentioned how not everyone felt the same way about the turtle just to change things up.
It makes me wonder what would have happened if she had spoke up about her feelings on the turtle! It would be cool to hear a version of the story where the turtle somehow changes their minds. I also wonder why, if the turtle could talk, he didn't attempt to explain that he isn't a demon to them.
I wonder what your story would have sounded like if you had told it from the point of view of only one character instead of an overarching view! Also, I wonder if you had changed something small like the queen speaking up, how different the story might have ended!
Hey Madison, I really enjoyed this story! First of all I really like the layout and font choice for the blog, I always find that I want to read the stories that are immediately visually grabbing. I really liked the use of dialogue where the children were yelling that this turtle was a demon. We all have heard kids yell that there's a monster so it was a great way to make a wild story relate able. I was curious as to how the guards were able to catch the turtle, that would be an interesting endeavor! I'd also love to see more of this story form the perspective of this clever turtle. What if there was a conversation between the queen and the turtle to establish both the turtles ability to speak, and to emphasize why the queen liked this turtle so much? Thanks for sharing this story with us, I cant wait to read your next one!
ReplyDeleteMadison,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your story choice. It seems like you kept it fairly close to the original, so it was easy to follow along! The story was really intriguing to me, because the Queen secretly admired the turtle despite what everyone else thought. I think I appreciated that part the most, because it is important to encourage independent thinking, and the Queen did that. It made me think about other characters in the story. Is it possible that others were openly disgusted with the turtle, but they concealed their true feelings? What do you think the repercussions would have been for the Queen sharing honest thoughts about the turtle? I would like to suggest adding more detailed information to your plot. It would help readers get a more visual perception of the story. I also think developing the characters to have characteristics and names would also enhance the overall story. I always enjoy reading about what makes each character so unique and different compared to the others! Keep up the good work, Madison.
Hi Madison! I like how you added a new character in the story, the Queen. I liked that she admired the turtle because I love turtles (and have my own pet turtle too!). But it made me sad that she didn't say anything to stick up for the turtle so she could keep admiring them. Maybe the turtle would bring joy to the king and his family if the Queen would've spoken up!
ReplyDelete