Week 2 Story: The Elephant, the Doe, and the Hunter
The Elephant, the Doe, and the Hunter
Once upon a time, there was an elephant who was walking aimlessly through the forest to find some food.
"Hey! Your footsteps are rustling my leaves, elephant!" yelled a nearby tree.
"Oh I'm sorry, I am just trying to find some food," the elephant said shyly.
"Well be quieter about it," the tree snapped back.
The elephant meekly carried on along the path. A few minutes later, she heard a burst of chirping from above.
"Hey! Your footsteps are waking my children!" a bluebird called out from its nest.
"I apologize, I'm still getting used to my size." The elephant tried its best to tiptoe across the forest floor.
The elephant made its way across a river, but not before she was chastised yet again.
"Hey! I'm trying to catch flies over here and you're scaring them away!" a frog croaked at her.
The elephant attempted to make herself smaller and scurried towards the other side of the water.
She soon stumbled upon a clearing among the trees where a gentle doe was eating the leaves from a small plant. The elephant held her breath and made an effort to sneak on by without disturbing any more creatures. As soon as the doe had disappeared from her field of vision, she heard a loud thud. The elephant peaked through the trees behind her to see what happened.
"Aha! I caught you little deer," a man in hunting gear cried out triumphantly while emerging from behind the trees. The doe was laying on her side under a weighted net. She looked frantically around to find an opening and escape from the trap.
"Now I just need to carry you to my truck and I can sell you in the village."
The elephant could feel her heart beat out of her chest as she decided on her next course of action. She could see that the man was carrying some kind of weapon on his hip, so going near him might be dangerous. She realized there was only one thing she could do. Make some noise.
The elephant lifted her right leg and slammed it down with all her strength. She then did the same with her left leg and slowly repeated the movements.
"Wh-what is that?" the hunter asked horror-stricken.
He swiveled his body around to see where the sound was coming from. The elephant then began to speed up her stomping and as she did, the forest seemed to awaken around them. The trees were shaking and their leaves rained down upon the forest floor. Birds left their nests and circled the sky, cawing and beating their wings. Creatures dashed out of their nooks and crannies and haphazardly weaved throughout the flora to find different hiding places. The hunter looked around petrified before finally screaming and running away from the unusual scene. The elephant swiftly made her way to the doe and helped her out of the net.
"Did you make all that noise?" the doe asked, still shaken by what she had just experienced.
"Yes, I wasn't sure how else to help you," the elephant bashfully replied.
"Well, that was amazing! I never could have scared off that hunter on my own. Thank you so much for your help!"
"It was no problem!" said the elephant with a bright smile on her face. With her head held high and a new pep in her step, the elephant proudly continued her trek through the forest.
Author's Note
This story is inspired from "The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal." The original story is about a man who is trapped by a tiger and is saved with the help of a trickster jackal. That story also included many anthropomorphic side characters that chime in and antagonize the protagonist. My take has the protagonist (the elephant) learn to overcome the things said by the other characters and she ignores her insecurities to help a deer. As I was writing, I realized I had veered from the initial trickster storyline and my retelling actually shares similar qualities to a fable.Bibliography:
"The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal" from Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912) - Story source
Hi Deepa,
ReplyDeleteI also wrote a story about the Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal, so it was really fun to see another representation of it! You included a lot of personification details about the animals that gave insight into their inner emotional state - like "The elephant could feel her heart beat out of her chest as she decided on her next course of action". Those were great details and I encourage you to keep finding places to use them!
This was a great representation of "The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal", as I have read a couple of these story interpretations! I loved how the story changed from getting an animal into a cage to saving one from one. It really kept with the feel of the original, while making it totally unique. I would have liked it more if the elephant trashed the mans truck or done something more aggressive.
ReplyDeleteHey Deepa,
ReplyDeleteInteresting story! As I read through it made me want to investigate the original story and see how your rendition of it differed, well done. The elephant was a nice addition to the story, and I liked how you had an underlying lesson behind adding that in. The loud footsteps disturbing every other animal to the point where the elephant started to become self-conscious about every movement made. I like your take on the elephant overcoming the insecurities that were heightened by other animals ended up being the only saving grace for the doe that was being captured. I wonder what made you choose animals instead of people in your rendition of the original story. My first thought would have been to make the antagonists and protagonist people instead of animals, but I do not think my story would have been as creative as yours if I had done so. Overall, I found your story to be wholesome and well written!
Hey there Deepa! This story was an awesome and unique take on The Tiger, The Brahman and the Jackal! I actually didn't even know that was your inspiration until I read it in the author's note (and I mean that as a compliment because many of the takes I've read on this story follow a very similar pattern). I really felt bad for the elephant when the other creatures were bothered by it, and I liked the happy ending a lot. Well done!
ReplyDeleteHey Deepa! This is such a cute little story. A people-pleaser myself, I could feel the weight on the elephant as she tried to lessen herself for the sake of others. While that may not be the intended meaning for the story, that really resonated with me, especially since being 'loud and proud' helped to save another. Really great job.
ReplyDelete