Week 9 Story: Big Bear Rock
You can view this story on my portfolio site here.
Author's Note: I wrote this story from The Man in the Moon, because I've always really liked stories that tell the background of why things are the way they are and the Man in the Moon has been a classic myth I've known since I was a little girl. It starts with a man who was a blacksmith - he was unhappy with it, so he wanted to be a stone to be cooler and asks the wise all-powerful man to turn him to one. When he starts getting chiseled, he decided he wants to be a stone-cutter and asks him to change him again. Then, he wants to be the sun, then the moon. The wise man gets fed up and leaves him trapped in the moon.
Big Bear Rock
The penguins at Pangea zoo were tired of being overlooked by all of the zoo-goers. They always complained that the penguin exhibit smelled too fishy, or was too cold, and they wanted a change. The wise zookeeper was all-powerful, and one day they decided that they wanted to be snakes instead; people always visited the snake exhibits.
"We are not well and we need more attention. No one wants to come visit us anymore. We want to be snakes," they told the wise zookeeper. So, the wise zookeeper made them snakes.
After being snakes for a few hours, they realized that it was not for them. Being fed mice? "No, thank you," they thought to themselves. So they cried out to the wise zookeeper again, and decided that instead they wanted to be monkeys.
"Monkeys always make everyone happy, and they get to swing around all day. Everyone loves seeing the monkeys, and we just want to have fun," they said to the wise zookeeper.
"Fine," the wise zookeeper commanded. And then they were monkeys. But the monkeys were smellier than they were when they were penguins, and they only got fed fruit and vegetables. They also couldn't figure out how to swing around or hang upside down like the rest of them.
"We do not like this either..." they told the wise zookeeper. "We would be the bears. Everyone visits them most of all."
But the bears were too large, and everyone was frightened of them. They decided that they just wanted to go back to being penguins, because they would rather have just been cute and friendly. But when they asked the wise zookeeper to turn them back to penguins, he refused.
"You will remain bears," and turned the penguins into a bear-shaped rock to forever remain in the bear exhibit.
A rock shaped like a bear, thanks to nature. Link here
I wanted to keep the storyline similar when I rewrote my story but change the characters to stay true to my zoo theme. Instead of the man and hobbies its animals to animals, and instead of the moon it's a permanent rock in the bear exhibit. I was happy I even found a picture on the internet of a bear-shaped rock!
Bibliography: The Man in the Moon in Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson
Hey Lauren! I really liked your story this week! I liked how you took a similar plot to the original story but added more modern and easy-to-read elements to it. I remember reading this story near the beginning of the semester, and I could tell right away throughout your story which tale you were retelling. I guess it just goes to show you that you might wish to be something or someone else sometimes, but you will always be happiest when you're being yourself. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren!
ReplyDeleteThe common phrase, "we all want what we don't have," is a theme common to many people's lives. This original story, and your retelling, was a brilliant way to invoke this theme of a character wishing to transform into something else. Your dialect the penguin character uses throughout this story is brilliant and quite humorous. In the end, the character is foolish. The penguins would have been more content as their original selves, rather than the more dull rock-shaped bear resulting form.
Hi Lauren!
ReplyDeleteI also retold this story earlier in the semester and I really like the direction you took it! The zoo setting is a lot of fun, and I like that they end up as a rock as a nod to the original story of the moon. I think keeping the same structure of the original story worked really well here, good job!