Sunday, October 26, 2014

Storytelling for Week 6: The Two Nerds





Two little children were sitting together at lunch in the school’s cafeteria. They had been friends for many years but had not made any other friends. Many kids picked on them because they wore glasses and carried Pokémon lunch boxes. The two little kids always ignored the comments and were thankful to have each other as friends.

One day, the two little kids were walking home when they ran into a big mean bully. The big mean bully grabbed both of them by their underpants and went over to the side of the road. The two little kids kicked and squirmed but could not get out of the strong grasp of the bully. The bully then hung the kids by their underpants up on the nearby fence post and left them hanging there as he ran off in laughter.

A horse in the field on the other side of the fence saw what happened and galloped over to help the kids. He grabbed each one by the strap of their suspenders and lifted them off the fence post onto the ground. The horse said, “Let me follow you home tomorrow and I will protect you from the bully.” The kids began to run the rest of the way home after thanking the horse, because now the bully would not come back and get them. On the way they passed a barn cat that asked them, “Why are you two kids running so fast?” The kids told the cat about the bully and the cat wanted to help protect the kids the next day just like the horse did. Before the kids could make it home, they ran into a rooster and a porcupine. Both the rooster and the porcupine asked the kids why they were in such a hurry to get home. After the two little kids told them about the bully, they also wanted to protect them the next day.

The next day finally arrived and the two little kids went to school. They did not see the bully all day and when the bell rang they began to head home. They ran straight to the horse in the field that was waiting on them. As the kids were approaching the horse, they heard the bully yelling at them nearby. The horse neighed at them to jump on his back. The bully was getting closer but the horse managed to gallop off towards the kids’ house faster than the bully could run. The kids hopped off the horse’s back and began to run the distance that was left to their houses.

The bully had taken a different route and cornered them a distance relative to one block away from their houses. The barn cat was hiding a top his barn next to where the bully had cornered the kids and jumped on the bully’s back. The cat began screeching and clawing at the bully, distracting him as the kids kept running home. The bully was taken by surprise from the cat’s attack and, exhausted, began to walk one more block to the kids' house. “These two little nerds will not get away with this!” yelled the bully. In the meantime the two little kids had arrived at their house and had the rooster and porcupine stand watch. When the bully showed up, the rooster began chasing the bully. “No rooster will stop me from beating these nerds!” screamed the bully. The bully ran around in circles trying to escape the rooster. He began to get dizzy and stumbled, landing on something very pokey. “Owww oww oww oww!” cried the bully. He jumped up and saw a porcupine where he had fallen and reached down to his leg where there were many porcupine needles stuck!

The bully ran off back to his house crying and hopping on one leg. The two little kids watched from the window as the rooster and the porcupine had scared off the big mean bully. After that day the two little kids never had a problem with being bullied by anyone ever again. The animals always watched the kids walk home in case they needed to protect them again.



Author's Note: This story is from The Two Little Cats story from the Tibetan Folk Tales unit.  I went along with most of the story except I used all animals that were saving humans.  In the original story there were animals and objects that had a plan to protect the kittens from a mean Handre.  A Handre is a very scary beast in the Tibetan folktales.  The Handre is supposed to be one of the scariest things because it has big sharp teeth and claws that would easily eat up the kittens.  The kittens ran into several animals that wanted to help them just like the kids in the story I created.  I was trying to create a story that was relatable to readers.  A situation where kids are subjected to a bully seems to be very common in everyday life.  I loved animals as a kid and I feel like in general kids find comfort in animals.  I used the animals to help the kids because of this concept.  The picture has to be my favorite part of the story.  I came across it and thought it depicted my story perfectly!  The kids felt so safe and powerful with the protection of the animals, just like the kid in the picture!

Bibliography:
The Two Little Cats Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton with illustrations by Mildred Bryant (1925).


2 comments:

  1. Hey Cobi!

    I really enjoyed reading your take on the story The Two Kittens, I can see why you decided to include it in your writing portfolio! Although I am a big fan of cats myself, I think your choice of replacing the two kittens with two "nerdy" children was a great decision. As I think many of us can empathize with having to deal with the school bully, making this change to the story makes it much easier to relate to than a tale of two kitties. Relatability can be an important quality for gaining and holding onto the readers attention!

    I felt sorry for the two little kids in the story, having all the other kids pick on them for no reason. The image of them with their Pokémon lunch boxes reminded me of when I was little. Pokémon was cool back then, though! I guess the times have changed. The bully hanging them from the fencepost by their underwear reminded me of one of those dumb stereotypical brutes you see in movies and TV shows about school. Thankfully the horse was there to help! It was satisfying in the end to see all the animals come to the aid of the two little kids, and have the bully run off scared.

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  2. Cobi,

    I did not read the Tibetian Folk Tales unit, but I really enjoyed your spin off of The Two Kittens! I liked the Pokémon reference in the beginning of your tale, I grew up obsessed with the show and it made the story more reminiscent for me. :) I felt so sad for the children when the bully strung them up on the side of the road, especially since there was not an adult or anyone around.

    As you stated in your author's note, I like how you changed the story to incorporate children and the animals as protectors. The use of children made the story more lifelike and more relatable to something that could, possibly, happen in everyday life. Bullying has been a big deal in today's society, for quite some time, and I like how in this story the children indirectly get back at him. I absolutely adored the picture, and at first wondered if it was a personal photo. I really enjoyed how this story had sort of rolling the ball effect where all of the animals combine efforts to save the kids from the bully. Good job this week, I cannot wait to come back and read more of your work!

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