Week 5 Story: The Fable of the Animals

Long ago, when the world was created, the water was filled with creatures, then the land. Lastly, Man was created. At this time, every animal was created equal. They needed a system to decide who was the most and least powerful and everything else in between. Man was chosen to be the one to assign the levels of power to all of the animals.

Man told all the creatures to gather round to hear the news. He told them that the next day, they would be competing in an obstacle course for the different power ranks. The course would test strength, agility, and endurance. He would create the course the previous night, and it would be a surprise for each competitor so that no one would have an advantage.

Coyote has been know as being sly and cunning even since the beginning of creation. That night, while all of the other animals were resting, he chose to stay up all night spying on Man so that he could see the obstacle course. He was determined to get the most power, and he knew that would be possible if he had the advantage of seeing the course. Otherwise, he knew he would lose to stronger animals like Cougar and Bear.

As he waited and spied he took mental notes over the course. This is taking longer than I expected, I'm ready to rest, he thought. But, he continued spying. When the sun began to rise all of the other animals started to wake up and prepare for the course. Coyote had stayed awake the whole night. The course would start in about an hour, so he decided to take a small nap. He asked Man, "Can you wake me before we begin the course?" Shorty after, he fell asleep.

Little did Coyote know, Man saw him spying that night. He was disappointed in Coyote for cheating. Instead of waking him, he called for the race to start immediately. And so the race began without Coyote. Cougar and Bear received the most power. Frog received the least amount of power, but even below him was Coyote. For cheating, Coyote was rewarded the smallest amount of power. All of the animals laughed at and ridiculed him, but Man felt a bit sorry for him.

Even though Coyote was quite powerless, Man decided to reward him with even more cunning abilities. He was created to be cunning, but after this event he was six times more cunning than before.

Coyote

Source: Pixabay

Story Source: The Fable of the Animals from Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson

Author's Note:
In the original story, power is to be assigned by man. Rather than the animals competing, man simply assigns power by giving different bows of different lengths to the animals. The longest bows have the most power and the shortest bows have the least power. Coyote decides to stay up to be the first one to meet Man in the morning, so that Man will give him the longest bow. When he stays up all night, he gets too tired by the morning and falls asleep. After man has given out all the bows, he realized he's missing one creature. He finds out that it's Coyote, so Coyote is left with the shortest bow. Man feels bad for him, and decides to still reward him with more cunning. I changed a few plot details in my story. First, I changed how the animals receive power because I felt that they should compete for it. Next, I changed that Man knew Coyote was cheating, so he paid the consequences.

Reading Notes: How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite, Part B

For Part B I chose to stick with the Southwestern and California Legends Unit. I liked part A, so I decided to continue reading part B. The stories of why things came to be spark my interest greatly because the stories that people create are well thought out. My favorite story was titled How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite from Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson (1912)

According to this story, the rattlesnake was once a gentle friendly creature. He started to become known as a mean creature only when he was bothered continuously by the other animals. I like that the storyteller started out by believing in the good of all creatures.

Retelling this story from my perspective, I would keep the general storyline, but change a few details.  First, I would keep the idea of the rattlesnake being a gentle creature. He only began to bite when he was bothered over and over. I would have the rattlesnake warn all of the others first though. He would explain that they were disturbing him at all hours and he wasn't getting any rest. He would continue saying if it didn't stop soon, something bad would happen. The other creatures didn't take him seriously and laughed at his statement.

Later on, when Rabbit decided to bother him, he bit him. The ridicule continued, and he bit two others. The result of the bites will eventually kill the animals. These three animals will be the first to die in the new world. From then on, no animals mess with the rattlesnake because they fear him. He spends the rest of his days nestled between rocks or in dark caves because he no longer has any companions.

Rattlesnake

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Reading Notes: The Fable of the Animals, Part A

This week I focused on the Southwestern and California Legends unit. My favorite story was titled The Fable of the Animals from Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson (1912). I enjoyed this story because it has a reasoning behind why the coyote is the most cunning animal.

I like the idea of giving reasoning to why the coyote is the way that he is. I would like to change the way that they decide what animal gets the most power. Instead of man simply giving the the bows to animals, I think they should compete for the power. Basically, the animals would all compete in a challenge course that tests agility, strength, endurance, etc. Man will make the course as it will be a surprise to the animals. But coyote will stay up all night spying on the course instead of resting. He thinks that he will have the advantage over other animals because he knows what the course will include. However, he will be extremely tired, and by the time the course is ready, he will be fast asleep.

At the end, he will be rewarded with the lowest amount of power. While the other animals competed for power, he missed out because he was sleeping. Man will feel sorry for him, and award him with cunning, ten times more than he had before. And that is why the coyote is the most cunning of all the other animals.

Basically, the only aspect I'd like to change is part of the plot. The story still gives reasoning for the coyote, but I think the way that it is achieved needs to be more elaborate.

Cunning Coyote

Source: Pixabay