He carefully crept to the village just on the outskirts of the dark woods where he scavenges each night to find his last resource for food -- humans. As he neared, visions of his brother being shot by a farmer flashed through his mind. The nerves began to rise.
"There must me some other way," he thought as he continued to tremble through the woods.
After brainstorming for 100 yards and reaching the village, an idea popped into his head, "Maybe I can make friends with one of my cousins -- a dog!"
This was his new mission: make friends with a dog in order to then steal his food.
As the wolf wondered through the village, the sun slowly began to peak over what was once his dark kingdom. As the roosters crowed, he looked closely for dogs to befriend.
"Ah-ha!" he said to himself as he saw a beautiful Golden Retriever looking his way.
The wolf approached the dog with ease and greeted him with a kind, "Hi there, cousin!"
Excited to meet a new friend, the dog welcomed him over the barbed wire fence that was keeping the wolf out. What he didn't explain to the wolf was why he could not cross the barbed wire from his end.
As the owner approached the dog to feed him, he jumped back startled. Luckily, the dog and wolf made their plan of how to act when the owner approached them so he would know not to harm the wolf.
The dog's tail was wagging from side to side as he received "kisses" from the wolf. They pranced and played until the owner made it close enough to pet the wolf. He could not believe what he was experiencing!
He put out two bowls of food and disappeared.
"YES!" the wolf shouted.
The dog looked at him with confusion, "Have you not eaten anything?"
In an effort to be kind and care for his cousin, the dog even offered the wolf his own bowl of food. The wolf was so excited to eat, he didn't notice the owner sneak up behind him. He felt a little tug on his neck and, despite his natural instinct, he continued to eat.
The owner kept refilling the wolf's food bowl as he could see how slim he was due to malnourishment. The wolf was well-fed and ready for bed.
"I'm going to get some rest now, cousin. You know, I usually only sleep during the day, so I am exhausted!" said the wolf.
The dog showed him the barn where he could cool down and sleep until night time comes and he is re-energized.
As darkness dominated the village, the wolf arose from his slumber.
"Time for action," he thought to himself as he crept past the dog.
He slowly made his way back to the fence from which he entered and was ready to make a run for it.
"Thanks for the food, suckers!" He thought as he took a running lunge to send his body over the fence.
"HOOOOOOOOWL," came bursting out of the wolf's mouth.
(Image from Flickr.)
He had been shocked! Confused and in pain, he tried again, but the second time hurt even worse. The dog woke up and sprinted towards the wolf.
"What are you doing? Do you not remember my owner putting a shock collar on you? He told you not to go anywhere. Why wouldn't you listen to him?" The dog shouted angrily.
The wolf was speechless. He had no recollection of those words and could not believe what he was hearing. How could this be? In a matter of seconds he realized all that he had sacrificed for some dog kibble.
As the wolf dragged his feet back toward the barn, he mumbled, "I guess it's true, what comes easy is never worth having..."
Author's Note:
I based my story off of The Dog and The Wolf from Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs. This story has a wolf meeting his cousin, which is a dog just as I have in my story. He stumbles past him as he is trembling with hunger. The dog offers him to join him and be fed by an owner and not have to worry about scavenging for food, but the wolf refuses.
In my version of the story, I have the wolf seek the dog out of desperation without realizing all the he will lose. My version of the wolf is so hungry that he can't think of the consequences following his actions -- he just knows he needs food fast.
Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs; The Dog and The Wolf.
I like both the modernization of the story and also the change of the message from the original. I think that the part about him not caring about what the owner did could have been emphasized a bit. Perhaps the wolf is about to turn t look, but he is worried that if he stops eating for even a second, he may not get more. He is so greedy and focused on food, he tries to look and even then doesn't know what the owner has done. But such great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Natalie! I read this story too, and I love your rendition of it! I like how you changed the ending to where the wolf was a captive too just like the dog. You really did a good job of showing just how hungry he really was, he did not even notice the man putting a shock collar on him! I also liked how you made the wolf feel like he had the upper hand and had played the trick on the dog, when in fact he was the one who got tricked without even knowing it!
ReplyDeleteHi Natalie!
ReplyDeleteI didn't get to read the original story but it sounds super interesting! I think you did a great job getting in the mindset of the wolf and really letting the reader experience everything that's going on. For revising purposes, I would make the moment the collar slips around his neck a little more pronounced. Maybe mention that the human made some sounds (telling him about the shock collar) but since he's never been around humans he doesn't know their language and doesn't understand. Or, you could just say he's way to hungry to even listen properly, that would work too!
Great job!
Hi Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your story, especially because it was from the animal's perspective! I liked that you make it the lesson of the story evident in your last sentence! Your author's note was also very helpful, for I did not have knowledge of the original story. Great job and thank you for sharing!
Your story kept me entertained and I enjoyed the suspense. The description words were well placed and the whole story, in general, was well written. I enjoyed reading it very much. I love the picture of the wolf that you chose. They are such beautiful creatures. This was a creative choice for a story. I look forward to reading your posts in the future.
ReplyDelete