A Hare’s Fear and an Owl’s Answer
One day, a hare was hopping along enjoying the breeze of the late-noon when he heard a thrashing sound.
Pound. Pound. Thud. Growl.
The hare was so curious as to where these sounds were coming from that he decided to tread lightly in the direction of it. After some time, he reached a clearing where he saw a grizzly bear that had been locked up in a cage.
“You there! Rabbit! Oh please, please release me from this torment. It was poachers you see — Horrible poachers they were!” the bear exclaimed.
With hesitation, the hare hopped up to the cage and said: “Why how long have you been locked away in this cage?”
“For weeks. Weeks that feel just as eons would. Freedom has escaped me so.” sobbed the bear.
Now the hare, feeling nervous at this moment started to step away from the cage. With each small step, the bear’s face began to twist with confusion, “You’re not going to leave me like this are you?”
“If you’ve been in there for weeks, you must...”
“I must what?” interrupted the bear.
Gulp. “Then you must be hungry now. I am but a small hare and you are a large bear. You could swallow me in one go if you had a mind to.”
“My dear rabbit. I would not dare touch a single hair on you. I just want freedom, I promise. Please let me out.”
Feeling the pity over the bear wash him down with guilt, the hare decided to release him from his holdings by jumping so high that he can reach the right ropes to chew through. After a few moments, the bear was free from the cage.
The bear leaped. Growled the mightiest of growls. Then turned to face the hare with a wicked smile and crooked head.
“It looks as though you’ve put your trust into the wrong person. Now that you mention it, I am rather hungry.” The bear begins to ogle the hare, slowly prodding in his direction.
“Oh no. No please! You promised me! Oh, let me live Mr. Bear please oh please!” The hare panicked and plead but the bear continued to move towards him. “Allow me to question why the world has fated me so.”
The bear decided to humor the hare. “Well go on. Ask the world how you got here. I haven’t got all day.”
The hare paused, then looked up to the skies. “Oh world, surely you can help me understand why I’ve been destined to end my lines here.”
“Um sorry — I actually don’t understand you see.” stated by a voice not visible to the area.
“Who was that?” exclaimed the bear.
“Oh, my apologies. I am Hugo the owl. I just caught the end of this peculiar situation. Would you mind breaking it down for me once more? I would love to give you an answer to your fate if I am able.”
So the hare begins to explain his situation to the owl but, no matter the storytelling method chosen the owl does not understand. He tells him one thing, but he’ll think the opposite and fall into a great frustration.
Finally, the bear becomes so agitated for waiting to feast that he intrudes on the explanation. “My goodness owl it is not that difficult to grasp! What are you not getting?”
“How was it that you were in this cage. It seems far too small to hold such a beast like you.”
The Bear follows the trail leading to the cage and re-enters his holdings to prove to the owl how he was able to fit into the cage.
“Now I see it. Perfect!” Said the owl as he closes the cage door and ties it shut with one of his feathers. "You do fit better than I expected in this cage."
For at this moment the hare felt so lucky. The owl may not have given him the answer he wanted, but he gave him the solutions he needed.
Author's notes: This story was a recreation of the fun trickster's tale Tiger, Brahman, and Jackal. My twist on the story does involve a species flip, as well as more dialogue at the beginning between the captive and the savior. I wanted more emphasis on playing up the deceit of the bear by having his character show more through his words. I also wanted the owl to not seem as confused as the jackal did in the original tale, but more or less just trying to help the hare by being his own version of "efficient."
Bibliography: "Tiger, Brahman, and Jackel" from Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source with Bear and friends image from Wikimedia Commons
That's a good version of the story. I knew I recognized the story and didn't see much difference in what I remembered until you pointed it out to me. But that's okay, my memory isn't all that great anyway, I just knew it sounded somewhat familiar. I do like how you used the owl better than the jackal's character in the original story. It did make more sense that way.
ReplyDeleteHi Jasmine! I enjoyed your story, and thought the species flip made things a bit interesting. The only feedback I would give is not about your writing at all, I was just going to suggest making your text a teeny bit bigger. It was just a little hard to read in a few spots. Other than that, I think this is great work, and like what you've done with it!
ReplyDeleteHi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a good job taking the original story, changing it, and making it better.. When I read the original story, The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal, I thought it was strange that the tiger let the brahman temporarily leave to go find people to argue for the tiger not to eat him (if I'm remembering correctly). In your story, the owl just happens to be in the same area and overhears what happens, which makes more sense to me compared to the original story. I didn't really have any questions while reading your story, but looking back, I do kind of wonder why the owl had a name (Hugo) while the other two animals are just referred to as "the bear" or "the rabbit/hare". I can't really think of any other details that need to be added or changes that need to be made.
Hi again Jasmine, nice story! I am on week 5 of comments, to which Laura want's us to try commenting from a character in the story's point of view. I think the only character who wasn't the most described was the owl. So I'll give it a shot:
ReplyDelete*Looking down* well, look at this little rabbit. So kind... but so naive. Never trust a hungry bear. Let alone this bear, I have seen him here for weeks - trapped because he was so mean.
*Bear is free and now the rabbit begs for help* I guess I will give this innocent critter a helping hand, I hope he learns his lesson from this event.
In another story I read someone had the animal, it was a fox, and in their story they also didn't explain the motive for helping the smaller animal (in their story it was a human) against the bear. I thought of giving the owl motivation by his knowledge that the bear was a jerk and that he felt bad for the rabbit. I like though how you combined the owl/asking the world for help into one being!