Week 3 Story: The Contractor and the Wolf
The Contractor and the Wolf
Boy Who Cried Wolf by Francis Barlow (Wikimedia)
Once upon a time there was a contractor traveling through
the countryside looking for his next plot of land to develop a nice neighborhood.
He stumbled upon a beautiful forest. He thought to himself, “I could plow this
land up and build a wonderful neighborhood that all the people will come to
live in. They’ll pay me extravagantly and I’ll have plenty of money to spend on
supper. As he approached the forest to explore a wolf came out.
“Why have you come to my forest contractor?” asked the wolf.
“I’m going to bulldoze this forest and create a neighborhood
here,” said the contractor.
“This is not your forest, you cannot do that,” said the
wolf.
“Well, then,” said the contractor, “I do not see anyone’s
name on this forest, so who says I can’t take it?”
“I say,” said the Wolf, “I rule over this forest and have
made my marking all over the trees.”
“How dare you mark my trees,” said the contractor, “I
planned to keep a few for people’s front yard.”
The Wolf thought, and said, “But this is my home, I rule
here peacefully and I leave you humans alone.”
“Well just last week you gobbled up a boy from the next town
over,” said the contractor.
“This cannot be,” said the Wolf, “I have no taste for
humans, too fatty.”
“I don’t care,” huffed the contractor, “If it wasn’t you
then it was your brother.”
The contractor ran away quickly and returned a week later
with a squadron of bulldozers. Like that they were on the forest …
WWWWHAAAAAFJEJILJGHIJIJDKSLJIJOWPPJG … and ate it all up. As the Wolf scurried
off in search of a new home he muttered, “Any
excuse for a tyrant.”
A contractor wanting a new plot of land
A ruler wolf, making his final stand
Cried the wolf – “This ain’t fair.”
The contractor – “I don’t care.”
And lo the trees were bulldozed to sand.
Author's Note
This story was adapted from "The Wolf and the Lamb" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. In this story a wolf approaches a lamb and tries to give reason as to why he should attack the lamb and eat him for dinner. With every answer the lamb gives as to why he shouldn't be eaten the wolf has some reply until he finally eats the lamb to which the lamb bemoans, "Any excuse for a tyrant." I started out wanting to create a new fable based on the same moral found at the end of each of Aesop's Fables. I thought it would be interesting to put a more modern take on this story and also to flip the wolf to the role of the victim. I tried to keep the same modality of plot development with exposition book-ending dialogue and having one key line of dialogue revealing the moral. A note to my strange onomatopoeia for the bulldozer sounds: The original fable used the words "WARRA WARRA WARRA," for the sounds of the wolf eating the lamb. The phrase I used was my best attempt at recreating bulldozer sounds. Many of the fables were also paired with limericks that essentially summarize the story. I thought it would be fun to take a crack at some poetry. Does it make sense that trees were bulldozed to sand, probably not; but it fit the rhyming scheme so I hope you'll overlook that issue.
Bibliography
"The Wolf and the Lamb" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs (Web Source)
Hello, Drew! First off, I want to applaud you for going out on a limb and creating the limerick. I thought it made sense that the trees were bulldozed to sand. I also liked your use of onomatopoeia! I always find it hard to put a sound, especially that of a bulldozer, into words, but I understood what you were going for. For my semester project, I am flipping the story's perspective, so it was cool to read your twist and compare it to the original story. I'm curious, what gave you the idea to do a contractor as the antagonist?
ReplyDeleteHey there, Drew! I really liked your story. The limerick was a nice touch. Your choice of words made the story more entertaining and consistent with the original, which I enjoyed. Really nice work! I hope I get to read more of your writing soon!
ReplyDeleteHi Drew, I enjoyed reading your story! I like how you changed the wolf’s character from being the “bad guy” to being the victim. This adds an unusual twist to the story since so many other stories portray wolves as the bad guys. I also thought your story had a good flow, and a good balance between story and funny. I liked the, “I have no taste for humans, too fatty” line! I wonder if you could add an extra layer to the story by giving more details about the contractor. For example, does he lust after money; what does he spend his money on, etc. From what I have read about writing stories is that adding extra little details can really make a difference. Also, I wonder if adding something about the wolf’s emotions after the contractor destroys his forest would make the reader feel more connected to the wolf? Overall, I really liked you story.
ReplyDeleteHello Drew! I really enjoyed your modern twist on "The Wolf and the Lamb" with the contractor wanting to build a neighborhood where the wolf lived. Also I thought it was really cool that you completely switched the role of the wolf around. Also I really like the sound effects you had for the bull dozers at the end, i thought it was funny. Overall the story was great, keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteHi there! I’m trying out the TAG feedback on your story, so here it goes! I really enjoyed your story because I think it’s always fun to flip the roles (so how you flipped the wolf to be the victim). I think it adds so variety and a different plot to the whole story, so very clever! The question I want to ask is how did you come up with the idea to have the contractor be the other character? I really liked the new definition it adds to it so great job! I also think it’s pretty funny because nowadays, it really is like the contractors are the bad guys because we keep destroying land and cutting down trees. The only think I would want you to add to this story is maybe a little more detail in the remarks said back and forth between the characters, but only because I want to read more!
ReplyDeleteHey Drew! This was a good story! I liked how it was short and to the point. I also enjoyed the short poem that you added at the end, so creative! I thought that the dialogue between the two characters was nicely written! This would be an interesting story to continue with. What happens to the forest? Does the wolf seek out revenge? Nice job!
ReplyDeleteHi Drew! Great job on this story! The language and context you used really made the story very entertaining and exciting to read! The role reversal of the wolf was the best touch to this story. I definitely saw how you put in a lot of effort for this story! Your creativity and writing ability make me look forward to reading more of your stories!
ReplyDelete