In this forest lived a majestic white Bengal tiger. He was the King of the Forest. He protected all the creatures who lived in the forest from internal and external threats. If animals had disputes over territory and feeding grounds or logging crews were causing excessive habitat destruction, this tiger would step in and defend his loyal subjects and his forest. This tiger allowed hunters, both peasants and Kings alike, to hunt in the forest provided that they did not hunt excessively.
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| A white Bengal tiger, courtesy of Animal Corner |
"Why, great tiger, do you block our path?" called out the King to the tiger. "It has been long since we have hunted this forest, and we have to fill our food storage."
The King's men stood at attention, looking tense as they waited for the tiger's reply.
"You take too much," calmly replied the tiger to the King and his men. "I have sworn to protect this forest, and I will continue to do so even against Kings and their warriors. I allow the hungry to hunt, on the condition that they are not greedy."
The King looked on at the tiger in thought, formulating his response.
"We take only enough to make up for our absence, nothing more. Why do you continue to harass us?" the King asked.
"It is not my fault that you have not visited the forest for so long that your supplies run out. If you take too much at once, my kingdom will never recover and I will have failed my subjects," said the tiger to King Upendra.
The King, seeing the wisdom in this argument, ended his hunt for the day and returned to his castle with his hunters. He vowed never to greedily hunt the forest again.
Author's Note: This week I read Twenty Jataka tales by Noor Inayat. This collection of short stories focused on human and animal interactions that almost seemed like children's bed time stories. For my storytelling this week I decided to do my best to emulate this style of story. Many of these stories deal with otherwise moral characters (often nobles and other associated royalty) who make errors in judgement one way or another. These people are then corrected by speaking animals, oddly enough, who are paragons of one moral activity or another. My story features a noble King who hunts in a forest which has a tiger as a king. I thought that having the characters occupy similar positions would make it a more interesting story to read than otherwise, though having a King get taught a lesson by a lowly rodent or bug could also have merit. I chose the picture I did because I wanted my readers to have a visual representation of the morally superior character, the tiger. The story seemingly abruptly ends, but many stories in the collection did. I think they were written this way so that they were simpler to understand as a reader. This is because my main inspiration was the Jataka Tales in general, not any particular story. I hope you guys enjoy.
Bibliography: Twenty Jataka Tales, by Noor Inayat. 1939. Link.
Andrew, great story about the white Bengal Tiger defending the forest. It was a great lesson in a short story. I really enjoyed that you gave the tiger the characteristics of a person. The dialogue between the two really allowed for the reader to understand what was going on and how the tiger felt about the men. This topic of overhunting has been a issue lately so I am glad that you wrote about it. Also, great name choices. Overall, a great story and I am glad that I was able to read it.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained so clearly where the inspiration to your story came from. You also did a great job in making a moral for this story. I was wondering if you thought about having some sort of calamity befall King Upendra to make for an even more memorable lesson. Finally, it was a great idea to add a picture of the white tiger. He looks so majestic laying there.
Hey Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThis was a really great story to spend time reading. I liked how you explained the overall inspiration of your story. It was an awesome story about the white Bengal Tiger defending the forest. It was well done in the way that you provided a great lesson in a short story. The characteristic of a person given to the tiger was very creative and done very well. The dialogue between the characters really allowed me to understand what was going on in the story and how the tiger felt about all of the men. I think it might of been good about having the fall of King Upendra to create a huge memorable lesson. The picture you chose was great because I got a visual of the white Bengal tiger.
Overall, you did a really good job of developing and creating this story. Anyways, good luck with the rest of the semester!
Hi Andrew!
ReplyDeleteI am back to visit your blog because you intrigued me earlier this semester with awesome stories! I have now read your full portfolio of writing and it is great! You excel at short and sweet stories. They have great flow! You do such a great job of making it easy for the audience to associate with and enjoy the story without all the extras that may take away from your point. This week I read The Forest, and the King and the Tiger. The Forest was suspenseful and creepy. I can see that happening in real life, or at very least as a csi episode! The King and the Tiger is my favorite. It is rather utopian in feel. I wish that humans and the jungle could come to an agreement like the one you propose. Don't take too much. Greed is not good in any situation but it seems like such a common human downfall! It has been nice meeting you virtually in this class! Good luck in all you do in the future!
Hey Andrew,
ReplyDeleteYour author's note preemtively addressed my big critique: that the story ended too abruptly. But I actually really like your explanation, so I rebuke my criticism!
I also read the Jataka tales and did my Week 9 Storytelling on them (and later added it to my portfolio, if you're interested) and I think you did a stellar job of replicated the tone of the other Jataka tales. Well done!
I think that your descriptions could be improved, most notably with the tiger. It would be cool if he wore some sort of crown or something, to symbolize his reign as king of the forest. You could get really creative with this and it could add a lot to the imagery and feel of your story.
Hey Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story. In the beginning, I liked how the tiger and the King were both portrayed in a positive way as to say that there were two protagonists. I will say that when I finished the story, I was left wanting more. I was waiting for something more climactic to happen at the end. I read that most of the stories end like that, but I think it would be interesting to add some of your own creativity to the end of the story to have a bigger climax. You could have the the army try and fight through the animals, or maybe you could have the tiger and the king fight in a duel to settle their differences and have it end in a draw when they both realize that they are both fighting to save those that they are responsible for. Anyway, I thought you did a great job at writing clearly and concisely. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThis story was a really good read. It was interesting to see how the perception of the King changes over the length of the story. Your story really made me think of how people treat forests today. There is so much destruction and not enough people can do to completely protect it. Sorry to go all rant-y in my comments. It just really stuck with me. I do think the abrupt ending was... well abrupt. After reading your author's note, I understand why. I appreciate that you stuck to the original idea of keeping the ending that way. It made me want so much more, but gave the same feeling as the original stories. Good job. Overall, I am glad that the tiger and the king came to a mutual understanding and it ended on a rather positive vibe. Good job with the writing! Thank you for telling this story. It was a nice read this week.
Hey Andrew!
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a great interpretation of the story and I think you did an excellent job making it unique. I think that at this point in the semester it is becoming quite difficult to continually create stories that are unique and that the others in this class will want to read as we have all read them numerous times now. However, I think you did an excellent job and I like that you drew attention to the forests today and the ways in which they're treated. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi again Andrew,
Just reading your Week 9 story about the tiger and the king. I thought it was a really good story and you provided good details in your story, which helps understand the story better. I thought you put a really cool picture in the story and it created more excitement for the story. You did a great job with the dialogue as well. Great story.