Dog and Tree
On a cool fall morning in South Africa four Boerboel puppies, other wise known as South African Mastiffs, were born into the world. Out of these four puppies there was one puppy that was much smaller than the rest. His name was Charlie and he was the runt of the litter. He was a very happy puppy with lots of energy and a curious nature. With that being said, his new owner, who happened to be a zookeeper, was going to be a perfect match with Charlie's high strong nature and curiosity. The zookeeper brought Charlie to live with him on the wildlife reservation that surrounded the zoo he worked for.
The next couple of days Charlie followed the zookeeper on his daily duties of feeding the different exotic animals and cleaning them and their habitats. During these days Charlie saw the most strange creatures all the way from an alligator to a lion.
Charlie was always in the mood to play but the bigger animals, such as the cape buffalo, at the zoo would just turn their backs to him and say, “You're too small” or “Too fragile to play with us.” Even the small animals like the lemurs would not be his friends because they played in the trees and he could not climb. This made him sad, so one day he went off exploring on the reservation in hopes to find someone that would treat him as an equal. After walking for about an hour he came upon a huge quiver tree, which is indigenous to South Africa. He thought to himself this would be a perfect place to get some shade and rest for a while.
As he curled up on a root that was sticking out of the ground, he began to hear laughing. He looked around and could see know one in sight. But there it was again, the sound of faint laughter. He pounced up and let out a squeaky bark and said, “Who’s there?”
All of a sudden the tree began to move and a face appeared on the trunk. “Well hello, little one,” said the tree. “I did not mean to startle you but you were tickling my roots.” Charlie was shocked! He had never seen a tree that could talk before. Then the tree asked, “What is a little creature like you doing way out here?”
Charlie replied, “I was looking for someone who would play with me and be my friend.”
The tree smiled warmly and picked up Charlie with her branches and said, “I would be honored to be friends with such a brave and strong dog like you. You know it takes real courage to come out on this big reservation and especially travel as far as you did.”
Charlie jumped for joy because he had never been referred to as “strong” or “brave.” He then began playing a game of tag with the blanches of the tree. Charlie had finally found a friend and it happened when he was least expecting it.
Author's Note: The Aesop for Children is a collection of Aesop fables, which are short stories that convey some type of message about life. Most of the stories have animal characters where they portray a teaching of a life lesson through the interactions of the animal characters. Also, it normally is an interaction that focuses on a mistake the character makes which will lead to negative consequences. In my story I used a dog as my main character, which was also a prominent character in many of the Aesop fables that I really enjoyed reading. Further, even though animal characters are the most prominent some of the stories I read did contain human characters, such as Greek Gods and Goddesses. I choose the specific characters for my story because out of the many Aesop fables I read there were three archetypal characters that kept on showing up in the Aesop Fables. Therefore I wanted my story to incorporate all three types of characters. In my story I had a human character, an animal character, and an unconventional character like a tree that could talk. Also, for my story I created my own setting, which was the African savanna because it would allow me to incorporate a diverse group of animal characters. Lastly, for my story I came up with my own life lesson quote. Nonetheless, I still tried to keep the same platform that is used in most of the Aesop fables, especially the ones that are retold for children, by putting the quote at the end of the story and only having it be about one sentence long.
Bibliography: The Aesop for Children with illustrations by Milo Winter. Web Source.
The next couple of days Charlie followed the zookeeper on his daily duties of feeding the different exotic animals and cleaning them and their habitats. During these days Charlie saw the most strange creatures all the way from an alligator to a lion.
Charlie was always in the mood to play but the bigger animals, such as the cape buffalo, at the zoo would just turn their backs to him and say, “You're too small” or “Too fragile to play with us.” Even the small animals like the lemurs would not be his friends because they played in the trees and he could not climb. This made him sad, so one day he went off exploring on the reservation in hopes to find someone that would treat him as an equal. After walking for about an hour he came upon a huge quiver tree, which is indigenous to South Africa. He thought to himself this would be a perfect place to get some shade and rest for a while.
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As he curled up on a root that was sticking out of the ground, he began to hear laughing. He looked around and could see know one in sight. But there it was again, the sound of faint laughter. He pounced up and let out a squeaky bark and said, “Who’s there?”
All of a sudden the tree began to move and a face appeared on the trunk. “Well hello, little one,” said the tree. “I did not mean to startle you but you were tickling my roots.” Charlie was shocked! He had never seen a tree that could talk before. Then the tree asked, “What is a little creature like you doing way out here?”
Charlie replied, “I was looking for someone who would play with me and be my friend.”
The tree smiled warmly and picked up Charlie with her branches and said, “I would be honored to be friends with such a brave and strong dog like you. You know it takes real courage to come out on this big reservation and especially travel as far as you did.”
Charlie jumped for joy because he had never been referred to as “strong” or “brave.” He then began playing a game of tag with the blanches of the tree. Charlie had finally found a friend and it happened when he was least expecting it.
Do not be too quick to judge because the gift of an unexpected friendship is the best type of surprise.
Dog playing with Tree. Wikimedia.
Author's Note: The Aesop for Children is a collection of Aesop fables, which are short stories that convey some type of message about life. Most of the stories have animal characters where they portray a teaching of a life lesson through the interactions of the animal characters. Also, it normally is an interaction that focuses on a mistake the character makes which will lead to negative consequences. In my story I used a dog as my main character, which was also a prominent character in many of the Aesop fables that I really enjoyed reading. Further, even though animal characters are the most prominent some of the stories I read did contain human characters, such as Greek Gods and Goddesses. I choose the specific characters for my story because out of the many Aesop fables I read there were three archetypal characters that kept on showing up in the Aesop Fables. Therefore I wanted my story to incorporate all three types of characters. In my story I had a human character, an animal character, and an unconventional character like a tree that could talk. Also, for my story I created my own setting, which was the African savanna because it would allow me to incorporate a diverse group of animal characters. Lastly, for my story I came up with my own life lesson quote. Nonetheless, I still tried to keep the same platform that is used in most of the Aesop fables, especially the ones that are retold for children, by putting the quote at the end of the story and only having it be about one sentence long.
Bibliography: The Aesop for Children with illustrations by Milo Winter. Web Source.