Story Planning: Ollie and Roberta

The source story:

There were a lot of things I liked about this story, in particular that the king, despite being of royalty, was an avid hunter and he did so with his lifelong companion, his goose.

Normally royalty at this time doesn't really do this, unless they are well protected by their knights or some other sort of military force. I know in ancient times, the kings were the strongest warriors and that's why they got to rule over everyone else, but since then things have changed.

Another key aspect I want to focus on is the main conflict of this story: the goose's death which forces the king to desperately take the mysterious man's offer to bring him back. Not only is the relationship touching, but it shows a normally very powerful man at his weakest point. It was also a big theme in the story, that the king was grower older and thus weaker.

For my story: 

1. The main character needs to be someone who normally has a great position of power, but also has a soft spot for some sort of animal companion who partakes in one his/her dearest hobbies. This tight bond is crucial. (Business leader, politician, Military head, Professor, etc.)

2. The main conflict doesn't have to involve aging, but something needs to change that forces the main character to experience loss of her companion. The pain needs to be so strong that she does something desperate to regain the companion. (Toxic environment, malicious human, violent animal fight, complete gunfire accident, etc.)

3. The resolution doesn't have to end as well as it did for the king. If I kept with the original plot, then the main character would make some sort of deal, give up something else that is valuable to him in exchange for some magical healer / wizard healing / reviving his companion. Otherwise, the king's misfortune could never be relieved despite him trying to give up / act in order to save his companion. This is much darker than the original tale, but it's more realistic and relateable.

Initial idea:

Roberta is a powerful CEO now, but she's been with the company since its inception. She's well respected by all of her employees, and she's won countless awards from the most prestigious of business journals and magazines across the world. However, she has a secret hobby that she rarely reveals to anyone. On the third weekend of every month, Roberta goes geocaching, an activity where adventurers seek out treasures left behind by fellow treasure hunters around the world. She's not alone in this endeavor, however! She also brings along her most loyal of friends : her golden shepherd, Ollie. They've been doing this ever since Ollie was a just a little pup, and its Roberta's favorite thing in the world, even better than tripling her company's stock value every two years.

Good things can't always last though it seems. One day while in the middle of a particularly tricky geocache hunt, Ollie runs ahead like he normally does, but this time he seemed a lot more anxious to get to the prize. Roberta finally catches up to him, unfastens the rope that surround the box that Ollie had been clawing incessantly, and reveals some doggie treats. Before Roberta can snatch them away from him, Ollie snatches one in his mouth and swallows it without hardly chewing.

From there, Ollie suffers some kind of breakdown, poisoning that Roberta is unable to do anything for. (She's very far away from her car).

From there, it could again go two ways: Roberta realizes that one of her business enemies is behind this and somehow found out about her hobby.

OR it could introduce a magical person of some sort, who desires Roberta's company, or shares, or position, or something else valuable. She only is able to get Ollie back after giving a lot up.

A candidate for Ollie's role in the film-version 

of this soon-to-be story

Bibliography: "King O'Toole and His Goose" from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Source.

Story: How the Turtle Learned to Swim

In those days, things were very different. Animals were much bigger and more diverse. Plants were more wild and widespread. Man lived among these creatures instead of over them.

And in those days, Turtle did not swim. You see, a long time ago Turtle lived on an island somewhere not too far off of the coast of what is now Southern California. In those days, the island was covered with thick, leafy vegetation and a whole ensemble of different creatures.

Turtle wasn't one to partake in the highly social atmosphere that was the forest. Instead, he hung out by the water with his two friends, Dolphin and Toad. Dolphin could not come on the land, and toad could not go into the water. Turtle mainly stayed on the land, but he could go in the water if it was not too deep. He was fascinated by it though, and he decided to learn how to swim from his friend Dolphin.

Turtle was not a very good swimmer. He soon became very frustrated and wanted to quit the lessons.

"This is too hard. Plus, I'll never actually get good enough to swim as gracefully as you, Dolphin." he said.

"You're getting better, Turtle, trust me. And who knows? One day it might just save your life."

Turtle finally agreed, and the lessons continued.

A little while longer, there was buzzing among the animals in the jungle about a new creature called the "human" spotted on the other side of the island. Several of them went to go check it out. The return party was much smaller than before. Humans were terrible, ruthless creatures. They had slain nearly all of the animals that had gone to meet them and cooked them over the fire. When the jungle animals heard this, they started to panic.

Eventually, the news made its way to Toad, who them relayed it to Turtle. He wasn't convinced though because he knew that all of the animals in the jungle gossiped a lot, and it was often untrue. Toad was frustrated because Turtle refused to go with him to a safer part of the island.

When Toad left, Turtle spent a lot of time with Dolphin, working on his swimming and just generally hanging out and talking about their crazy dreams. Dolphin told him that he was going to explore another island with his cousin Porpoise, and so Turtle was left alone.

It was a few nights later that he heard the screaming.

"RUUUUUN!" shrieked the high, piercing voice of the Toucan.

Turtle turned his head, and saw some strange creatures running at him on two legs. "Are these the humans Toad was telling me about?"

Turtle could not run very fast. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to get to a safe place in him. He look left. He look right. He was out of options. He turned around and faced the ocean.

With Dolphin's voice in his head, Turtle dove into the water and began to swim. He struggled initially first, but with the humans on his tail, he looked forward and moved his legs. To his surprise, he was able to swim much farther than he thought that he could.

Turtle could not return to the island dominated by the humans. From that day forth, Turtle swam all the time until he was as good as Dolphin was. Today, Turtle is known as Sea Turtle since he now spends all of his time in the ocean.

Sea Turtle

Author's Note: I based this story off of really several stories that I read in the past few weeks. In a lot of the Native American stories, there are explanations of how certain plants or animals came to be the way they are today, and so I decided to take my favorite animal (the turtle) and make up a story on how the sea turtle came to be.

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson. Source.

Story: Goku and the Yemma Fruit

Goku and the Yemma Fruit

Many years from now, there exists a galaxy not too unlike our own. In this galaxy, there is a very, very small planet inhabited by one of the wisest beings to ever exist - King Kai. It's a modest planet, stretched by a smooth, green grassy carpet. The only creatures that live alongside King Kai are his trusty companions - Bubbles the monkey and Gregory the talking cricket. There are a few apple trees sprinkled sparsely throughout King Kai's planet, but other than that there isn't much vegetation to speak of - except for King Kai's mystical forbidden garden of Yemma Trees.

In this not too distant future, Earth is still the primary location of the human race. Not much has changed - technologies have come and gone, nations built and torn down, but the fundamental structure of society would be recognizable to even the most out of touch human beings of today. However, the human world was recently shaken up by an unusual meteorite crash. Within this meteor was an extraterrestrial by the name of Goku. 

Goku is a Saiyan - a human-like, warrior race that is intent on taking over - or destroying - the entire universe. He was sent by his people to destroy Earth. However, Goku was sent while he was still well into infancy, and therefore had no knowledge of his bloodthirsty mission or the warmongering Saiyan culture. He grew up to be a silly, pure-hearted, happy-go-lucky boy who loved eating and fighting the strongest people in the world. 

Goku grew to be the strongest fighter on Earth. He trained hard every day, but he wanted to learn more about fighting. He consulted his teacher, Master Roshi, and asked him what to do. Master Roshi told him the story of a great, celestial being by the name of King Kai. His wisdom and knowledge of martial arts was unrivaled in all of the galaxy. Eyes twinkling with desire, Goku immediately hopped aboard his flying cloud Nimbus and set off for the Kai's planet. 

With a great thud, Goku landed on King Kai's planet. 

"WOOOOOOOW. So THIS is the great King Kai's planet!" he said in awe. 

"Yes, so it is. And who might you be, monkey boy?" muttered an irritated King Kai.

"I'm Goku! Nice to meet you strange, blue guy!" laughed Goku, scratching the back of his head. "Could you help me find King Kai?" 

"HOW DARE YOU.. YOU LITTLE URCHIN! I AM the King Kai, and I am most certainly NOT STRANGE!!" he yelled, with tiny clouds of steam blowing out of his ears. 

With this, Goku was on the floor laughing. "Hahaha, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Hahahaha! You just look a lot different than I was expecting mister King Kai! Hahahaha!" 

With this, the King Kai was irate. His most trusted adviser, his pet monkey Bubbles, was able to calm him down though. After a few moments of deep breathing, the King Kai spoke again. 

"So what is it I can do for you Goku?" he asked. 

With a moment's delay, Goku jumped to his feet, straightened up, and responded. "I want to learn how to fight from you sir!" 

Now it was King Kai who couldn't hold it together. "HAHAHA! You want me to train you? You're clearly still very young and immature, much too undisciplined to be my pupil!" 

Goku frowned. In the whiniest voice possible, he pleaded. "Awwww, c'mon Mister Kai, please teach me! I'm very strong, plus I've trained a lot already! Nobody on Earth challenges me." 

"It's KING Kai to you pal. And while that might be true, the answer's still no!"

The desperation in Goku's face doubled. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? I won't let you down, I promise!" 

King Kai glanced at Gregory, his cricket friend who only shrugged in response. With a deep sigh, he finally gave in. "Fine. But I'm going to give you a trial task to see if you're really ready for my training." 

"I'll do anything!" affirmed Goku.

So King Kai charged Goku with guarding his sacred garden of Yemma Trees. These trees held the Yemma fruit, a magical berry that when consumed, granted the consumer mighty strength and the ability to teleport to anywhere the mind could think to go. He explained to Goku all of these mystical properties of the Yemma fruit, which is why he needed them to be guarded. King Kai also it very clear to Goku that he was forbidden from eating any of the fruit himself. 

Goku stayed strong - for a few hours. Unfortunately, Goku's stomach was severely uninformed of the restrictions placed on the delicious Yemma fruit and began to bellow. Goku doubled-over and let out a loud moan.

"Aw man, this sucks. I must stand firm and guard this fruit, but I'm also sooooo hungry!" he thought. "I could probably sneak one of the hidden fruits higher in the tree, but that stupid monkey is nearby."

He thought for a moment, then his face lit up with an idea. Sending his Nimbus over to Bubbles the monkey, he used the flying cloud to pick him up and carry him to the other side of King Kai's estate. 

With that, Goku scaled one of the taller Yemma trees and yanked one of the more hidden fruits from the top. He bit into the reddish-yellow delicacy and his eyes popped. 

"WOW! These are SUPER delicious!" he exclaimed. "Maybe I'll try just one more..." 

And he try one more. And then another. And before Bubbles could make his way back from the other side of the planet, Goku had eaten every single apple in King Kai's garden. The Kai himself had just been on his way out to check on Goku, and when he saw the utter decimation of his Yemma fruit population, he nearly fainted.

After what felt to him like an eternity, King Kai regained his senses. Then, he got mad. 

"GOOOOOOKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Goku leaped up, still chewing the last few Yemma fruit before he called his Nimbus over to him. With the strength of the fruit, he leaped straight up, and before King Kai could follow him, he used to fruit's special ability to transport himself back to his bed on Earth. 

This wouldn't be the last time these two crossed paths, and Goku continued his childish antics while still striving to become the greatest fighter in the universe. He didn't earn his training on that day, but one day he would. 

Drawing of Goku by DeviantArt user Jaxaly

Author's Note: This story in a mixture of the reading I did this week in the Monkey King unit and a cartoon that I watched while growing up - Dragonball Z. There were a lot of similarities in the characters of Sun Wu Kung and Goku (childish, wanting to learn and grow stronger, unable to obey), so I thought I could rewrite one of Sun Wu Kung's adventures into a Goku one. 

A lot of the world from Dragonball Z is the same, but I changed some details about King Kai's planet so that he would have a garden, just like the "The Queen-Mother of the West" in Sun Wu Kung's world. 

Bibliography: Stories from "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhems, translated by Frederick H. Martens. Source.

Story: Goku and the Yemma Fruit

Goku and the Yemma Fruit

Many years from now, there exists a galaxy not too unlike our own. In this galaxy, there is a very, very small planet inhabited by one of the wisest beings to ever exist - King Kai. It's a modest planet, stretched by a smooth, green grassy carpet. The only creatures that live alongside King Kai are his trusty companions - Bubbles the monkey and Gregory the talking cricket. There are a few apple trees sprinkled sparsely throughout King Kai's planet, but other than that there isn't much vegetation to speak of - except for King Kai's mystical forbidden garden of Yemma Trees.

In this not too distant future, Earth is still the primary location of the human race. Not much has changed - technologies have come and gone, nations built and torn down, but the fundamental structure of society would be recognizable to even the most out of touch human beings of today. However, the human world was recently shaken up by an unusual meteorite crash. Within this meteor was an extraterrestrial by the name of Goku. 

Goku is a Saiyan - a human-like, warrior race that is intent on taking over - or destroying - the entire universe. He was sent by his people to destroy Earth. However, Goku was sent while he was still well into infancy, and therefore had no knowledge of his bloodthirsty mission or the warmongering Saiyan culture. He grew up to be a silly, pure-hearted, happy-go-lucky boy who loved eating and fighting the strongest people in the world. 

Goku grew to be the strongest fighter on Earth. He trained hard every day, but he wanted to learn more about fighting. He consulted his teacher, Master Roshi, and asked him what to do. Master Roshi told him the story of a great, celestial being by the name of King Kai. His wisdom and knowledge of martial arts was unrivaled in all of the galaxy. Eyes twinkling with desire, Goku immediately hopped aboard his flying cloud Nimbus and set off for the Kai's planet. 

With a great thud, Goku landed on King Kai's planet. 

"WOOOOOOOW. So THIS is the great King Kai's planet!" he said in awe. 

"Yes, so it is. And who might you be, monkey boy?" muttered an irritated King Kai.

"I'm Goku! Nice to meet you strange, blue guy!" laughed Goku, scratching the back of his head. "Could you help me find King Kai?" 

"HOW DARE YOU.. YOU LITTLE URCHIN! I AM the King Kai, and I am most certainly NOT STRANGE!!" he yelled, with tiny clouds of steam blowing out of his ears. 

With this, Goku was on the floor laughing. "Hahaha, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Hahahaha! You just look a lot different than I was expecting mister King Kai! Hahahaha!" 

With this, the King Kai was irate. His most trusted adviser, his pet monkey Bubbles, was able to calm him down though. After a few moments of deep breathing, the King Kai spoke again. 

"So what is it I can do for you Goku?" he asked. 

With a moment's delay, Goku jumped to his feet, straightened up, and responded. "I want to learn how to fight from you sir!" 

Now it was King Kai who couldn't hold it together. "HAHAHA! You want me to train you? You're clearly still very young and immature, much too undisciplined to be my pupil!" 

Goku frowned. In the whiniest voice possible, he pleaded. "Awwww, c'mon Mister Kai, please teach me! I'm very strong, plus I've trained a lot already! Nobody on Earth challenges me." 

"It's KING Kai to you pal. And while that might be true, the answer's still no!"

The desperation in Goku's face doubled. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? I won't let you down, I promise!" 

King Kai glanced at Gregory, his cricket friend who only shrugged in response. With a deep sigh, he finally gave in. "Fine. But I'm going to give you a trial task to see if you're really ready for my training." 

"I'll do anything!" affirmed Goku.

So King Kai charged Goku with guarding his sacred garden of Yemma Trees. These trees held the Yemma fruit, a magical berry that when consumed, granted the consumer mighty strength and the ability to teleport to anywhere the mind could think to go. He explained to Goku all of these mystical properties of the Yemma fruit, which is why he needed them to be guarded. King Kai also it very clear to Goku that he was forbidden from eating any of the fruit himself. 

Goku stayed strong - for a few hours. Unfortunately, Goku's stomach was severely uninformed of the restrictions placed on the delicious Yemma fruit and began to bellow. Goku doubled-over and let out a loud moan.

"Aw man, this sucks. I must stand firm and guard this fruit, but I'm also sooooo hungry!" he thought. "I could probably sneak one of the hidden fruits higher in the tree, but that stupid monkey is nearby."

He thought for a moment, then his face lit up with an idea. Sending his Nimbus over to Bubbles the monkey, he used the flying cloud to pick him up and carry him to the other side of King Kai's estate. 

With that, Goku scaled one of the taller Yemma trees and yanked one of the more hidden fruits from the top. He bit into the reddish-yellow delicacy and his eyes popped. 

"WOW! These are SUPER delicious!" he exclaimed. "Maybe I'll try just one more..." 

And he try one more. And then another. And before Bubbles could make his way back from the other side of the planet, Goku had eaten every single apple in King Kai's garden. The Kai himself had just been on his way out to check on Goku, and when he saw the utter decimation of his Yemma fruit population, he nearly fainted.

After what felt to him like an eternity, King Kai regained his senses. Then, he got mad. 

"GOOOOOOKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Goku leaped up, still chewing the last few Yemma fruit before he called his Nimbus over to him. With the strength of the fruit, he leaped straight up, and before King Kai could follow him, he used to fruit's special ability to transport himself back to his bed on Earth. 

This wouldn't be the last time these two crossed paths, and Goku continued his childish antics while still striving to become the greatest fighter in the universe. He didn't earn his training on that day, but one day he would. 

Drawing of Goku by DeviantArt user Jaxaly

Author's Note: This story in a mixture of the reading I did this week in the Monkey King unit and a cartoon that I watched while growing up - Dragonball Z. There were a lot of similarities in the characters of Sun Wu Kung and Goku (childish, wanting to learn and grow stronger, unable to obey), so I thought I could rewrite one of Sun Wu Kung's adventures into a Goku one. 

A lot of the world from Dragonball Z is the same, but I changed some details about King Kai's planet so that he would have a garden, just like the "The Queen-Mother of the West" in Sun Wu Kung's world. 

Bibliography: Stories from "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhems, translated by Frederick H. Martens. Source.

Story: Yamato and the Mermaid

Yamato and the Mermaid

There once was a man named Yamato. In all of the land, nobody was his equal as a warrior. Since he was so brave and noble, Yamato could have had any woman in the land as his wife. One day, after saving the king's daughter, Princess Tachibana, from an evil band of thieves, he was rewarded with her hand in marriage. He gladly accepted, proud of his achievements and ability to serve the kingdom.

Yamato and Tachibana lived for many years happily. Yamato slayed villains left and right with Tachibana at his side. Every time he was praised in the city for his bravery, he felt renewed and re-energized by the cheers of his people. However, the criminals soon left the city to get away from Yamato. As crime left, the praise became sparing. Though his beloved wife supported him and admired him all the time, Yamato began to feel unsatisfied. He began to pull away from his wife, little by little, until one day he could not rest any longer.

Yamato left to go on an adventure. To start, he packed up his hunting supplies and took to the forest.

For several days Yamato chased the wooden creatures. At first, he hunted a squirrel. Then, he took down a white-tailed deer. The following day, he even trapped a bear as big as a mountain. Running out of challenges, Yamato pushed further into the darkness of the woods.

As he was bending down to place another trap, he started to hear something. At first, it was just a faint, almost dream-like melody that was barely louder than a whisper. But as the song grew louder, Yamato could not prevent himself from listening to it. As he listened, he didn't even notice that his feet were beginning to move out of the forest and onto a white, rocky beach. He reached the shore and kept going, diving into the ocean, swimming until he found himself in a dark, damp cave.

"Hello Yamato. Welcome to my home.", welcomed a warm, pointed voice.

Yamato snapped out of his daze for a moment. Staring across the cave from him was a mermaid more beautiful than any human woman he had ever laid eyes on.

"How did I end up here? And who are you exactly, fair maiden?", he answered.

"I am Benten, queen of the seas. And you, my dear Yamato, are going to be my newest servant."

Before he could protest, Yamato began to melt at the sound of the mermaid's melodious voice singing. He walked over to her and fell into her arms.

"Shh shhh... that's it. Soon you will be fighting all of my battles and we'll have the greatest kingdom this world has ever seen, land or sea."

Yamato, fading in and out of consciousness, felt his eyes grow heavier by the second. Just before his mind gave into the darkness completely, he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"YAMATOOOO!" screamed the woman who had just entered the cave, panting.

Rubbing his eyes, Yamato recognized his beloved wife, Princess Tachibana.

Flushed with anger, Benten rose up and lashed out, "HOW DARE YOU ENTER MY CAVE! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

Benten began channeling some sort of ominous, green orb of light between her long, slender fingers. Before she could finish, however, Yamato realized that that magic was awfully similar to a curse that he had heard about in the Book of Ancient Wickedness. Shaking off the last feint haziness from his previous enchanted state, he rose up and knocked Benten over, causing her to launch her cursed orb at the ceiling, which ricocheted and forced a blood-curdling scream from the siren before she blacked out cold.

Benten, from the UnTextbook

From that day forward, Yamato never ventured off alone in search of adventure. Whenever he was feeling a little unsure of his place in the world, his beloved wife, the great Princess Tachibana, accompanied him in every one of his outings, hunting creatures or bringing evildoers to justice for their city.

Author's Note: This story is based off of Yamato - The Grotto of Love from the Japanese Mythology unit. I decided I like the main premise of the brave, adventuring getting bored of life at home after things settle down a bit because I think it's relateable. The events are kind of similar, as in Yamato getting lured into Benten's home, but the details are mostly of my creation. In this story, Princess Tachibana becomes the hero by following Yamato into the cave before it's too late.

Bibliography: Stories from Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E.W. and F. Champney. Source.

Story: Celeste the Best

Celeste was 17-years old, about to begin her first day at a new school. She was a fair-haired brunette with slightly tanned skin. She wasn't beautiful, but rather average in just about every way. Average height, average weight, average body-type. She wouldn't stand out at all, in fact, if it weren't for one little thing. 

Celeste was extraordinarily fascinating. And because of this, there wasn't a person in her new school that didn't want to be her best friend. She was not only kinder than Mother Theresa herself, but her laugh was infectious - like that of one's first child. She was sporty, musically-inclined, and a die-heard computer gamer. All of the kids in her new school gossiped about her, and soon her popularity shot up like a rocket.

Celeste however, was completely unaware of how well she was getting along with everyone. She thought she had a few friends, but in actuality, her high school claim to fame flew completely under her radar. She probably should have suspected something when her phone's memory was completely filled up by the end of the first week, but her ignorance continued for several weeks thereafter.

Her ignorance was, in this case, bliss. 

About halfway into the semester, Celeste's Speech teacher assigned her and her classmates a project which would forever change her life. The project involved partnering up with a classmate and taking turns interviewing one another. The entire class jumped to try and partner up with Celeste, so the teacher Mr. Hull was forced to assign partners. Jared, one of the wide receivers on the school football team, was to work with Celeste. 

After school, Celeste and Jared rode back to Celeste's place, chatting merrily about how college football was far more entertaining than the NFL. They worked on their mock interviews, both helping one another decide on questions, designing their fake companies, and how they were going to videotape the whole ordeal. 

Two hours later, after they had finished recording, Jared suggested that they watch their interview to make sure that everyone turned out okay. Though she didn't know it yet, this was about to be Celeste's greatest mistake. 

Jared pressed the play button. Upon seeing herself answer the first of Jared's questions, Celeste was struck by her prompt response, melodic voice, and charming dimple-ridden grin. This couldn't be me in the video, could it? I'm so... so... amazing! This had to have been dumb luck, or something, right? 

But Celeste wasn't lucky, because her reaction was of equal shock and awe when she saw herself answer the rest of the interview questions. 

Cartoon girl, image by 

Pixabay user Clcker-Free-Vector-Images

"So, what'd you think? I thought we did a good job.", said Jared as the video ended. 

Stunned, Celeste took a moment, then responded sharply, "I was great! I can't believe it's really me in that video." 

Shutting off the camera, Jared replied, "Uh, yeah, haha... you did do well. Well listen, I'll go ahead and upload it to the school website, and I'll see you - " 

"NO WAIT! Can I see it again? I just really, really want to watch myself be interviewed again."

"Uhhh... ", uttered Jared, dumbfounded.

"You know what? You should just let me upload the video. I know how to work the camera software anyway, plus it's already here! Don't you see, it makes sense!", Celeste said, pleadingly.

Jared agreed hesitantly, but gave in. After he left, Celeste ripped the SD card from the video camera and shoved it roughly into the computer's slot. Clicking furiously, she demanded that her computer's media player read faster than it was physically capable of doing. Her impatience subsided when the clip rolled, and she saw herself answer the first question again. Then she watched it again. And again. And again. Celeste was stuck now in a vortex of boundless self-interest that had built up secretly due to her neglect of it. Now it was an uncontrollable beast, unwavering despite the numerous phone calls and text messages from Celeste's classmates that now went ignored, as did everything that did not involve Celeste or her extraordinary personality. 

--

Author's Note: I decided to do this story because narcissism is such a well-known concept in our society, and it isn't always meant in the same way as the original story described it. Narcissus was obsessed with his own physical beauty, but in this story, I explored a version where the main character falls in love with her own personality, not appearance.

Bibliography: "Narcissus sees himself and falls in love" from Ovid's Metamorphoses, translation by Tony Kline. Source.

My Fable-Inspired Story

A long, long time ago, there was a pretty average-looking bat named Ralphie. You see, for years and years, Ralphie and his bat ancestors had lived among all sorts of creatures, making friends with high and low, near and far. Throughout all of these years, bats like Ralphie had lived through times of peace and prosperity. 

A modern interpretation of Ralphie,
courtesy of Pixabay user Alexas_Fotos

But now, a storm was brewing among some of the creatures that were not bats. You see, the quarreling creatures, the birds and the beasts, had decided that they were sufficiently different enough to be reason for a war to be had. 

The beasts thought that the birds, with their thin, flimsy feathery wings, looked like they were trying to show off by being both literally and figuratively above them. 

The birds were of the opinion that the beasts were intentionally trying to make the world a more disgusting place for all animals by being coated in thick, sweaty fur that they hardly ever cleaned. They also stomped anywhere they liked, which sullied the Earth’s beautiful green carpet. 

Ralphie was very nervous about the upcoming battle. Being not quite a bird nor quite a beast, he decided who better to talk some sense into these warring parties than he.

On the day of the battle, Ralphie went to the field of battle that was mutually decided upon by the birds and the beasts: a very steep half-grassy, half-rocky stretch of land. Ralphie saw a giant horde of beasts gathered at the bottom of the hill making grunt-like chants that were filled with anti-bird slurs. The birds were hovering above the hill’s peak, cleaning each other’s beaks and doing some last minute fluffing of their feathers. 

Ralphie ran up the cliff and yelled for the attention of all the creatures. 

“BEASTS AND BIRDS! HEAR ME OUT!”, he yelled. 

“My animal brothers and sisters, there is no reason for fighting! Birds, I know that you don’t understand the fur of the beasts and beasts, I know you aren’t comfortable with the wings of the birds.”

Ralphie paused, swallowed deeply, and then continued.

“But my friends, these differences are not insurmountable! You see, we have been friends for so very long, but I, too have wings like the birds. But you beasts find no quarrel with me! And birds, I have had my thick furry body for as long as I can remember! Yet we still fly together in the skies in peace.” 

A great, audible awe fell over both sides of the young, optimistic bat. Ralphie was thrilled. This was working! This was actually working! 

But just before Ralphie continued, a raspy voice bellowed out from down below, “So bats are just furry birds? How disgusting!” 

“Agreed! They’re so hideous now that I think about it!”, echoed one of the birds. 

And so Ralphie the disgusting, hideous bat saved the animal kingdom from a terrible tragedy by uniting two very opposite creatures.

Author's Note: In the original Aesop fable, the battle between birds and beasts was also resolved peacefully without any fighting, but I thought it would be funny to have resolution come about as the result of mutual dislike for the in-between character. Poor Ralphie. 

Bibliography. "The Bat, the Birds, and the Beasts" from Aesop's Fables by Aesop. Source