Portfolio Index

1) Agent Kai - This is a story about a secret agent tasked to save a fellow agent from their archenemies.

2) The Businessman - a story about a rich businessman, his lover, and their children.

3) The Fisherman - This is a story about a young fisherman who finds love in an unexpected way.

4) Oh The Irony! - This is a story about innocent students framed for something they did not do.

5) Just Deserts - a story about a mobster and his lying cousin.

6) The Fall of the Dark Lord - a story about a noble king and his battle with a fierce enemy.

Week 14 Storytelling: The Fall of the Dark Lord

"kingdom"

~~

Long ago in a far away land, there was a king who ruled all of Cydonia. He was a strong and noble king. All of his subjects adored his leadership and felt greatly protected. One day the king left his kingdom to tend to matters in another kingdom far from home. He left his son, the prince, in charge until he returned back to rule again. Little did the king know, darkness was coming to the land and there would be no one there to stop it.

With the king gone, the kingdom became vulnerable to the enemies hiding in the shadows. A dark lord from the kingdom of Darkshire heard of the king’s leave of absence. He journeyed to the kingdom of Cydonia to take advantage of this rare opportunity. He was met with much resistance at the gates of the kingdom, but the soldiers were no match for the dark lord's immense power. 

The dark lord made it to the steps of the royal castle, but was soon confronted by the king's son, the prince. The prince and dark lord battled fiercely for what felt like days. In the end, the dark lord got the upper hand on the prince. He cast a curse and sent the prince away to a pit of never-ending darkness. With the prince gone, there was no one standing in the way of the dark lord and his will to claim the kingdom of Cydonia. 

Months after the epic battle, the king finally returned to his homestead only to find ruins of the kingdom he once knew. Infuriated, the king marched to the castle doors to find his queen. He found her being held hostage by none other than the dark lord of Darkshire. The king was out of options. He had to rescue his queen and escape the kingdom until he could devise a plan to destroy the dark lord. The king used his wits to gain just enough time to rescue his queen and escape before the dark lord could cast a spell on them. 

The king and queen quickly escaped to old castle ruins just outside of the kingdom. There they began to devise a plan to avenge their son and regain the kingdom. After hours of discussion, they decided they had no other choice. They had to burn down their own castle in order to preserve the kingdom. The dark lord was so vain of his achievement in conquering the kingdom he would not notice the flames until it was too late. 

The king and queen hastily made their way back into the kingdom gates. They grabbed torches from the nearby stands and began to set fire to the wood support beams outside the castle gate. Eventually, the entire castle became engulfed in flames. Despite their hopes, the dark lord realized their plan and began to make his escape through the tallest window of the castle. As he was flying away, lightning bolts from the sky appeared and struck the dark lord. He fell dead to the ground. With the dark lord gone, his curse was lifted and the young prince returned to his home from the pit of darkness. As the king and queen were reunited with their son, they were greeted with cheers of joy by their subjects. The king and queen returned to their thrones and ruled the kingdom in peace for the rest of eternity. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE

My original story was based off a story by Dutton titled The Sparrows and the Snake. In the original story, there lived two sparrows in a nest. I decided to change the sparrows into a king and queen living in their own kingdom. I felt that made the story a little more interesting. The two sparrows had a young hatchling. While the father was gone from the nest, a snake ate the hatchling. So, in my original I made the snake a dark lord. I believe that snakes convey evil characters. Also, I made the hatchling the prince of the kingdom. Instead of the dark lord eating the prince like in the original plot, I had him banish the prince to a different dimension. In the end of the original, the two sparrows decided to burn their nest down in order to kill the snake. The snake realized what was happening and tried to escape, but was later killed by the human who lived at the house. I kept the aspect of burning down the nest (kingdom). I also thought this was an interesting way to incorporate God into the story. The lightning from god that killed the dark lord could be considered the human who killed the snake. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Sparrows and the Snake by Dutton

Reading Notes: The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking

"turtle"

~~

This story is exactly about what the title states. A turtle meets two birds that promise to fly him to their home, just as long as he does not say anything to anyone. The turtle agrees, but he end up talking while in flight to a group of towns folk. The birds end up dropping him from the air and the turtle falls to his death. 

This type of story really reminds me of an opera I have watched called Orfeo. I could write my original plot similar to that. In my original story, there could be a man who has a wife that passes away. However, he can travel to the underworld to save her. Once he finds her he can have her, but there is one condition. She will be following him on the way back to the living world. While they are going back, he can not look back at her to check if she is actually there. Eventually, he would break this rule and look back at his wife. He would see her and be very happy. However, he would soon realize the mistake he had made. He would  lose his wife and return to the world of the living with no success. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking by Babbitt

Reading Notes: The Sparrows and the Snake

"dark lord"

~~

In the original story there are two sparrows who just had hatch lings. While the father is away, a snake enters their nest and eats the children. This leaves the mother crying out in despair as the father returns to ask what has happened. Once he finds out, he decides to burn the nest down using the human's lit torch on his house. The snake realizes the nest is on fire and tries to escape, but not before the human stabs him in an attempt to destroy the nest and prevent the fire from spreading. 

I thought this story could serve well as a medieval war-like story. The two sparrows could be a king and queen. While the king is off on a journey in a neighboring kingdom, a dark lord could take over the kingdom and kill the prince by throwing him in mystical well where no one returns. When the king returns he would find out what happened and devise a plan to get rid of the dark lord. He eventually decides to burn the castle down that the dark lord has resided himself in. The dark lord would eventually realize what has happened and attempt to escape. However, he would meet his end with a lightning bolt from the sky. The human in the original story could be changed into a 'god' like character similar to Zeus. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Sparrows and the Snake by Dutton

Reading Notes: The Brave Little Bowman

"football star"

~~

I thought this story was very interesting. It is about a little bowman who wishes to join the king's army, but he is a brittle man. He is the best bowman in all of the land, but has no way of impressing the king to join. So, he finds a strong man to join the army with and bring him along. In the end, the strong man believes he does not need the bowman anymore because of his success. However, the strongman fails in his first real war and the bowman shines in his failure.

I think this story would fit really well in a high school setting. High school could be considered a kingdom. There are all sorts of different 'class' levels. Such as the football stars and the book nerds. In my story I can change the bowman into a football star who is failing his classes and is ineligible to play the next games. He goes and searches for a smart student to do his homework for him. After a while, the football star would end up becoming eligible and ditching the smart student. He would not compensate him for his work like he said he would and completely leave him in the dark.

This would end up biting the student in the butt. There was one last homework assignment he would have forgotten about. This would cause him to fail his class and become ineligible once again. Leaving his team with no starting quarterback and losing the state championships.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Brave Little Bowman by Babbitt

Week 12 Story: Just Deserts

"tiramisu"

~~

The Park mob was the most feared mob family in town. They ruled the city of Grace with an iron fist. No one dared to double cross them. Except...maybe...one of their own. 

Tony was the oldest son of the family. He was also the up and coming leader of the mob. Tony's main job was to collect the money from their debtors. This duty required him to travel from city to city periodically to retrieve the dough. He had one last stop in the town of Hanul before he could call it quits for the month. Unfortunately for Tony, there was no place to store the money while he was gone. All of a sudden, Tony remembered he had a cousin in Hanul and he could store the cash with him while he was there. Tony quickly ran to a payphone and called his cousin, Sal. 

Tony: Eh, Sal, it's me Tony. Hold on to a bit of cash for me would ya? I gotta make another round and I'll be back up at your place before ya know it... You would? Ah, what a guy!

After the call, Tony got on his bike and rode to Sal's place to drop off the money.

Tony: Eh, Sal I really appreciate you holding the family dough.

Sal: Don't mention it cousin. Family is family!

Tony left Sal and went to collect the last of the debt. Little did he know, Sal had dark plans for the family money. Sal always felt a little betrayed by the family. He was sent to watch the turf in Hanul and couldn't be with his family back in Grace. Bitter as can be, Sal spent the money on some very expensive tiramisu. 

When Tony returned from his last collection, he found Sal lying down in the front yard looking distraught. 

Tony: What happened, Sal? The place is a mess! Who did this?

Sal: It was that damn Sang gang. They broke into my place and stole the money you left. 

Tony was shocked at what happened. He could not fathom how the Sang gang did such a thing. They were the Park mob. Everyone feared them. So, Tony began to investigate. 

As he was looking around Sal's apartment he noticed a plate of what looked like a dessert left on the table. 

Tony: Interesting, it looks like the Sang gang stayed for dessert. 

From this moment on, Tony knew that Sal had tried to trick him. He walked to the front yard back to Sal.

Tony: Well, I guess you're right. The money is not here. 

Sal: I'm so sorry, Tony... how about you come back over for dinner tomorrow? 

Tony: Sure, Sal. Sure.

Tony knew this was Sal's way of closing the deal of his lie. So, what did Tony do about it? The mob thing to do. 

Tony arrived at Sal's house the next day. Before he could knock, the door burst open.  

Sal: TONY! Have you seen my son? He hasn't come home since yesterday. Do you know where my boy is?

Tony: Well, Sal, I believe I saw him get taken away by the Sang gang last night. 

Sal: What are you talking about?! The Sang gang would never harm us. They fear us. Why would you joke with me? My son is missing, dammit. 

Tony: You shouldn't be surprised, Sal. If they would take my money I am sure they would take your boy. Sal, return my money and I'm sure your boy will come home. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE
This story was based off of The Merchant and His Iron by Dutton. In the original, a man left a large amount of iron with his friend. The friend eventually sold the iron for money and lied saying rats ate it. The man knew this was a lie so he decided to kidnap the friend's son in exchange for his iron. I decided to make my take of the original into a gangster type theme. Instead of the main item being iron, I made it money. Better yet, the money that belonged to the mob. I decided to make the main character the head of the mob, or soon to be head. Instead of rats eating iron like in the original, I decided to metaphorically make the friend the rat and have him spend it (eat it) on the dessert. I kept the ending pretty similar to the original. When Tony returned to retrieve his money, he figured out that Sal was lying. In the original, the merchant instantly knew his friend was lying because of how bad the lie was. In my take of the story, I chose to make Tony investigate a little to where he would eventually find a clue, hence the dessert. In both stories the son is taken. In exchange for the money/iron, the boy would be returned. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Dutton

Reading Notes: The Tyrant Who Became A Just Ruler

"king"

~~

I am really enjoying the children's tales and have found them to be great inspirations for story ideas. This specific story is about a king who treated his people awfully. His people would pray for a new king to rule them. Until one day, the king had a change of heart and announced it to his people. He realized that people who are evil to others will eventually be consumed by evil themselves. So, I thought this story would prove to be a very interesting way to tell a story of a young bully. 

The bully will be the guy at the middle school that no one wants to mess with. Everyone will fear him. His fellow students would hope that one day he would move away or drop out of school. Eventually the bully would have a change of heart after seeing a certain chain of events. In the original story, the king sees a fox get attacked by a dog. The dog then gets hit by his owner. The owner gets hit by a horse and the horse breaks its leg in a hole. I thought I could sum all of that up into one situation. The young boy gets bullied by some high school students.  

From then on, the boy will never want to grow up to be like those other kids. He would treat everyone with kindness after realizing what evil can do to someone. This would be the basic plot of the story, with some added description in the actual writing. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Tyrant Who Became a Just Ruler by Dutton 

Reading Notes: The Merchant and His Iron

"mobster"

~~

I think the plot of this story is very interesting. It revolves around a merchant who entrusts his friend to hold his iron supply while he is gone. The iron is a backup in case his journey does not go as planned. When the merchant returns, he is expecting his iron, but the friend has sold it already. After a few lies, the merchant is now in control of the situation because he has taken the son of his friend in exchange for his iron.

I thought I could turn this story into some gangster type theme. I could have two people that are in the same gang, a mob-like gang. One of them can ask his friend to hold his money while he is gone, just in case he gets in prison or something along the lines of not coming back. The money would replace the iron in this story. While he is gone, the friend would spend the money on drugs or other needless things. When the man returns to claim his money, the friend will say a rival gang robbed him. In the original, the friend said rats ate the iron. Maybe I can link the rival gang's name to rats. The man would snoop around and eventually find out his friend is lying.

The friend would invite him over for a drink. Just as in the original, he would kidnap his son before they meet. He would say some witty remark about his son missing because superman came and swooped him off his feet. After the friend’s snide comment about not taking him seriously, the man would make another witty comment about restoring his son when he sees his money. I thought this plot links very well to a gangster theme. There are plenty other aspects of the story I will convey in the actual writing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Dutton

Reading Notes: The Quarrel of the Quails

"quail"

~~

Basically, this story is about a group of quails who keep getting captured and sold off by a hunter. The leader of the quails notices this and tells his fellow group members to fly away with his net and put it on a thorn bush. Together, the quails never get caught. However, one day the quails begin to argue and stop working together, then the hunter catches them. I feel like this topic would work very well with a story about burglars.

There could be a group of guys who are the best at robbing banks. They rob a bank almost every night and the police are clueless as to who or where they are. Everything would be going swell until one day one of the members of the group complains about the leaders wishes. He believes he should be the leader of the group and not the current man in charge.

While they are out robbing another bank, the rebellious member will go out of his way to steal some jewelry that was not on the intended target list. This will trigger the alarms of the bank and get all of the robbers caught. I think this story will suit the plot and easily convey that when a group works together they can do anything, but when they split a part it is bad for all.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Quarrel of the Quails by Babbitt

Reading Notes: How The Turtle Saved His Own Life

"turtle"

~~

This story is basically about a few princes who always go to a lake, so the king puts fish in the lake for them to see. Among those fish is one turtle. The boys had never seen a turtle before and are instantly frightened of it and want it gone. The king eventually sentences the turtle to death. However, the turtle saves himself by tricking the people to believe he will die in water. 

This story gave me the idea of writing something involving racial issues. I thought it fit well with that topic. For example, I could have three boys who live in a very rural part of the south. They will be of white descent. 

One day, a young African American boy will move to the town where they reside. Instantly, they would want to segregate him from everything because he is different. The new boy will become very popular with the other open-minded kids because they see him as another student, not someone different because of his skin. In school, the three boys would try to pick on him. Outside of class they would try to fight him and scare him away. 

Eventually, the young African American boy would stand up to the other boys and prove that he is more than the color of his skin. Also, that he is proud of his heritage. His fellow students will help him due to how well-liked he is by all of them. I thought this would be an interesting story to write. I have not worked out the small details, but that is the basic plot. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
How the Turtle Saved his Own Life - Babbitt