Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Storytelling for Week 6: "Riddles at the Lake"

Once upon a time, there was a pound in the large city of San Francisco. This pound was not your average pound and did not always treat animals the way they necessarily should be treated. There were four dogs in particular that everyone loved. They had been at the pound for almost twelve years and they were all born in the same litter, so they were brothers. The dog’s names were Yudhishthira, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. The man that named them had a very particular sense of humor.

These dogs, just like all of the other animals living at the shelter, dreamt of one day escaping the place. There was an evil gatekeeper, though that ran the pound and refused to let the animals be adopted or go anywhere else. He sometimes refused to give them adequate amounts of water and food and he did not always take them for walks outside in the dog park.

When these four dogs were left on the side of the road as puppies, they did not expect much from people anymore. They did, however, expect to be treated humanely. After twelve years, they were finally ready to leave. They had put up with this nonsense for long enough and surely the outside world offered them a better life than being stuck inside a kennel all day.

After weeks of planning, they finally staged a breakout. They were ready to leave the pound and start anew. However, one thing stood in their way to freedom. The gatekeeper. 

As they slowly crept out in the night, they were careful not to make any loud noises. They made it all the way to the dog park in the back of the pound when suddenly, the gatekeeper sprang up out from the sprinklers!

“Ha ha! I’ve finally caught you! I know you have been plotting to escape for a long time now, but I will make you a deal. The deal is if you can make it through a series of challenges that I decide, you will be free to leave!”

The dogs looked at each other and thought it over. It did not take them very long before they decided they could do it. First, Nakula had a hot dog eating contest ahead of him. He could not make it through all of the hot dogs within the time limit so he was sent back to the kennel. Net up was Sahadeva, who had to dance while wearing a hula hoop. The hula hoop fell and so he was sent back to the kennel. And so it went with Arjuna. When Yudhishthira came to his challenge, the gatekeeper asked him a series of riddles that he had to answer patiently and with speed in order to gain freedom. He answered all of the riddles and the gatekeeper was stunned. 

The gatekeeper promised Yudhishthira his freedom and the freedom of his brothers. He also vowed to never rule the pound with an iron fist again! From that day forward, the animals roamed free and were able to be adopted and do as they pleased! The end!

("The Pound" from the Real Scratch Pad Blog at Wordpress)

Author's Note: I honestly do not know how I came up with the idea for this story. I think it was a combination of it being a late night and also my conversation with my sister. I was talking to my sister tonight and she recently adopted a puppy from her local pound. Somehow this idea crept into my subconscious and influenced my story! I decided to use the same names from "Riddles at the Lake" for the animal characters in order to make my retelling of the story less confusing.

Bibliography: "Riddles at the Lake" by Donald A. Mackenzie, from Indian Myth and Legend (1913). Web Source: PDE Mahabharata

2 comments:

  1. Cool! So I honestly didn't realize which part of the Mahabharata that you were pulling the story from in the beginning, however when I read your author's note I realized which story it was from. I found your story to be fun and entertaining and nice retelling of the story. However I think it might have been more reminiscent of the story if you had made and allusion to what sorts of problem they were having or how they were being treated inhumanely, such as not receiving enough water, food, shelter...etc.

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  2. Hannah!
    I liked your idea for the dog pound. I think that it made it easier to read because it was relatable to something that I am use to. The story was so funny, I especially like the irony in the dog having to eat hot dogs within a certain time period. And also having the dog hula hoop was hilarious to me. I tried to imagine a dog hula hooping.

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