Week 1 Storytelling: The Folly of the Wild Goats

It was a dark, rainy day in the Grand Valley. So a herd of wild goats decided to seek refuge in a nearby cave. The mother goats gathered to tell stories of what their kids had eaten that week. Molly, who was the mother of Timothy, boasted, "I caught my little Timmy chewing on Farmer Bill's work boots earlier this week." The other mother goats burst into an uproar of laughter, which then led to a competition of who could shout out their kid's eating accomplishments the loudest.

While the mothers told stories of their kids, the fathers told stories from their younger years. Rex, who was the husband of Molly and the father of Timothy gloated, "Yep, back in my prime I once had a grazing date with Sheila, and a frolicking date with Rebecca in the same day." It was no secret that Rex was quite the nanny's man back in the day; that is, until he met Molly. So at the mention of his "prime", the other father goats hounded Rex, and reminded him of how Molly came in and became his old ball and chain after only 4 days.

The kids, unbeknownst to their parents, were competing in an intense game of Tag-o-Ramma (wild goats' version of tag). Timothy was known amongst the other kids as the King of Tag-o-Ramma. He was very elusive, but on the rare occasion that he was tagged, he showed no mercy in passing off the tagging duty to another kid. Rumor was that he chipped off a piece of Ronda's horn from ramming her into a tree as he tagged her. Given that they were in a dimly lit cave, this made the game that much more extreme. The kids were frantically running about the cave when Timothy shouted, "Come at me, Parker! I dare ya!'

Parker was about to make a run at Timothy when all of sudden there was an awful screeching noise. There was a creature thrashing about in the cave, and wreaking all kinds of havoc. Some of the wild goats fled immediately; Molly, Rex, and Timothy leading them. Others, however, remained in the cave ready to fight. They circled around the jolting creature, and to their surprise, discovered it was only a donkey.

Realizing that he had been discovered, the donkey, Dustin, fled from the cave. His lion friend, Troy, promptly greeted him. Dustin realized that Troy had managed to slay a few of the wild goats that had ran from the cave. Dustin and Troy proudly drug their dinner under a nearby tree.

As they ate their dinner, Dustin and Troy speculated whether or not the three wild goats they were eating were the ones they had overheard bragging in the cave. Either way, they had full bellies, and a more humble outlook on life.

A very confident, yet foolish-looking goat.
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Author's Note:

This story is based on Aesop's fable "The Lion and the Ass".  In Aesop's fable, the lion and the ass team up as hunting partners. The role of the ass was to cause a commotion and run the goats out of the cave, while the lion captured and killed them. Similar to my story, in Aesop's fable, the lion and the ass were successful in their hunting endeavor. The moral of Aesop's fable was "The loud-mouthed boaster does not impress nor frighten those that know him.", meaning that the lion was not impressed or frightened by the ass. I slightly changed the moral of the story. The moral of my story can be seen as only cowards are boastful, or that prideful boasting can lead to very negative consequences. 

Bibliography

Book: Aesop for Children, illustrated by Milo Winter

Author: Aesop

Year Published: 1919

Web Source: Project Gutenberg