Week 6 Storytelling: Never Sacrifice a Diamond Ring for a Golden Band

Diamond ring
Source: pixabay

It was the beginning of spring, and that meant it was time for King Jasper to hold his annual Backyard Games. Men of all ages competed in the Backyard Games. The prize was a beautiful diamond ring. If a married man won, this would be a lovely gift for his wife; however, if an unmarried man won, it would be advantageous to winning over the heart of an eligible bachelorette.

There was a young man named Andrew who had competed in the Backyard Games the past two years. Although he had never won the grand prize, he had come very close both years. He had always believed in the saying “third time’s the charm,” and he was going to do whatever it took to make sure that saying held true.

His primary motivation for wanting to win the diamond ring this year was his lovely girlfriend, Sierra. She was a very beautiful girl who anyone in the town would be lucky to marry. Andrew feared that if he did not win the diamond ring for her, she would surely leave him for someone else. As a result, Andrew was determined to win all three events in the Backyard Games, so that way there would be no way Sierra would leave him. However, the Games did not go as planned…

The first event in the Backyard Games was the annual 100-yard dash. This event was held every year, so Andrew had been preparing for the run. His preparation paid off. Andrew crossed the finish line a full 5 seconds in front of the other competitors.

The next event was a test of strength. It was much like the game at the county fair in that each competitor took up the sledgehammer and hit it on the platform as hard as they could. Being that Andrew was a very fast runner, he was not very strong, and he did not win this event. Although his original plan of winning all three events had been foiled, he still had a chance to win the diamond ring. It would all come down to the final event.

The final event was a pie-eating contest. This was a new event to the Backyard Games. It would be a race against the clock to see who could finish 10 pies the fastest. Being that the men were all famished from the previous two events, there was no doubt that they would all be able to scarf down the pies rather quickly.

As the men were making their way to the rows of picnic tables, Andrew spotted a dog that clearly had not been well fed. Being careful not to get caught, Andrew led the dog to the picnic tables, and had him lay at his feet.

At the sound of the air horn all the men, Andrew included, began inhaling the pies. However, Andrew was also passing pies down to the starving dog that of course hastily obliged to eating the sweet dessert.

Andrew was able to clear his place at the table first, and was deemed the winner of the Backyard Games. King Jasper congratulated him on a wonderful performance and presented him with the beautiful diamond ring.

Andrew was ecstatic and could not wait to return home so he could give the ring to Sierra. However, on his way home, Andrew spotted the starving dog that had helped him win the pie-eating contest. Not only did the dog appear plumper than he was before, he also had something shiny hanging around his collar.

Andrew approached the dog and realized that it was a golden band hanging from the dog’s collar. Thinking that the golden band would be a nice fit for his own finger, Andrew sat down the diamond ring so he could remove the band from the dog’s collar. Just then, a wren swooped down and grabbed the diamond ring, and naturally, the dog took off chasing after the bird.

Despite his best efforts, Andrew was not able to catch the dog or the wren, and was forced to return home without a prize. When he told Sierra what had happened, she was very upset with him; not because he did not have the diamond ring to give to her, but because he had cheated and then became very greedy.

Sierra, unable to remain with a dishonest man, left Andrew that day, and he was forced to learn a couple of valuable lessons that day: cheaters never prosper, and never sacrifice a diamond ring for a golden band.

Author's Note

This story was based on the West African folktale Elephant and Wren. In the original story the king is offering an elephant to anyone who can cut down a tree with a wooden axe. Spider, the trickster of the story, uses his cunning ways, and sneaks a metal axe into his bag. He of course succeeds in cutting down the tree and is rewarded with the elephant. However, Spider is also very selfish and does not wish to share the elephant prize with his family, so he decides he will hide the elephant in the forest. Upon doing so, he spots a wren. He decided the wren would serve as dinner for his family, so he tied up his elephant so that he could catch the wren. However, the wren flew away before he could capture it, and when he returned to his elephant, it had also escaped. So the moral of the story was "never sacrifice an elephant for a wren."

I kept the same basic moral of the story. However, I changed up the characters and the plot to make it more relatable to us as humans. 

Bibliography

Book: West African Folktales

Author: William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair

Year: 1917

Web Source: Internet Archive