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
