I awakened to the sound of footsteps. I had fallen asleep in the meadow, when I was supposed to be watching the sheep. I felt guilty, my father had trusted me to stay with the sheep all night and protect them from other animals and their own stupidity. I began counting the sheep - one, two, three...fifty-six...ninety-nine, one hundred. Whew! They are all there! But to be safe I count again, this time I count one hundred and one. One sheep looks much bigger than the others, I decide to rise to my feet to investigate.
Having grabbed my shepherd's crook I make my way to the very large sheep. Once I arrived I soon realized that it was not a sheep, but a lion. This lion was disguised as a sheep, he had taken a sheep's hide from someone else's flock (most likely my father Jesse's cousin's flock, he lived nearby and was always careless).
The sheep realized I knew something was up and they panicked. They all began to flee from the "big sheep" and ran up the nearby hill. Only this was no ordinary hill. This hill was a unicorn, and the unicorn had risen to stand 100 feet high - hoisting my 100 sheep far into the sky. I thought to myself, I must take care of this lion and then chase down my father's flock.
So instead of panicking, I did what any normal young boy would do - I went to the river bed and grabbed five smooth stones. I quietly walked back over to within a safe distance of the lion and swung my sling around and around. Whoosh! The stone hit the lion directly in the forehead and the lion was knocked out. I grabbed my knife and slit his throat. My sheep had been saved from the lion! But now I must find the unicorn that currently houses my sheep upon his back.
I followed the giant tracks and within minutes I could see its giant tail. I yelled, "Mr. Unicorn! Those sheep upon your back are my father's! He would be greatly disappointed in me if I could not bring them back to our fields!"
The unicorn is a magical creature, and because of this I think he heard me and understood. The unicorn sat down on his belly and the sheep dismounted one by one from his tail. I counted them and sure enough all one hundred were there. Just another day as a shepherd-boy.
*Author's Note: This story is based upon "From Shepherd-Boy to King" a Jewish Fairy Tale. In the original story, it is David who climbs the mountain which is a unicorn. I thought it would be fun to write the story from David's perspective and have the sheep mount the unicorn instead of David. Also, in the original story David is saved from the lion by a deer. But I thought this was weird, so I just had him kill the lion instead, like the Bible mentions in 1 Samuel.
(Sheep: Photo by David Martyn Hunt)
Bibliography. "From Shepherd-Boy to King" from Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919). Web Source.
Hey Ryan!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you wrote this retelling from a first-person point of view as it helped me immerse into the shepherd-boy's position having to so quickly go from fast asleep to jolting awake and having to deal with threats to his father's flock of sheep. Also I like the change to having the shepherd-boy kill the lion as it makes this retelling flow well!
Hey Ryan!
ReplyDeleteThe part about the unicorn in this story really surprised me but I like the way you worked it into the story different from the original. I also enjoyed the first person point of view in this story. The way you merged the Jewish version of this tale with that of the version from the bible that most people know was also very creative.
Hello Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI would like to start off by saying that you did an incredible job with your retelling of the story. I like how you brought a unicorn into a sheep story and it is different from the original story that was written. I also enjoyed the first person point of view in this story. By telling the story in a first person point of view it made the story flow much better in my opinion. It is also unique how you merged in the Jewish tale of the story from the bible. It is also crazy how the boy took on a lion all by himself with only rocks. What would the boy have done if the lion had begun to walk towards the boy? I think the boy took a very big risk but in the end it all paid off because he and the sheep were safe. I believe that if the boy did not come back with all the sheep then the father might have gotten made at the boy for losing a few sheep.
Hey Ryan,
ReplyDeleteThis retelling really does a good job of highlighting just how crazy many of David's exploits are. The fact that all of this happens in one day, as well as David's nonchalant attitude about the events themselves ("just another day in the life.."), were honestly pretty funny to me, and definitely made the story very enjoyable to read. Great job!