One cold morning, a little girl was gallivanting outside in Switzerland with her little brother who was only about four. Switzerland had just been hit by a massive blizzard, so as soon as the weather had gotten better, the brother and sister decided to go play in the left over snow. The two children laughed and played all morning, until their playing came to a hiatus once a large serpent was found lying beneath the snow. The young, terrified boy immediately ran to find their father to come and kill the gigantic creature the boy and his sister had just found. While the young boy was running off, the sister decided to see if she could help the snake and bring him back to health; the sister then wrapped the snake up in an old blanket and took it inside to the warmth in hopes that would help the serpent feel better.
After the sister had explained to her father that she wanted to keep the serpent until he was back to feeling his normal, happy, serpent-y self, the father reluctantly agreed with terms that she would only go near the snake as long as the father was around as well.
A few hours into caring for the sick serpent, it finally starting slithering around the house in the friendliest manner. To the father’s surprise, the serpent was friendlier than the previous house pets! After the sister had convinced the brother and father to keep the serpent, it became her best friend.
The girl and her snake did everything together, from watching T.V, to feeding it little mice she would find scurrying around outside. It just goes to show that you cannot judge a book by its cover and to always give someone, or something, a chance at finding a place in your life.
Author’s Note
This fable was about a man who had found a sick serpent who was lying in the snow, almost dead. The man took the serpent inside to keep the serpent next to the fire to warm him up in hopes of him healing, and that is when things took a turn for the worst. The serpent then tried to attack the man’s son forcing the man to swing an axe on the snake to kill it. The moral of the story was that you cannot expect gratitude from the wicked.
Bibliography
I chose to re tell the story of The Woodman and the Serpent;
a tale from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. web link
A Girl and her Serpent
Lauren, I really enjoyed reading your story. You use good adjectives and are good at writing so that the reader can picture what you are describing. I like that you added a twist to your story that the original story did not possess. Snakes are always portrayed as bad and harmful creatures so I think it is cool that you changed that up and gave the story a whole new meaning. I am looking forward to more of your stories!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this story because of the different ending than in the fable. I actually heard the fable before but in the version I heard, the snake actually killed the son in his sleep. I was expecting the snake to kill the little girl so I was happily surprised that it didn't end that way. Great story Lauren!
ReplyDeleteWow, I really like how you fluctuated the fable's plot into your own. The twist you incorporated in your story was well done and caught me off guard. I like your writing style and can't wait to see what other stories you write throughout the semester.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is such a twist in the plot that I truly was not expecting. I never would have thought that the girl would have stayed to take care of a snake over the boy. Boys usually love things like that while girls are the ones that don’t care for snakes as much. I think that your story is a cool way of showing that you should never judge a book by its cover.
ReplyDeleteI like that the animal found was a snake but I wonder what actually happened to the snake that hurt it so bad? How did the little girl know that the snake was hurt?
What if you added the snakes side of the story to this? Like the snake be the narrator and then the girl be the narrator at some parts. That way you could see how the snake got hurt and why he turned out to be the best pet that they had ever had.
I really like that when you changed the story, you changed the moral that went with it. Both the lesson in the original and the lesson in your re-written version are really good. I think your story also proves that sometimes we can find good friends in the most unlikely people and places. It also shows the innocence of a child that playing with a snake was fun and didn't scare her as it would an adult. Seeing the world through a acids eyes is always so humbling and interesting.
ReplyDelete