Week 3 Storytelling: Fortunate Findings

Fortunate Findings

By Mia Chism

Once there was a poor, poor village just outside the kingdom’s reach, and every morning Baker Paolo would put out a basket of burnt bread for the children to grab on their way to school. The children would take what they needed to fill the rest of their stomachs for the morning and be on their way, never taking more than was filling, for they knew other children might come along who also needed it. The baker always looked forward to seeing the children's smiling faces in the morning, knowing he was at least putting some joy in the children's lives. Pitter patter went the rain on the bread basket, making the top loafs somewhat soggier than the rest. The children didn't mind. This was a normal day for the poor village and its children.

Just a few miles north, pitter patter went the rain on the windows inside the kingdom. Prince Sam looked out on the gloomy, rainy summer day. Bored to the bone and never having anyone to play with, no matter rain or shine.

The view of the palace from the village. Source: Mark Fodden 

He woke up at the same time he did every day — never knowing why he actually had to get up at a specific time since there wasn't anything he had to do. His mom, the Queen, always insisted he get up and be productive. But she would never let him have friends over to play, if he had any friends at all. The King never really had much input in raising Sam, since he was always too busy running the kingdom.

Sam went to school, but he was always by himself. He could never go anywhere without his kingdom guards since the Queen always feared for his safety.

He was never left alone. Pitter patter still on the window. Nothing ever changed.

Until one day, at just seven years old, Prince Sam found the courage to escape from his kingdom guards when they were chatting with village maidens. While the guards were laughing and trying to impress the maidens, Prince Sam slowly slithered toward the ground and when no one seemed to notice him, he crawled away.

After he passed a few stores, he got up from his knees. Once he stood up, his eyes locked on a bread basket. Then his eyes focused on all the children surrounding the bread basket. He longed to be with them, for he never got to play with children his age. He was always alone within the palace walls.

So he slowly made his way over to the bread basket, and the poorer children looked at him. At first the village children didn't notice the better-dressed boy, but when they did, some of them were cautious. They could tell by the Prince’s clothing that they weren’t like him. One of the children almost said something to Sam, but decided against it and continued shoving bread down his throat. But the children grabbed as much as their hands could hold, and then the Prince tried to say something.

"Hi! Do you come here often?" he asked into the crowd of children.

No one answered for the village children didn't think they could speak to someone like this boy. Some of the children even ran away.

Sam tried again. "What's your name?" he said, addressing a young girl with pigtails and pink torn shoes.

She looked at him for a long second, but then said, "Annie."

"Hi Annie. My name is Sam. Are we all allowed to take this bread?"

"Yes. We are," Annie said.

Then taking a bite of the bread in her hand, she skipped away to her friends. All Sam wanted to do was be friendly and learn more about this bread that Annie said was free.

So, as all the children had left him, Sam put his hand in the basket and grabbed as much as he could, but his hand would not come out of the basket. The more he tried to pull his hand out from the basket with all of the bread, the more his hand stayed put in the basket.

Prince Sam started to get frustrated.

Baskets of bread. Source: Wikimedia Commons 

He started to cry out, and the children who hadn’t made it very far, turned around to look. A few moments later, some came back to him. They told him to let go of some of the bread and take only what he could eat.

The Prince screamed out, "But why? I want all of this! I want to taste it all. At home I am allowed to take whatever I want."

One of the children who had come back was the young girl, Annie.

"Sam, we don't know what it's like where you live, but where most of us come from, we only take what we need, for that's all we can afford. If we take more than what we need, then there is none for the rest," Annie said.

The Prince was still whining, but started thinking about what Annie was saying.

He slowly let go of most the bread in his hand, and only picked up what he knew he could consume.

All at once, his hand was free. Then his belly was full.

Annie asked him if he wanted to accompany them to school that day.

Sam thought to himself, "I've made a friend, finally."

We should only take what we need and leave the rest for those who are not as fortunate.

Author's Note:

This story is based on The Boy and the Filberts from The Aesop for Children. In the original story, the boy puts his bands into a barrel of filberts, a type of hazelnut. He tries to take more than he needs and can grab all at once. He didn't want to give up any of the ones in his hand and he begins to whine. His mother tells him to take only what he needs. In this story, I have added two different environments, the kingdom and the poor village. I have also created more drastic characters with the Prince from the kingdom and the poor village children, giving them personality and dialogue. I wanted the Prince not to just grab more than he could carry out of greed, but because he wasn't taught any differently growing up as a prince. The lesson from both stories is essentially the same: take only what you need, leave the rest for others. The truth is that in life, there will always be people with more than you and people with less than you, and we must all respect each other enough to not take from others by taking more than what we need for ourselves.

The first picture resembles the kingdom, which is what I imagine it looking like. The second picture is of a bread basket, which represents the bread that Baker Paolo sets out every morning for the village children. I chose this story because I enjoy stories that have lessons behind them — that teach a valuable moral.

Bibliography:

The Aesop for Children with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919).

Reading Notes: The Aesop for Children, Part A

My ideas and notes from Reading Part A:


The Wolf and the Kid & The Tortoise and the Ducks:

Instead of ducks, I would make them eagles, and instead of a tortoise, I would make it a sloth. The story would take place from a zoo, and the sloth would be in the zoo and unable to visit places, including his best friend’s wedding that he so wanted to go to, he was just too slow, and honestly, too lazy. So he gets help from the eagles, but just as he passes the lions cage, the lions say out loud that the sloth must be the Chosen One! Just as the sloth agrees, the eagles drop him in the cage. This would be part 1 of the story teaching the lesson that you must not live in vain, especially when someone is helping you. The second part of the story would be based on The Wolf and the Kid, where the lions are going to eat the sloth, but the sloth convinces the lions to wait because the sloth can entertain them by doing magic tricks. The lions have never seen magic tricks, and so they agree. The sloth makes a deal that if the lions are impressed, they cannot eat him. But if they are not impressed, they can proceed. The sloth does several tricks that last into the night. The lions are somewhat pleased, but as they near the sloth to eat him after his last trick, the sloth disappears. This is the sloth’s famous and last trick: disappearance.


The Boy and the Filberts:
Once there was a poor, poor village just outside the kingdom’s reach, and every morning the baker would put out a basket of burnt bread for the children to get on their way to school. One day, the prince, just 7 years old, had found himself escaped from his palace keeper, and ventured by this bread basket and the children who seemed so delighted in it. The boy wanted to join these kids, for he never got play with children his age, he was always stuck in the palace, bored as ever. So he ventured over to the bread basket and the children, and the poorer children looked at him and told him to go away. They could tell by the prince’s clothing that they weren’t like him. But the children grabbed as much as their hands could hold, and then the prince put his hand in the basket and grabbed as much as he could, but his hand would not come out of the basket. The longer he kept his hand in the basket, the more his hand kept bending.

Baskets of bread. Source: Wikimedia Commons

He started to cry out, and the children who hadn’t made it very far, turned around to look. Some came back to him, and told him to let go of some of the bread and take only what he could eat. The prince immediately let go of the majority of the bread, and only picked up what he could eat. His hand was free and his belly was full. The lesson? Those who are fortunate should only take what they need and leave the rest for those who are not as fortunate.


These stories are part of the Aesop (Winter) unit. Story source: The Aesop for Children, with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919).