Week 7 Story: The Messenger Dog
Oh boy! Today is my day! The Creator has called upon me to deliver his message! This is the first time that I have been able to do this. I feel so honored to serve my Creator.
He came to me and said "Go to everyone and tell them that I say to never leave dead people alone, but rather throw wood ashes on top of them. When this is complete, wait 24 hours and they will come back to life."
After I received my message, I began to race to the nearest town. I realize that I am just a dog, so anything that I can do for my Creator will be from the bottom of my heart.
I have been traveling for over a day. I am exhausted, but lucky for me I passed someone's house with food! I peaked inside the window to find my favorite meal of all time. It was a bone with meat left over on it! It must be my lucky week because I am getting everything that I want. First the Creator, now yummy food, the next thing I want is a nap. Having a full stomach does help with sleeping. I don't think he would mind if I just dozed off for a -
the dog with a bone
OH NO! I full on fell asleep. I have been asleep for way too long. I am such a bad dog... Now I have to think hard about what I was doing. The message, I got it! I ran as fast I can to the town. I see the townspeople and I share the message from the Creator. To my surprise, they claim that I am a liar. I begin to question everything.
The townspeople tell me that a sheep already came into town and said that the Creator said to bury the dead.
My heart was broken. I failed the Creator. He put his faith in me, and I blew it. I walked back to the Creator and he greeted me with shame. He began to tell me how much he disliked me and that I will never be trusted with the messenger position again. The Creator said that now the dead people can never come back to life because of me.
If I never ate the bone then this would not have happened. It is all my fault. I am a bad messenger. I am a bad dog...
Author's Notes
I retold a story from the Nigerian Folk Stories about why dead people are buried. In the story, the Creator trusts the messenger dog to go out and tell the townspeople of what to do with dead bodies. The dog gets distracted and forgets the message/falls asleep. It had been awhile and the dog never came back, so the Creator sent out a sheep to go share the message. Well the sheep also got distracted and forgot the message, but the sheep ended up making up his own message. This message was to bury dead people. When the dog finally wakes up he goes to the townspeople and they say that they already heard from the Creator. The dog returns to the Creator and the Creator blames the entire mishap on the dog. He publicly dislikes him and never trusts him again. I decide to take this story and tell it from the dog's point of view. I feel really bad for the dog and I wish that the Creator was nicer to him.
Bibliography
Nigerian Folk Stories written by Elphinstone Dayrell, online source
He came to me and said "Go to everyone and tell them that I say to never leave dead people alone, but rather throw wood ashes on top of them. When this is complete, wait 24 hours and they will come back to life."
After I received my message, I began to race to the nearest town. I realize that I am just a dog, so anything that I can do for my Creator will be from the bottom of my heart.
I have been traveling for over a day. I am exhausted, but lucky for me I passed someone's house with food! I peaked inside the window to find my favorite meal of all time. It was a bone with meat left over on it! It must be my lucky week because I am getting everything that I want. First the Creator, now yummy food, the next thing I want is a nap. Having a full stomach does help with sleeping. I don't think he would mind if I just dozed off for a -
the dog with a bone
OH NO! I full on fell asleep. I have been asleep for way too long. I am such a bad dog... Now I have to think hard about what I was doing. The message, I got it! I ran as fast I can to the town. I see the townspeople and I share the message from the Creator. To my surprise, they claim that I am a liar. I begin to question everything.
The townspeople tell me that a sheep already came into town and said that the Creator said to bury the dead.
My heart was broken. I failed the Creator. He put his faith in me, and I blew it. I walked back to the Creator and he greeted me with shame. He began to tell me how much he disliked me and that I will never be trusted with the messenger position again. The Creator said that now the dead people can never come back to life because of me.
If I never ate the bone then this would not have happened. It is all my fault. I am a bad messenger. I am a bad dog...
Author's Notes
I retold a story from the Nigerian Folk Stories about why dead people are buried. In the story, the Creator trusts the messenger dog to go out and tell the townspeople of what to do with dead bodies. The dog gets distracted and forgets the message/falls asleep. It had been awhile and the dog never came back, so the Creator sent out a sheep to go share the message. Well the sheep also got distracted and forgot the message, but the sheep ended up making up his own message. This message was to bury dead people. When the dog finally wakes up he goes to the townspeople and they say that they already heard from the Creator. The dog returns to the Creator and the Creator blames the entire mishap on the dog. He publicly dislikes him and never trusts him again. I decide to take this story and tell it from the dog's point of view. I feel really bad for the dog and I wish that the Creator was nicer to him.
Bibliography
Nigerian Folk Stories written by Elphinstone Dayrell, online source
Hi Hannah! I thought you did a really good job telling this story from the dog’s point of view. Dogs always love to please their people and I could really feel that drive for the dog in your story. I felt so bad for him when the townspeople called him a liar and when the Creator blamed the whole thing on the dog.
ReplyDeleteHey Hannah, great retelling of this story, I really like the perspective you explored. I know that other cultures often have different views of dogs than the U.S. does, so it is interesting to read folk tales like this that may explain where that perspective comes from. I wonder what the American version of this story would look like, and if the dog would fail in the same way, or be triumphant.
ReplyDeleteHey Hannah!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the perspective of the story. I love how you made the dog seem so sweet. He only wanted to make his creator happy. I wonder if all dogs are like that. "I see the townspeople and I share the message from the Creator" took me a second to understand. I think it would be better if it were "I see the townspeople and share the message from the Creator" which would maybe be easier to understand. Overall, enjoyed your story!
First of all, when he calls himself a 'bad dog'...heart-breaking. Secondly, you did a good job of really capturing the 'energy' of a dog. I read this story in a 'dog's voice,' if that makes sense. I have never read the original story, but from your Author's Note I think that it's interesting. It makes you wonder what would have happened if the dog had delivered the message...I know you said you wanted the creator to be nicer, but why didn't you change the outcome of the story? Did you just want to do a sort of 'character study'? Either way, good job!
ReplyDelete