The First Voyage of Sindbad the Unlucky Sailor
This story covers the first voyage of Sindbad the Sailor, but he is not quite as lucky in this telling. Where everything happened to go right in the original story, things go horribly wrong this time.
The Second Voyage of Sindbad the Unlucky Sailor
A follow-up to my first portfolio story, this one covering Sindbad and the Elephants. Sindbad's luck is just as good in this one.
Puss in Boots
This story is my modern take on the story of Puss in Boots. The cat focuses his efforts on helping his owner get a new job.
Showing posts with label Portfolio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portfolio. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Week 6 Storytelling: Puss in Boots
Michael was the youngest of three sons. His parents were poor farmers in Oklahoma who barely managed to scrape by when they had good seasons. When they died, Michael and his brothers were forced to sell their farm to pay off their parents debt. The only thing he managed to keep was the old family barn cat. His brothers saw that there was nothing left for them in their hometown and decided to move on. Michael spent his days locked inside his trailer daydreaming and lamenting to his cat.
One early Sunday morning, Michael heard his cat said to him "If you don't want to have any more worries, just get me a pair of scissors, a plastic bag, and a pair of boots". Michael knew the cat was smart but he was second guessing whether or not he was dreaming or had has cat actually spoken to him. A few days later, Michael was feeling bored and sad after an unsuccessful morning of job applications, so he decided to indulge his cats request. He fashioned up some boots and dug the scissors out from the junk drawer then placed them in front of his cat with the bag, who proceeded to do absolutely nothing.
That night, the cat stole out of the trailer with his new belongings, determined to find his owner a new job. The next morning when Michael woke up he was even more dejected than usual when he thought his cat had abandoned him. He still drove to town, somehow even more determined than usual to succeed in his daily grind despite all of his recent setbacks weighing on him.
His cat had arrived in town the night before and broken into the hardware store where he knew Michael would be applying the next morning. He was prepared to do whatever it would take. His new boots kept his feet from slipping while he climbed to the top of the managers filing cabinets to wait and hide. When Michael arrived he waited patiently as the manager interviewed another man for the stockroom position. Michael gave his usual spiel about how he had fallen on hard times after his parents death and was now looking for a new job. However, the manager was not impressed and Michael knew it. He went home after another long day of failure.
The cat laid hidden in the office all day while he waited for the manager to leave. He knew that the manager would call back the first man who interviewed that morning and offer him the job. So, using the scissors, he cut the first mans application into a thousand pieces. He carefully put the pieces in the bag so that there would be no evidence. He now knew that the manager would have no choice but to hire Micheal to fill the position. The cat then collected his bag and crept back out of the store. The next morning, Michael received the phone call he had been waiting weeks for. He was hired to start work the next day. He shared a glance of happiness with his cat, not knowing the bad things that his cat had done to help him.
Author's Note: For my story this week, I was inspired by Andrew Lang's collection of European Fairy Tales, specifically by Puss in Boots. I decided to keep most of the themes and motivations from the original story line for my telling. The main things I updated and changed for my story was to bring it into modern times and I hope make it more relevant to the struggles of us who are graduating soon.
I decided to cut out the romance element of the story line, and have the cat help our hero simply find a job. The cat still does an objectively bad thing to help his owner in this version, the man whose resume he cut up was more qualified than Michael. I felt that this was an important element from the original. The owner of the cat is either innocent or ignorant in either version depending on the readers interpretation. The cat is definitely malicious though, even if he comes from a place of wanting to help his owner. I also decided to remove the cat actually speaking to anyone to preserve some element of realism, Michael is convinced that his boredom is getting to the better of him. Thanks for reading.
European Fairy Tales by Andrew Lang
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| Michael's cat, from Bahrat International |
That night, the cat stole out of the trailer with his new belongings, determined to find his owner a new job. The next morning when Michael woke up he was even more dejected than usual when he thought his cat had abandoned him. He still drove to town, somehow even more determined than usual to succeed in his daily grind despite all of his recent setbacks weighing on him.
His cat had arrived in town the night before and broken into the hardware store where he knew Michael would be applying the next morning. He was prepared to do whatever it would take. His new boots kept his feet from slipping while he climbed to the top of the managers filing cabinets to wait and hide. When Michael arrived he waited patiently as the manager interviewed another man for the stockroom position. Michael gave his usual spiel about how he had fallen on hard times after his parents death and was now looking for a new job. However, the manager was not impressed and Michael knew it. He went home after another long day of failure.
The cat laid hidden in the office all day while he waited for the manager to leave. He knew that the manager would call back the first man who interviewed that morning and offer him the job. So, using the scissors, he cut the first mans application into a thousand pieces. He carefully put the pieces in the bag so that there would be no evidence. He now knew that the manager would have no choice but to hire Micheal to fill the position. The cat then collected his bag and crept back out of the store. The next morning, Michael received the phone call he had been waiting weeks for. He was hired to start work the next day. He shared a glance of happiness with his cat, not knowing the bad things that his cat had done to help him.
Author's Note: For my story this week, I was inspired by Andrew Lang's collection of European Fairy Tales, specifically by Puss in Boots. I decided to keep most of the themes and motivations from the original story line for my telling. The main things I updated and changed for my story was to bring it into modern times and I hope make it more relevant to the struggles of us who are graduating soon.
I decided to cut out the romance element of the story line, and have the cat help our hero simply find a job. The cat still does an objectively bad thing to help his owner in this version, the man whose resume he cut up was more qualified than Michael. I felt that this was an important element from the original. The owner of the cat is either innocent or ignorant in either version depending on the readers interpretation. The cat is definitely malicious though, even if he comes from a place of wanting to help his owner. I also decided to remove the cat actually speaking to anyone to preserve some element of realism, Michael is convinced that his boredom is getting to the better of him. Thanks for reading.
European Fairy Tales by Andrew Lang
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Week 5 Storytelling: Sindbad the Unlucky Sailor Part 2
I awoke suddenly, sick to my stomach due to the rocking of the ship on the waves of the sea. Hearing a loud alarm bell ringing on the deck of the ship, I shot out of my hammock as quick as my feet could carry me. I only made it a few steps from my pitiful bunk before I realized that I was locked in a cage, having been betrayed by my former Captain and sold as a slave to a rich merchant just the day before. One of the sailors ran down into the hold, screaming at the other slaves and me to take up arms, as our ship was being set upon by a group of bloodthirsty pirates. The sailor released us from the cell, and thrust crudely made swords into our hands before marching them out to the deck.
I emerged into the sunlight, only for it to illuminate a scene of chaos. Sailors all around me were swearing and lashing at the ropes the pirates were throwing onto the banisters of the deck so they could climb up the hull from their boarding craft. Suddenly, I heard a man release a scream from behind me. One of the pirates had made it up onto the deck and engaged the sailors in a brutal sword fight. It was only now that my brain decided to remind me of the fact that I was a disgraced merchant, and not a soldier or a fighter by any means. However, I had no time to give this thought any credence, as I was being attacked from all angles. I fought and I fought until the other sailors, slaves, and I encouraged the pirates to retreat back to their vessel and depart. Without a moment's respite, I was forced back into the cells with the other slaves.
The next time I saw the sun must have been days later. Sailors were ushering the other slaves and me, down onto a waiting dock. I walked for miles in the hot sun until I reached what appeared to be a large mansion surrounded by a vineyard. My new owner told me that I would be hunting elephants so that their ivory could be harvested. The next morning, I walked into the jungle and found a sturdy tree to climb and wait for the elephants to walk below me. Once I saw a group of them, I let an arrow fly. It glanced off the of one of the elephants, and they surrounded my tree in short order.
The elephants wrapped their trunks around the tree and ripped it out by the roots. I fell from the branches, and then I began to run as fast as I could as the elephants chased me. I had very little idea where I should go to escape the angry herd of elephants behind me. After a few minutes, I emerged into an open field of elephants' skeletons stripped of their tusks. I used this opportunity to hide in the rib cage of an elephant, and tried to keep a low profile as the herd moved past me. These elephants must have blamed me for all of these previous deaths. That night, I fell asleep with no idea as to whether or not I would ever see my home again.
Author's Note: For my story this week, I decided to continue the saga of Sindbad the Unlucky sailor. I really wanted to include the first and seventh voyage of Sindbad in my writing. I saw the most opportunity for me to make my creative changes. I am, of course, skipping the five voyages in between, since I wanted to see my story through to the end. In the original seventh voyage, he is acting as an emissary between two governments before he is captured by pirate slavers. Then he is sold to someone who makes him hunt elephants. The elephants then lead him to the graveyard so that he does not have to hunt them to procure ivory.
The main differences are that Sindbad is already a slave when this story begins, and is forced to fight the pirates as opposed to being captured by them. The next difference is that Sindbad does not reconcile his differences with the elephants. After they uproot his tree, he is chased to the elephant graveyard, which almost acts as a monument to his sins. It is definitely not a happy ending like the original. Sindbad never makes it back home, and never becomes rich, though I haven't definitively ended the saga.
I kept the same first person point of view for this story as I had in the first part, and as it was in the original story by Andrew Lang. I feel that it helps keep my telling of the story relatable to those who have read the original version.
The Voyages of Sindbad, by Andrew Lang
I emerged into the sunlight, only for it to illuminate a scene of chaos. Sailors all around me were swearing and lashing at the ropes the pirates were throwing onto the banisters of the deck so they could climb up the hull from their boarding craft. Suddenly, I heard a man release a scream from behind me. One of the pirates had made it up onto the deck and engaged the sailors in a brutal sword fight. It was only now that my brain decided to remind me of the fact that I was a disgraced merchant, and not a soldier or a fighter by any means. However, I had no time to give this thought any credence, as I was being attacked from all angles. I fought and I fought until the other sailors, slaves, and I encouraged the pirates to retreat back to their vessel and depart. Without a moment's respite, I was forced back into the cells with the other slaves.
The next time I saw the sun must have been days later. Sailors were ushering the other slaves and me, down onto a waiting dock. I walked for miles in the hot sun until I reached what appeared to be a large mansion surrounded by a vineyard. My new owner told me that I would be hunting elephants so that their ivory could be harvested. The next morning, I walked into the jungle and found a sturdy tree to climb and wait for the elephants to walk below me. Once I saw a group of them, I let an arrow fly. It glanced off the of one of the elephants, and they surrounded my tree in short order.
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| Sindbad being chased by the elephants, from Stefan Mart |
Author's Note: For my story this week, I decided to continue the saga of Sindbad the Unlucky sailor. I really wanted to include the first and seventh voyage of Sindbad in my writing. I saw the most opportunity for me to make my creative changes. I am, of course, skipping the five voyages in between, since I wanted to see my story through to the end. In the original seventh voyage, he is acting as an emissary between two governments before he is captured by pirate slavers. Then he is sold to someone who makes him hunt elephants. The elephants then lead him to the graveyard so that he does not have to hunt them to procure ivory.
The main differences are that Sindbad is already a slave when this story begins, and is forced to fight the pirates as opposed to being captured by them. The next difference is that Sindbad does not reconcile his differences with the elephants. After they uproot his tree, he is chased to the elephant graveyard, which almost acts as a monument to his sins. It is definitely not a happy ending like the original. Sindbad never makes it back home, and never becomes rich, though I haven't definitively ended the saga.
I kept the same first person point of view for this story as I had in the first part, and as it was in the original story by Andrew Lang. I feel that it helps keep my telling of the story relatable to those who have read the original version.
The Voyages of Sindbad, by Andrew Lang
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Week 4 Storytelling: The First Voyage of Sindbad the Unlucky Sailor
I had squandered all the wealth my parents had left me upon their death. I was forced to trade my house for some merchant goods and passage upon a ship leaving from the port city of Balsora. On this ship, I would be travelling with other merchants, and we would be stopping at various ports to sell or trade our wares. With the winds at our backs, we left the coast or Persia and sailed for the East Indies.
After many weeks of travelling and selling my wares at various small islands, I was quite a bit wealthier than I was when we left Balsora. We were sailing up to an unmapped island the helmsman had spotted. We could soon enough see that there were no people living on the island, but the Captain ordered us to stop so that we could stretch our legs and attempt to replenish our fresh water. A few merchants and I disembarked to explore the island. As evening fell, we all lit a fire to keep the cold ocean breeze at bay. As soon as the wood went up in flames, we felt the island tremble below us.
The island turned out to be an old, sleeping whale. What had appeared to be grass to my eyes turned out to be seaweed washed up on the back of this whale. The whale had been still so long that palm trees had managed to grow. He shook us off his back violently. Everyone on the whale's back was flung off along with all the foliage. I watched some of my fellow merchants drown as I grasped onto a floating palm tree. I could see the ship fleeing to the distance. I'm sure the sailors were fearing further retaliation from the whale. The captain was inadvertently leaving me for dead, floating in the ocean. I fell asleep floating on the log, thinking about how I shouldn't have wasted my parents' fortune.
When I awoke, I could see a beautiful white sand beach below some cliffs in the distance, and the current was carrying me that way. Once I reached the beach, I climbed the cliffs and found myself face to face with what appeared to be a royal guard. The guard wore a purple uniform decorated with the regalia of a country I did not know. He held out his sword to my throat, and called for his countrymen. They pushed me to my stomach and bound my hands. They only spoke to me to tell me to march behind them. Then they offered me water, which I was very grateful for. We walked around a small grove of trees where their horses were tied up.
I was forced to march behind their horses for hours until we reached a walled city with a large castle in the center. The stone was tan colored, and many purple barriers featuring the same regalia hung from the walls. Here, a Captain of the Guard explained to me that I was now one of King Mihrage's prisoners, charged with being a spy. Evidently, I had climbed the cliffs next to the King's summer residence where his wife was currently vacationing. I tried to explain that I was just a shipwrecked merchant, but no one believed me. The guard then explained to me that I would be taken to the port and sold into slavery as punishment for my crimes. The ropes that bound my wrists were replaced with chains, and I was forced to begin marching again.
I walked down a hill below the castle and saw that I would soon be at the port. Then I was greeted by a familiar sight - the ship that I had set out from Balsora with. I was about to call to my Captain so that he could rescue me, but then I saw the crew unloading all of my goods for sale. Apparently the Captain thought he could just sell off my possessions. Now angry, I called out to him and the color drained from his face. He knew how bad it would look if he was found to have left me for dead in the ocean and then sell all my goods. He vehemently denied all knowledge of me to the guards. He wouldn't even use the money he made from my stolen goods to buy my freedom. Dragged to the far end of the port, a rich merchant bought me. He claimed that I would help him with maintaining his ivory trade. So, in a cell on another ship, the first voyage of Sindbad ended. I relayed my story to the other slaves locked in the cell with me and we all lamented about our misfortunes.
Author's Note: For my writing this week, I have decided to take a more realistic view of the Voyages of Sindbad. Sindbad is quite lucky in these stories. Everything seems to go right for him. My story turns that idea on its head. He is not well received by King Mihrage like he is in the original story. Also in the original story his fortune is restored by the ship captain after he recognized him.
Some things I did keep, such as the first person perspective of the original story. Keeping the style original makes it feel more like the original writing. Also I felt the beginning with the whale is weird, and could be changed to just a regular shipwreck since I am making this a more "realistic" story, but I decided to stay true to the original story. If I were to change everything, it would no longer be inspired by the story of Sindbad.
I am not completely closing off the possibility of writing the rest of the voyages, and I left the ending somewhat open, though I'm sure those familiar with the story and how I'm changing it can see where it will end. Look forward to more soon!
The Voyages of Sindbad, by Andrew Lang
After many weeks of travelling and selling my wares at various small islands, I was quite a bit wealthier than I was when we left Balsora. We were sailing up to an unmapped island the helmsman had spotted. We could soon enough see that there were no people living on the island, but the Captain ordered us to stop so that we could stretch our legs and attempt to replenish our fresh water. A few merchants and I disembarked to explore the island. As evening fell, we all lit a fire to keep the cold ocean breeze at bay. As soon as the wood went up in flames, we felt the island tremble below us.
The island turned out to be an old, sleeping whale. What had appeared to be grass to my eyes turned out to be seaweed washed up on the back of this whale. The whale had been still so long that palm trees had managed to grow. He shook us off his back violently. Everyone on the whale's back was flung off along with all the foliage. I watched some of my fellow merchants drown as I grasped onto a floating palm tree. I could see the ship fleeing to the distance. I'm sure the sailors were fearing further retaliation from the whale. The captain was inadvertently leaving me for dead, floating in the ocean. I fell asleep floating on the log, thinking about how I shouldn't have wasted my parents' fortune.
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| Sindbad being thrown from the whale, from Look & Learn |
I was forced to march behind their horses for hours until we reached a walled city with a large castle in the center. The stone was tan colored, and many purple barriers featuring the same regalia hung from the walls. Here, a Captain of the Guard explained to me that I was now one of King Mihrage's prisoners, charged with being a spy. Evidently, I had climbed the cliffs next to the King's summer residence where his wife was currently vacationing. I tried to explain that I was just a shipwrecked merchant, but no one believed me. The guard then explained to me that I would be taken to the port and sold into slavery as punishment for my crimes. The ropes that bound my wrists were replaced with chains, and I was forced to begin marching again.
I walked down a hill below the castle and saw that I would soon be at the port. Then I was greeted by a familiar sight - the ship that I had set out from Balsora with. I was about to call to my Captain so that he could rescue me, but then I saw the crew unloading all of my goods for sale. Apparently the Captain thought he could just sell off my possessions. Now angry, I called out to him and the color drained from his face. He knew how bad it would look if he was found to have left me for dead in the ocean and then sell all my goods. He vehemently denied all knowledge of me to the guards. He wouldn't even use the money he made from my stolen goods to buy my freedom. Dragged to the far end of the port, a rich merchant bought me. He claimed that I would help him with maintaining his ivory trade. So, in a cell on another ship, the first voyage of Sindbad ended. I relayed my story to the other slaves locked in the cell with me and we all lamented about our misfortunes.
Author's Note: For my writing this week, I have decided to take a more realistic view of the Voyages of Sindbad. Sindbad is quite lucky in these stories. Everything seems to go right for him. My story turns that idea on its head. He is not well received by King Mihrage like he is in the original story. Also in the original story his fortune is restored by the ship captain after he recognized him.
Some things I did keep, such as the first person perspective of the original story. Keeping the style original makes it feel more like the original writing. Also I felt the beginning with the whale is weird, and could be changed to just a regular shipwreck since I am making this a more "realistic" story, but I decided to stay true to the original story. If I were to change everything, it would no longer be inspired by the story of Sindbad.
I am not completely closing off the possibility of writing the rest of the voyages, and I left the ending somewhat open, though I'm sure those familiar with the story and how I'm changing it can see where it will end. Look forward to more soon!
The Voyages of Sindbad, by Andrew Lang
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