Week 7: Wishes and Flights (Storytelling)

I was walking through my village when I saw him. He limped a little, but there was no noticeable wound. Maybe it was for sympathy or maybe he was actually hurt. He stopped by every food stand, asking for food. More than once I heard him promise that he would forever remember their kindness.

Yeah right. People think they have long memories, but have you ever asked somewhat what they had for lunch a couple days before? Unless they are the kind of people who eat the same thing every day, you will be waiting a long time for an answer while the retrace everything they did that day. That’s assuming you ever get an answer.

I began walking towards this man. Between the limp, his tattered clothes, and the desperate look in his eye, he obviously was in need. I stopped him while he was between food stands. He held one apple in his hand, half of it rotten. So far that was all he had managed to scrape up.

I put my hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Once he turned my way I said, “Excuse me. What have you been saying when you ask for food?”

The desperate look didn’t disappear, but this brown eyes flitted up and down me, talking in my long grey cloak and hat. “I said that if anyone gives me all the food I need, I would never forget that person’s generosity.” He looked like he meant it, but I have always been the type of person who is skeptical.

“Lots of people make lots of promises. Most are ungrateful and never keep them.”

A sort of defiance entered his eyes now. I shouldn’t be surprised. To him it was probably like I was questioning his honor. “I would keep my vow. I will never forget and I will be indebted to that person.” The man pulled away and began walking on. I decided I would show him how ungrateful most people are.

There was a dog a few steps down from the man, then a buffalo a few more paces away. I mumbled a string of incantations towards at the old dog and buffalo. When the man neared the dog, the dog began talking to him. The man briefly looked shocked but didn’t seem too concerned about the fact a dog was talking to him. That was disappointing. Usually when I make animals talk I get more entertainment from their first reaction.

Watched from a short distance as the dog told the man of his ungrateful masters and how they wouldn’t feed him anymore since the dog could no longer work. The poor man assured the dog that he wouldn’t be so careless and continued on his way. Next the buffalo came up to the man.

This time the man didn’t seem at all shocked when the animal began talking. Seriously, how many time had other wizards made animals talk in front of this guy? This wasn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. By the time I got over my disappointment, the buffalo was telling the man about how his owners had ran him off when he couldn’t work anymore. Once again the man assured the animal that he would never be so ungrateful.

Maybe this man really was a kind hearted person. I rushed after him, my long white beard fluttering in the wind. I stopped him. “Will you really be grateful and remember who helped you?” I asked him again.

“Of course I will.”

I reached into my pocket to find the gems. After some digging I found them. He looked at me suspiciously, as I showed him the two gems in my hand. If I was going to help him, I wanted to see if he really would be grateful for what he was given.

“This gem,” I said, holding up the red one, between my fingertips, “this gem will give you anything you desire when you hold it in your mouth and make a wish.” The man’s eyes widened and he stared incredulously at the gem. “And this one,” I switched the red gem for the blue. “This one will make you fly if you hold it in your mouth.”

The man continued to look at me in disbelief, mixed with longing. I slowly handed him the second gem as he began stuttering, but soon his thoughts organized themselves a bit. “Thank you, sir! Thank you so much! I will never forget this. If you every need anything I will help you! You are so kind! I’ll pray for your life to be blessed in every way possible.”

The man hurried off home. I stood, watching him go. I hoped he was as grateful as he sounded. I’m sure I would find out soon.

And I did. Three days later, I looked out my window and I saw the man walking towards my house. He was dressed in the finest clothes. He had put on weight and his limp was nonexistent. In his hand he held a knife. Behind him was another man with an ax.

I guess I had my answer. I walked outside and greeted him. “Why didn't you come to see me sooner? I would have loved to see your fancy new clothes.”

“I was busy,” He said roughly, lifting is knife towards my neck. “Give us the other jewel or we will kill you.”

These men’s minds were clouded with desire. Mine was clear. “Okay, but do you have the wishing gem? I’d like to see it one last time.” The man lowered his knife and reached into his pocket. Meanwhile I popped the blue gem into my mouth. When he opened his hand, the jewel laid inside. 

But I was already floating a foot in the air. I snatched the red gem from his hand and before he knew what happened I was thirty feet up. 

Can Cau Market by Arian Zwegers Wikimedia

Author's Note: The original story was called the Wizard and the Beggar. A beggar is confronted by a wizard and then animals about if he would keep his promise to be grateful if someone gave him all he needs. The wizard eventually helps him but the man then is unsatisfied and tries to kill the wizard for more. For my story I made the story from the Wizard's point of view and then I made him be the one who made the animals talk. 

Week 7: Laos Reading Diary

For the Laos Reading Unit, Click here.

For Reading A: I liked many of the stories from this unit. However,  I had two favorite stories from this half of the reading unit. The first was Lover's Leap. This was the story I read first after reading a storytelling post of it last week. I liked the story a lot. It reminded me quite a bit of Romeo and Juliet although I thought this one was much better. The young couple loved each other in secret so long that their families believed she had moved on from her young love. I liked this story very much.

(river in Laos)

The second reading I liked was The Giant's Mountain and the Temple. This story reminded me of many group projects, throughout high school and freshman year of college. The moral of everyone working and doing there part is a great moral for the story. I liked that at the end the people who didn't help the giants advise others to put in their fair share of effort after seeing how much harder it was. Also, the story had giants carrying mountain tops. There is few things as cool as that. 

(temple in Laos)

For Reading B: I very much enjoyed all of the readings for this unit. Once again, I have two favorite stories I'll write about for this reading diary. The first I'll talk about was The Legend of the Rice. I thought this was a very interesting explanation of a type of 'golden age' for humans, and how it came to pass. In many religion classes I've taken we have discussed a golden age of humans that disappears because of human error. This is interesting, because not only did people not have to work very hard for food as in most stories, but the grains of rice were so plentiful that they would bring themselves out of the field. Overall I thought this was just a very interesting story. 

(planting rice, Laos)

The second story I am going to talk about is The Magic Well. I enjoyed reading this story because it ended on such a happy note for everyone. Not only was the chow was healed, but the water was used to heal everyone from maladies that hadn't had a cure. I also liked the idea of a special journey to reach this well. When the first man to visit there, that dreamed of it and had spirits guiding him, he knew he was the first to go along that path. I thought it was a good story. 

(Mekong River, Laos)