Scott was always moving thanks to his fathers job and he actually kind of liked it because he always got the new student attention. Starting Sage Elementary was just like every other time, or so he thought.
The morning started normal, getting introduced, trying to make new friends, failing to make friends, and finally the most important part of fourth grade, finding out when recess was. Scott, being the awkward person he is, asked the teacher and counted down the minutes till 10:30 so he could explore the new playground.
10:30 came around and he ran outside to find his favorite thing, the monkey bars. When he saw them he couldn't help but run and start climbing. As soon as he got all the way across he saw a fairly large boy walking up to the monkey bars. The kid had a mean face and Scott could tell this was not going to be good.
"Hey new kid! Where is my Ipod? I know you stole it!"
Scott looking confused and concerned responded with, "I didn't take your Ipod. I'm sorry its gone though. When did you lose it?"
"I lost it two days ago and I know you took it!"
Scott now getting a smile on his face said, "See, there is no way I could have taken it because I just got here today!"
The bully looked at him and thought for a minute. After he collected his thoughts he said, "Well then I know it was you who called me ugly! Someone told me it was you and your friends."
Scott again looked in confusion, "I do not think you are ugly and honestly have not made many friends so there was no way that was me."
Knowing he was not going to take no for an answer he looked at Scott and ends the conversation with, " I know you are not as innocent as you seem so I am going to teach you a lesson so you know where your place is."
With that final comment the bully grabbed Scott by his arm and dragged him beside the school building where none of the adults could see him giving Scott a black eye and a few scratches.
Scott will always remember that he can be the nicest soul and yet if someone wants to be mean and bully someone, they will no matter what.
Authors Notes:
For this story I chose to base it off of the Aesops Fable, The Wolf And The Lamb. This is a short story about a wolf who knows he is going to eat a lamb for breakfast no matter what. When he approaches the lamb he sees the innocence but finds any reason to eat the lamb even though the lamb defends all of the wolfs accusations. The moral of the story was that no matter what, if evil wants to do something they will.
The Wolf and The Lamb, Aesops Fables, Anonymous, Published in 1919.
I find if very interesting the whole time I was reading your story I just knew it was going to have a good ending and the new boy and bully were going to become friends or the new boy was going to outwit the bully! Sadly I think that is what the American versions of fables have done to us. The story ended in a way completely not expected by me and rather grim actually. Sometimes we need a dose of reality and that is what you gave us. Instead of twisting the plot from Aesops Fable, you stuck to the moral and I like that you did not change it for the reader's pleasure.
ReplyDeleteAh, and Scott's responses were so considerate! It's a shame that this scenario doesn't seem at all unlikely. It retells the story of The Wolf and the Lamb (great job with that!), but it also tells the story of school bullying. I think you were right to choose this scenario as a parallel to Aesop's; they seem to share a common thread. The wolf is determined to do evil, just like the bully, but they're both driven some kind of privation. The wolf hunts because it's hungry; why does the bully? I thought it interesting that you had him accuse the new kid of being part of the group that called him ugly.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the story!
This whole time I thought that this story would have a nice ending, I think that just comes from trying to have that happy ending which is not always realistic. That's why reading your story was a good jolt of reality, not everything has a happy ending and sometimes the stories just end in a way you're not expecting and there is nothing you can do about it.
ReplyDeleteI found the first two paragraphs of this story to be very engaging for some reason. It made me interested to read the rest of the story to see what happens with Scott. After reading some more I, along with other commenters, thought that this story would have a happy ending for Scott. This story made me wonder was motivated the bully to be the way that he is? He had no reason to be offended by Scott and even after realizing this he beat Scott up. It draws reference to the society we live in where mean people often affect peoples lives who have not done anything wrong. I wonder why no one else on the playground decided to help Scott? Was the entire school just being terrorized by this bully to the point where they would not stand up for themselves anymore? What if the kids around had decided to stand up for Scott? Overall this story did a great job of representing the theme of "The Wolf and The Lamb".
ReplyDeleteAce, this was a nice story. I appreciated the author's note which further justified the fact that yes, sadly, some people are just going to justify doing cruel things regardless of the defenses the innocent put up to protect themselves. This story flowed really well, and I really didn't anticipate Scott getting a black eye in the end, so that was a surprising twist. You included some really nice touches, like Scott getting a little smile on his face, or trying to make new friends, but failing to make new friends -- these little extra touches really helped to humanize him as a character, so nice job!
ReplyDeleteI just read your story about the giant crab and it's neat to see your roots of storytelling in this class from this post. This definitely had a sadder ending, but it was definitely an important lesson to take it. It's important to understand the evil in others. I really like that you decided to take this lesson and put it into your story.
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