Deep in the African heartland lived two families of animals
that ruled the land: felidae and equidae, in other words, cats and horses. The
cats were made up of ferocious lions, cheetahs and tigers while the horses
consisted of beastly horses, zebras and donkeys. The two animals constantly
battled for power of the jungle and forests of Africa. While the cat family was
quick, fast and mean, the horses were powerful, strong and outnumbered the cat
family.
All other animals feared these two families yet respected
their leadership. One day, the animals of Africa were arguing about which
animal they thought was all around the head animal of Africa. Obviously the
animal had to come from the horse or cat animal, but which specific animal?
They decided to have a competition testing the animal’s abilities.
The animals created an obstacle course that would test every
category of the animal’s abilities and talents. The cats chose the tiger to
represent them while the horses chose the zebra as their representative. The
golden tiger and white zebra walked to the finish line. When the race began,
the two were neck and neck. When the tiger struggled in the race, the zebra
would do well and vice verses.
As the two animals geared up for the last part of the
competition, they were deep in the forest where no one could see them.
Extremely tired, the two decided to take a short break. Catching their breath
and drinking water, the two animals pondered on what it would be like if they
tied and ruled Africa together.
Both animals were very tired and didn’t know if they would
finish the competition so the two agreed to finish the race together. To show
their unity, they found some blackberries and mashed them up. They used the
berries to paint stripes on each other. When the two saw the finish line, they
made their final strides across the finish line together.
The other animals were fascinated by the two animal’s
stripes and respected their unity together. The horse family and cat family
came together and comprised to rule the forest and jungle together.
This is why the zebra and tiger have stripes.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This story is based on the Great Plains myth Rabbit and Deer. In the story, the author explains how the deer earns his antlers. The
original story shows the rabbit as a mean character. I wanted my story to have
a better message and bring friendship and unity to the forest.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Author: Katharine Berry Judson
Year: 1913
I really liked your story, Landon! The scientific terms for cats and horses were a nice addition, and I think the zebra and tiger were great animals to use to show how they got stripes and tying unity into the story. There was only one grammar mistake that I saw (the two animal's should've been two animals' I'm pretty sure), but overall it was a great story!
ReplyDeleteHey Landon! Great job, I really enjoyed your story and thought it was very cool. I liked how you changed the animals to make it in Africa. Your message about unity and friendship was a nice touch and made it a pleasant story. Overall, I thought your story was very creative and well written.
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