(Illustration of The Elephant and the Dog by Ellsworth Young
Source: UnTextbook)
12/10/16
Dear Diary,
I absolutely love living in the king’s stable. I get a bath
every day and every meal is a complete feast of any kind of food you can
imagine! The only issue is that there’s this annoying dog that keeps coming by
every day. He’s always around during breakfast, lunch, and dinner and if I
don’t finish my food he immediately sweeps in and eats the rest of it! I mean
can you think of anything more rude… he doesn’t even ask me if it’s okay! I
guess I can’t really blame him I do get the best food in all of the land. I
wonder if he has an owner that takes care of him…
12/20/16
Dear Diary,
I hate to admit it but the dog and I have actually become
really good friends! I get excited everyday waiting for him to come to the
stable to hang out. Right when my keeper brings breakfast I stand on tiptoes
looking out the window for my new friend to come. I always have more than
enough food to share so he stays around for every meal. During the day we do
everything together. We take naps, share secrets, and play together it’s so
much fun! I didn’t realize how lonely I was living in the king’s stable until I
started hanging out with this dog.
We really connected when I asked him about his owner. He
said he was abandoned as a puppy, so he’s been living on his own every since! It
made me feel so bad for him… I can’t imagine trying to figure out where my next
meal is coming from or where I would stay every night. I told him that he would
always have a meal here at the stable and if he ever needed a place to sleep I
had plenty of room!
1/01/16
Dear Diary,
This has been the worst week ever. Definitely not the way I
wanted to start the new year off. A man came by asking about my friend and
offering a large sum of money for him. I thought for sure that there was no
chance the keeper would sell him but he jumped on the offer! Immediately my
friend was taken from me. I’ve been so distraught ever since. I have no one to
eat with and no one to play with… it feels like this stable is a jail cell. I
have no desire to do anything I just want to lay here. Why did he need this
particular dog… there’s plenty of dogs all over town!
1/30/16
Dear Diary,
I guess the king noticed my strange behavior because when he
asked my keeper why I was acting so strange he explained my close relationship
with the dog. I overheard him say that he would match the price for my friend
if he was sent back! I couldn’t be happier, I’ve been so lonely these past few
weeks.
It only took a few hours and I could hear the bark of my
friend as he ran down the hill towards me! I immediately picked him up with my
trunk and threw him into the air in excitement! We caught up, ate our feast,
and haven’t been separated since. I couldn’t be happier.
~~~
Author's Note: The Jataka Tale: The Elephant and the Dog is about the unlikely friendship of these two animals. Everyday the dog comes to the king's stable to visit the elephant. They share food, play, and sleep together regularly. One day a farmer comes and offers the elephant's keeper money for the dog. The keeper is in need of money so he accepts and the dog is taken away. The elephant gets very upset and refuses to eat or bathe for days, which finally gets the attention of the king. When the king finds out that the elephant is distraught about the loss of his friend he buys the dog back so they can be together again! The story ends happily with the two being reunited and eating together like old times. I choose to do a diary version of this story because I thought it would be interesting to see what the elephant was truly thinking. I wanted to show the evolution of their friendship and how much of an impact it made when his friend was taken away.
Bibliography: "The Jataka Tales: The Elephant and the Dog" by Ellen C. Babbitt. Website: UnTextbook
Wow! I loved how you put your story into a “diary” format. This is such a unique writing style. I also loved how your story was from an elephant’s point of view. I would have never thought to do something like that! I really enjoyed reading your story. It gave me some ideas for my own story! Keep up the great work.
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ReplyDeleteI really loved your story Adrienne! I liked that you choose to write your story in a diary format. This format made it really easy to read and enjoyable. It also allowed us to understand how the elephant was feeling, and get into the characters head. I might write one of my next story’s now as a diary after reading yours, I think it is a great format. Keep up the great work and creativity!
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this story and loving it! I also really like how you told it as well. I like how you chose to use the elephant's point of view so that it was a little bit more connected and emotional. I am laughing at how an elephant could be able to write in a diary. That would be pretty neat! I like your formatting and everything looked pretty well written! Great job!
ReplyDeleteI wrote about this same story too and used the dear diary writing style also. It's crazy that we used the same exact story and the same writing style but we both have completely different content. The theme stayed the same but all the characters and the events are different. I enjoyed reading your version of this story. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI read this story as well. I love the diary format. I think the diary stories are so much fun to read. I like how it expresses feelings and emotions easier than most other story formats. This was a really enjoyable story. Like Claire mentioned, it's funny to think about how an elephant can write in a diary. Great Job!
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