Week 11: Storytelling: The Truthful Bird

The Truthful Bird

It was a dark and chilly night in the season of autumn that I sat alone on the end of a branch in the middle of the forest.  This was not the first time that I sit by myself, all alone, with nothing to do except ponder how life in the city would be.   I have always dreamed about flying over all the bright lights and different colors that fill the sky each day and night.  

I image that there is so much to do in the city and so many friends to make.  Although I have my thoughts and dreams, I know they will never come true to a silly, clumsy, little bird like me.  So I just sit here, day in and day out.  I watch the sun rise and set above the trees like a worm coming out of the dirt and going back in.  

I would do anything to see more birds that I can become friends with, but this far into the forest, all I see are scary animals with bright yellow eyes and plants that I cannot name.  You see, I am not just any bird.  In fact, I have the power to make people truthful.  One might think this is a blessing, but this gift has done the exact opposite for me and that is what landed me in the middle of a dark, scary, and lonely forest.  

Only a year ago, my owner tried to use me in his village in law cases involving crimes.  I can sing my song and magically, the people would have no other option than to tell the truth.  I guess I felt good about helping out the village and locking away the guilty in jail, but after I displayed my gifts, I returned back to my small little box that my master kept in a drawer so no one could steal me.  There was one case in particular that the guilty human fought and fought against my powers until finally, after days and days of arguing, he broke down and confessed the truth.  Since then, he was set out to find me, steal me, and then exile me to a place that could never be found. 

To my dismay, the man paid a little homeless boy to steal me from my owner so he could put me in a place far, far away from the village.  Thoughts were running through my head about my life being over.  I thought he was going to chop me up and make some bird stew.  

When I was taken out of the bag, I opened my eyes to the beautiful lights and sights of London!  I remember thinking that this was all a dream or that I had died and gone to Heaven.  It turns out, the little homeless boy knew what powers I had from peeking through the windows of the courthouse and he knew that they couldn’t go to waste.  He sold me to the King of England and from then on, my life was wonderful.  

I now hang high in the entrance of the castle where I can make many friends.  I sleep on a big red pillow made out of the softest silk.  The castle cooks even make me the best worms I’ve ever had in my life.  I help out with everything I can in the castle and make the country a better place by keeping people true to their word.

Author's Note:

I wrote my story from the Natural History Nursery Rhymes from Britain. The original poem went like this...

"THE winds they did blow;
The leaves they did wag;
Along came a beggar boy,
And put me in his bag.

He took me up to London;
A lady did me buy,
Put me in a silver cage,
And hung me up on high,

With apples by the fire,
And nuts for to crack,
Besides a little feather bed
To rest my little back."

I added a lot to this poem and make it into a story about a magical bird that was trapped in a forest.  I still kept the beggar and being hung up high somewhere in London.  This story did not have much detail to what the "thing" that was hung up in a silver cage so I let my imagination run wild and created a story about a little bird.   

[Source]

Week 11: Reading Diary B: Natural History Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes: Natural History

·      They had a little dog named Buff but not anymore

·      He was sent to the store to get some snuff (a drug?)

·      The dog lost the bag of snuff

·      So the owner got really mad and didn’t have the dog anymore

~~~

·      A person was asking burnie bee when his wedding is

·      They said if is tomorrow then spread his wings and fly

~~~

·      Some little mice were in a barn

·      A cat came in but the mice were scared that the cat will snap their heads off

~~~

·      The king wanted the grey goose to carry his daughter over the river

~~~

·      Someone asked the little bird what he did

·      He went the months and said what he did

·      May he sang

·      June he changed his song

·      July he flies away

·      August he flies even more

~~~

·      The black hen lays eggs for all the men

·      They came to her everyday

·      They wanted to see the eggs that she laid everyday

~~~

·      A man named Robert barnes is a really good guy

·      He puts horseshoes on the horses

·      He said he could help him out

·      All he needed was a nail and a push and his horse will be set

~~~

·      This animal is telling the birds to eat and eat and not to save any

·      He was just going to stay there and not move

·      But if his master comes then he told the birds to fly away and he was going to run

~~~

·      24 tailors set out to kill a snail

·      but no one could even touch that snail at all

·      the snail sticks out her horns like a cow to scare them off

·      she chances after the tailors and tries to kill them

~~~

·      The poor toad was very hungry because he hadn’t had anything to eat all day

·      He jumps in the garden and eats on the slugs and snails for a meal

·      The frog was jealous and hopped to the next stream

·      He then will eat worms and slugs just like the toad to get full

~~~

·      There was a little bird

·      He started to hop

·      So someone yelled to the bird to stop hopping

·      The bird went to the window and said his farewells and flew away

~~~

·      Maybe the Fall season?

·      A homeless boy put “me” inside of a bag and took me with him

·      Sold me in London and hung me high in prestige

·      With lots of food and a comfy bed to rest in

[Source]

Week 11: Reading Diary A: British Tales

British Nursery Rhymes

 

Tales:

·      There’s a man in the moon

·      Wanted to know which way Norwich was

·      He headed south then burn this mouth of some soup

~~~

·      Two children were kidnapped on a summer day and left in the woods

·      When night came, they didn’t know what to do so they cried then died

·      Red robins spread strawberry leaves all over them and sang…

·      “Poor babes in the wood! Poor babes in the wood! And don’t you remember the babes in the wood?”

~~~

·      mean crooked man that went a mile to find a sixpence

·      bought a cat and caught a mouse

·      all lived together in a house

~~~

·      simon met a made who made pie

·      simon wanted to taste it

·      pieman wanted to see his money but he didn’t have any

·      so he went fishing to catch a whale but ended up with nothing

~~~

·      story about jack and nory and the story has just begun

·      then a story about jack and his brother and now his story is done

~~~

·      there was a man that was robbed

·      climbed up the chimney and they thought they had him

·      he went down the other side and they couldn’t find him

·      ran 14 miles in 15 days

·      and never went back

~~~

·      lion and unicorn fought

·      lion beat the unicorn and wanted everyone to know

·      got white bread, brown bread, and plum-cake then sent them away

~~~

·      fat man who lvied in Bombay was smoking

·      a snipe bird flew up his pipe and killed him

~~~

·      the piper’s son named Tom stole a pig and ran

·      he ate the pig and tom was tired so he roared down the street

~~~

·      there was a little man with a little gun with lead bullets

·      he went to the creek and saw a duck and shot it

·      he took his home to his wife and cooked him

·      roasted the duck he shot

~~~

·      mother goose was old and she went on a fly

·      she flew very well

·      had a house made of wood with an owl at the door

·      her son jack was very average

·      sent him to the market to buy a goose

·      goose and gander became good friends. They ate or swam

·      goose laid a golden egg

·      mother was proud for the first time

·      sold it to a jew that jipped him

·      but he found a woman that was happy, fair, and sweet

·      the jew and squire were mean to Jack

·      old mother goose came in and turned her son into a harlequin

·      turned his woman into a sweet columbine

·      egg was thrown in the sea but jack jumped in and got it

·      jew got the goose to make more money

·      jack’s mother dove in and caught the goose and took it back and went to the moon

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