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Once upon a time there was a family of squirrels that lived in a large oak tree. There was a father squirrel named Chuck and a mother squirrel named Peanut who had three children. The oldest was a boy named Chester, who was followed by two twin girls named NutterButter and Snickers.
Every day the father squirrel, Chuck, would go to work at the nut factory. The nut factory was located about four trees to the east with respect to where the squirrel family lived. The nut factory employed all the squirrels that lived on the east side of the forest. The squirrels would work during the summer and fall months to collect as many nuts as possible. At the end of each day the squirrels would load up their findings into the nut factory’s vault. Then when winter came the nut factory would distribute the nuts to all of the squirrel families. This way, all of the squirrels in the community were assured that no squirrel would starve during the harsh winter months.
Chuck, had a son, Chester, who had the most beautiful fur coat that camouflaged him perfectly. His fur coat was not too thin or too thick. It was the perfect amount of hair. Also, It was a beautiful mosaic of different shades of browns. And don’t get me started on this tail. Chester’s tail was just the right fluffiness and size. When he wanted it to be noticed and pronounced it was, but when he didn’t want to be seen he had a good way of toning it down and hiding within his surroundings.
Chuck, said to himself, “ I will take my son to work with me so that he can learn how to collect nuts in a safe and efficient manner, for I’m no longer young and strong.”
The following day, Chester joined his father at work and diligently watched and learned. His father would collect the nuts just surrounding the base of trees, for he told his son, “You must always be cautious and alert because there are predators everywhere.”
However, the son had a special talent. Because of his beautiful fur coat he was able to collect nuts that would normally be too dangerous to recover because his coat camouflaged him. With this special skill the son excelled at the nut factory.
Chuck would say to his son, “When you work hard you will get rewarded.”
Chester replied, “What will be my reward?”
The father smiled and said, “You will understand the value of working hard, as well as all the nuts you could ever eat.”
It only took about a couple of days for the son to become the very best nut gather, and he soon took over his father’s position at the nut factory. Chester happily did his job season to season. And as time went on he finally realized the value of working hard, and he realized he wasn’t working hard for just himself but he was working hard for his family and to better the squirrel community.
Author's Note:
The original story was a Jataka Tale about an elephant who gets hurt and these humans heal him and in return the elephant helps the humans gather lumber. The elephant begins to do this everyday like it’s a job and the humans always feed the elephant after a hard day’s work. The elephant has a son who he brings to work and teaches him how to collect the lumber and to help the humans, because the father elephant is getting old. The son elephant is actually a white elephant and all the humans are amazed by his beautiful appearance. Then one day the King comes to the edge of the forest and sees the white elephant and decides to bring him back to the palace where he lives happily ever after. I kept the same general theme and tried to stay close to the original story line with just some minor changes. Instead of having human and animal characters in my story I only had animal characters. Further, instead of having elephants as my characters I used squirrels. Also, in the original story the elephant and his son helped the humans collect lumber and in exchange they would feed the elephants. However, in my story I had my characters work at a squirrel factor were they collected nuts instead of lumber and the nuts were their food. Lastly, I also wanted to make the son character different but instead of using a white elephant I had my son squirrel have a beautiful and perfect camouflaged coat. That way the son squirrel would be the best at his job.
Bibliography: The King's White Elephant from: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. Link to Reading.
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