The Two Travelers

Two friends, Gabe and Sam, were on a hunting trip together, when they came to a broad stream at the foot of a hill by the side of the road. The shade from the woods was so welcoming after traveling in such a small self-driving car all day and they decided to rest.

They started a fire to cook some of the food they had killed while hunting in the woods. After eating, they pitched a tent and slept. Arising from their sleep they happened upon a hologram that was projecting this message: Travelers, we have prepared an excellent banquet for your refreshment, but you must be bold and deserve it before you can obtain it. What you are to do is this: throw yourselves bravely into the stream and swim to the other side. You will find there a lion carved from marble. This statue you must lift upon your shoulders and, with one run, carry to the top of yonder mountain, never heeding the thorns which prick your feet nor the wild beasts that may be lurking in the bushes to devour you. When once you have gained the top of the mountain you will find yourselves in possession of great happiness.

Gabe was ecstatic when he read these words. “See, Sam,” he cried, “here lies the road to our happiness. We should start at once and see if what the hologram says is true.”

Sam, however, was very doubtful. “Perhaps,” he answered, “this hologram is but a joke of some kid wanting to video us. Perhaps the current of the stream runs too swiftly for any man to swim it. And why would I want to swim through when my iPhone is not waterproof? I for one will have no part in it.”

Nevertheless, Gabe's motivation remained, not telling Sam that his phone was a Samsung Galaxy S7 and is waterproof. “I am always looking for a challenge,” he replied, “and if you will not go with me, I must go alone." So the two friends embraced, and Sam left in his self-driving car that had been charging all morning from the sun.

Gabe dove into the stream and soon found himself in the midst of a whirlpool. He bravely kept swimming and finally reached the other side.

After resting a few moments on the beach, he lifted the marble lion with one mighty effort, and with one run reached the top of the mountain. Here he saw to his great surprise that he was standing before the gates of a beautiful city. He could see skyscrapers and cars hovering from one building to the next.

Stuck in a gaze at the magnificent view, he saw all the cars stop what they were doing and start zooming towards the gate. The whistles of the hover cars echoed through the mountainside and the cars stopped before the gate.

All of the people poured out of the city gates on hoverboards with great smiles. A group of young men came up and knelt before him, saying, “Brave stranger, we beseech thee to put on this super suit which we have brought, and, mounted upon this hover car, ride back with thy subjects to the city.”

Gabe, who could not believe his ears, begged them to explain how he could be the king of such an advanced society that he has no knowledge of. The men replied, “Whenever our king dies, we encode a message in the hologram by the river. Then we wait patiently until a traveler passes by who is brave enough to undertake the bold venture. We have been during this for thousands of years and no king has yet to fail us because only a man who is fearless of heart and dauntless of purpose would take on this challenge.”

Author’s Note: I read The Two Travelers from the Bidpai unit. In the original story, the travelers were going by camel and needed to rest in the shade after traveling through a desert all day. They happened upon a stone in the morning with the same inscription as in my story. The second traveler did not want to take the journey because he thought that the journey was impossible and that nothing would be on the other side. So he left on his camel and parted ways with his lifelong friend and traveling buddy. The reward for the brave traveler was the same in the traditional story.

In my story, I kept the inscription of the message the same and changed how it appeared in from of them. I changed it to a hologram rather than a stone. I made everything more futuristic except for the challenge at hand. I kept that the same to show that the city has been doing this challenge for centuries on centuries. Instead of the people rumbling and bumbling over to the city gate, I had them hover over in their futuristic cars. I also decided to keep the reasoning for why he should be king pretty much the same to show that the tradition has been around for centuries. This shows that even as technology advances, we still stick to our roots.

Bibliography: The Two Travelers, a story from The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Barrows Dutton, with illustrations by E. Boyd Smith, 1908.