Week 15 Story: The Golf Course Flood

Once upon a time, in a golf course far, far away, there lived a family of geese. The mother goose and father goose took very good care of their seven children and made sure they were protected from the golf balls that would come flying through the air daily. They made sure the goslings were well fed and were given plenty of nutrients through bread crumbs the golfers would use, or from what the earth had to offer.

They did notice one day that the littlest gosling would only peck at golf balls instead of eat his own grub. This fact concerned them. Why would the small gosling not eat? Did he not need to grow?

The parents discussed this and decided there was not much else to do besides wait on the young gosling to come to his own conclusion that he needed to eat.

One day the mother and father were walking and talking and they passed by Badger and Owl. Both creatures were having a fine day and noticed how upset the mother and father goose looked. They began to speak to them about feeling as if the gosling might be preparing for something coming. Though they did not know what, the mother and father goose found comfort in knowing that there might be hope for their little one.

After a few days went by, the afternoon time arose and there was strange smell in the air. It was that of mud. It seemed like there was quite a few clouds in the sky and suddenly it was down pouring all around the lake. The geese family could hardly find shelter strong enough to keep them from the rain. It kept getting worse and over time, the pond began to fill up and the golf course was filled with water. Though the geese were made for water living, they certainly were not prepared for the winds and pressure coming against them.

The little gosling, since he was so small, was able to duck in and out of the water and air and fly way up in the midst of rain and dodge the rain drops. It was as if something had taken over him! He eventually brought all other six siblings to be with him in a tree trunk at high ground to where they would not drown.

After a couple of days, the waters dried up and they lived happily ever after!

Bibliography: The Forest Fire, Twenty Jataka Tales, Noor Inayat, The Forest Fire

Author's Note: I took the story from the Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat of The Forest Fire and created my own by giving it a more modern style of writing and including a more "Americanized" version of the story. Instead of quails, I used geese but still kept the family unit strong and included the one gosling instead of the one duck. I tried to also include other characters to change the storyline a little by providing an intervention between the badger and the owl.