The Unfortunate Pheasant

One glorious morning, when the sun rose over the rooftops and the crisp air left dew upon the tall grass, a pheasant named Fredrickson arose from his slumber and greeted the new day with a violent stretch, the kind that makes you shake uncontrollably... the best kind. Fredrickson was a happy pheasant, full of joy and love for the world he lived in. He lived in a cozy nest he made, perched upon the tallest cathedral in Troy.

He was beloved by all the villagers there. Everyone knew him by name and moved over when he walked past them. He would often go down to the town square where the villagers would congregate and wait for them to drop food, and in exchange Fredrickson would do a little dance. He had a signature dance move that all the villagers would dance along to. They had a grand time filled with laughter and joy as they played Fredrickson's favorite songs. Fredrickson walked the streets as royalty and all who saw him knew of his birdy brilliance. He was a true celebrity.

That afternoon, Fredrickson heard a commotion from beyond the walls of Troy. He overheard the villagers murmuring that Troy was in danger of being pillaged by the Greek army. So, he flew atop the grand gate at the front of the town and looked down to see an immense battle in the fields just past the gates. He saw the glimmering of the armor and heard clanking as steel met steel. He recalled tales of glorious soldiers and great gods but had never seen them before as he was sheltered within the walls, out of reach from the dangers beyond.

He became frightened at the thought of his life and town being torn away by these intruders, so he set out to find a way to become a hero and save Troy. Fredrickson quickly returned to his perch and fastened himself some armor made out of sticks and sheet metal that he borrowed from one of his neighbor's roofs and he went to the town's blacksmith and asked for a sword and shield for battle. Fredrickson believed in his tiny bird heart that this moment was meant for him and that he would be the reason Troy stood another day.

Fredrickson flew back atop the gate, but he was now weighed down by all the gear he brought with him. He took a few breaths and looked down to see the battle coming to an end and that two prominent figures stood alone in the field. These two men appeared greater than all the rest. He wished to get a closer look at the two men because their faces were blocked by the mighty helmets that sat upon their heads, so he spotted a tree that offered a good vantage point of the quarrel and flew towards it. Time slowed down as little Fredrickson saw an object appear in his peripheral vision. It was the spear of the great god Achilles. The spear flew through the air with such a velocity that the beloved Fredrickson could not get out of the way in time as it struck him in his side. The unfortunate pheasant died on impact.

Author's Note: I wrote this story based on "Homer's Iliad." The original story ended with a great battle between Achilles and Hector where Achilles ends up prevailing. I thought of many different angles I could take from the literary masterpiece that is "Homer's Iliad" but ultimately I kept thinking about the spear that Achilles missed when he was battling Hector and thought that could be a good way to tie in my idea. As I was reading the original story I had some other ideas, but I settled on this one and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I have always loved animals being main characters and giving them human emotions, so, I began to think about different animals that I could do for this story and for some odd reason I thought of a pheasant. I knew that I wanted to integrate something with a little humor, so I guess that a pheasant could be funny because I have never seen one as the main character and I named him Fredrickson because why not? I wanted to add a lot of context to the beginning of the story to attract the reader to continue to read and left the plot twist at the end as a reward for reading all the way through. I hope everyone enjoyed this odd spinoff to a great book.

Bibliography: "Homer's Iliad" by Alfred J. Church