Thursday, March 22, 2018

Week 10 Story: The Dolphin Stolen by Indians

There was a happy dolphin who lived in the lake outside an Indian tribe. The dolphin often leaped around in the water because he was very content with his life. The Indians who were troubled with the hardships of living off the land took note of this and made a plan to capture the dolphin in hopes he would bring some of his happiness to the tribe.


That night, as the dolphin leaped out of the water, the Indians threw a net around him and brought him to shore. Dolphin's fellow dolphin friends quickly took notice of his his absence and set out to find where he had gone.  As they were spying upon the village they saw that the happy dolphin had been captured and was being held hostage.  Unable to rescue him themselves because the Indians would surely know what they were trying to do, they relied on their land friend dog, for help.  

The next day dog ran into the Indian's tribe and started knocking things over, running as fast as he could through the tribe and wreaking havoc.  This was enough of a distraction for the happy dolphin to make his escape.  While the Indian's were doing all they could to capture dog, the happy dolphin was able to escape and jump back into the water.  

The happy dolphin and his friends celebrated and played together in his safe return.  They then migrated away from the Indian tribe never to be caught again.  The tribe continued in their misery for the rest of time, and the dolphins celebrated for eternity. 

The Happy Dolphin. Web Source. 

Author's Note: My inspiration for this story was taken from "The Woman stolen by Killer Whales" from Tales of North American Indians by Stith Thompson.  In the original text, a Native American Woman was washing her hands in the water when a killer whale grabbed her and drug her down to their killer whale home.  The woman's husband found out and made a plan with shark to rescue her.  The shark distracted the killer whales and during this the woman was able to escape and go back to her husband on land.  I changed the story to where a dolphin was captured by humans instead of the other way around.  

2 comments:

  1. McKenzie, I liked your adaptation of this story! I have never understood people who think they can become happy by stealing other's happiness. I was fascinated this week with how the Native American tales incorporated a lot of different animal species coming to each other's aid, and I liked that you used that in a different way in this story. Good job!

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  2. Hi McKenzie! I really enjoyed your version of the story. Its strange that people see something they don't have and expect to be able to achieve those same feelings by stealing it.The Native American unit has been very interesting with its many ties to animals. This was the first that I have seen with aquatic life but shares many aspects with the stories I read. Good job!

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