Week 2 Story: The Lion, the Man, and the Lesson
Week 2 Story: The Lion, the Man, and the Lesson
NOTE: This story has been added to my Portfolio! Please click here for the current version of the story.
(Lion: photo by Serg Zhuravlev)
This story is a continuation of The Lion and the Statue, author's note included at the end.
The words of the lion left the man silent. He thought for
a moment that perhaps the lion was correct. What the lion had said made some
sense, yes. But would the man set aside his pride to admit that? As the man
wondered to himself for a bit, the lion began to turn and take his leave. The
man was pulled from his thoughts after noticing the movement and stopped the
lion.
“Wait! If this does not
convince you, then what other proof could I show?” the man asked.
The lion gave him a
thoughtful look before saying, “Perhaps start with yourself. Instead of using
the work of others as proof, do something of your own that will convince me.
Only then might I acknowledge that there is truth to what you claim.”
The man paused to
consider this. Why should he create his own proof when other evidence already
exists? It seemed absurd to him. What a waste of time. Surely the lion knew
this, but then why did he request this of the man?
“What purpose does that
serve? Proof is proof regardless of if it is mine or not,” the man reasoned to
the lion.
The lion smirked
teasingly at the man and said, “You are correct. Proof is proof. But you will
never gain anything if you go through life without doing things yourself.”
The man was even more
confused. He could easily outsource for his needs and wants while still living
a good life.
The lion continued, “I
see by the look on your face that you do not understand. Think about the
experience you gain from the things you do. All of the trials and chores that
you go through make you grow as a person. You become stronger and wiser from
them. I will say nothing more. Think on what I have told you and decide what
you will do from here.”
The lion walks a short
distance away from the man to the nearest tree, which he lays under to give the
man time to think.
The man holds his
position, the words of the lion running through his head. He believes he
understands now. But even so, how can he create his own proof for their earlier
debate of whether men or lions are stronger? In a test of strength, the best
way to prove who is stronger is to compete and see who the wins in the end.
In this case, that
would mean the man could test his strength against the lion himself. The man is
not fond of this idea, for he is not sure he could win, especially against this
particular lion. Unfortunately, no other ideas come to his mind. He settles on
trying his hand at competing against the lion for now. The man strides over to
the lion under the tree to propose his idea.
“I have thought on your
words. I believe I understand what you mean and so, I wish to challenge you to
a test of strength,” the man says to the lion without much confidence.
“Ah, so you have come
up with your own solution. I am glad,” the lion says while standing up, “I
accept your challenge. In what way shall we test our strength?”
“Let us see who can
wrestle the other to the ground first, by any means,” the man adds in an unsure
voice, “Please be mindful of your claws.”
The lion laughs
heartily, “Rest assured, if I wanted to injure you I would have already done
so.”
The two position
themselves standing in the grass and prepare to lock arms. The man counts to
three, and the two rush each other. At first, the lion and the man appear to be
evenly matched. Neither of them budge more than an inch or so within the first
ten seconds. The lion suddenly smiles while staring the man in the face. Two
beats pass before the man is brought to the ground quickly.
The man grunts on
impact and looks up at the lion with a scowl after adjusting himself on the
ground. “That was not very gentle. But I see that I am no match for you. You
win,” the man sighs as he brings himself to his feet.
The lion keeps his
smile and responds, “I did win, but hopefully you gained more from this
experience than a loss. I want you to practice and challenge me again later.
Perhaps next time bring with you the superior intelligence of men that you
spoke of.”
The man accepted his
suggestion and did exactly so. The man lost several more times against the
lion, but become stronger each time while learning from his mistakes. Finally,
after many losses the man barely wins against the lion by sweeping his feet out
from under him.
The lion laughs from
where he was brought to the ground, “I see that you have learned. I accept this
proof towards your argument about men versus lions. But you will have to
provide more evidence, for this does not settle anything. I shall wait for you
to choose your next trial.”
As a result of the
lion’s words, the man continued to grow by doing things himself and learning
from his experiences.
Author's Note
I wanted to write this story because I enjoyed the way the original delivered the lesson that it taught. I believed the established setting and characters was a great opportunity to incorporate the lesson used in this story. This story picks up right after the last lines of the original, so the context from that story is recommended for understanding this one.
Bibliography. "The Lion and the Statue" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs (1894). Myth-Folklore Anthology
Hi Caitlyn!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the moral of the story and that you were able to add a lesson into it.
However, I did not read this particular story so I was often confused. I thinking adding more information about the original story into the authors note would be very helpful to others like me who did not read this story.
I think you have great story telling abilities, just add a little more back information into the story to help out!
Wow, the lesson that you try to communicate through this storytelling is avery moral and helpful. "Doing thing yourself and learning from experience".
ReplyDeleteThe words that the lion told are meaningful at the beginning. However, i have never read this story of "The Lion and The Statue" before, so i still can not connect these two together. I wonder if you can add more information to the note, that kind of summarise the ideas that you focus on.
Again, thanks for the lesson.
Hello Caitlyn! I love the lesson of the story. I'm big on finding as much first-hand evidence as one can find for themselves. Aside from that core fundamental, I also really liked the lion's character. He was very wise and strong. I feel like you painted a perfect picture of him. You also did a good job and going through the man's thoughts. I don't really have much of a critique on your story. It's already a good length as well. I guess you could add some proverbs in there lol. That would liven up your story and its lesson even more.
ReplyDeleteI really like this continuation! It teaches a very important lesson that many people forget. It is also written very well! It's so easy to just ramble on in stories but I didn't think that you did that. I was interested the entire time and didn't find my attention to stray at all throughout the story. I enjoyed the read and great job!
ReplyDeleteHello Caitlyn!
ReplyDeleteYou did an amazing job at continuing the story! I never thought about continuing one of the stories that we are supposed to rewrite. One of our other classmates had this great idea to put the Authors Note at the beginning of the story. I think with your story that would be a useful idea because you were not retelling the story but you are continuing the story. Props to you for also adding in the moralistic lesson. Good Job!