Week 11 Story: The Deserving King

The Deserving King:
**Latest version can be found here.

The poor man caring for the four caught in the storm.
Source: Whispering Books

"Daddy! Daddy! Tell us again how you became king." shouted the three princes.

"Not again boys!" said the King.

"Please Dad!" said the boys in unison.

"Alright, but after this you have to go to bed. Promise?" asked the King.

"We promise!" said the boys.

"It was nice day. The birds were chirping, and the sky was blue. Suddenly, the sky turned dark, the winds began to roar and the river became a choppy, rough mess. You see boys, before I became King, I was a very poor man. I lived in a ragged shack down by the river. The storm had been raging for a while when I began to hear a man shouting. I went outside my shack into the rain and saw a man floating down the river on a log. I knew that I had to rescue him, because if I did not, he might drown. I bravely went into the raging river and began swimming toward the log. When I finally reached it, I found the current and safely pushed it to shore. When I safely reached the bank, I realized that the man was not alone. Accompanying the man on the log was a snake, a rat, and a parrot, all which were unconscious. The man was just happy to be on land, so I quickly took the animals into my shack and placed them by the fire to warm, and then I went back out and drug the now unconscious man into my shack. I checked each being over and concluded that the animals where in much worse shape then the man, whom I determined to be the prince was.

 I began to nurse each of the animals one by one and then I moved onto the prince. It took a few days, but when each gained strength, they began to thank me, and eventually it was time for them to leave. When the snake left, he was so grateful and he told me that he knew where some gold was buried and whenever I needed it to just go to him home and call out to him, and he would tell me where it was buried. He then went on his way. When the rat left, he was also thankful and told me that he too knew were gold and money was buried and to come to his home and call out to him when I needed it. When the parrot was departing, he told me that whenever I needed rice to come to him and he and his family and friends would gather the best rice they could find for him. Finally, when the prince was leaving, he told me to come to him when he was king and he would give me riches.

 Time went on and eventually the king died and the evil prince became king. I then decided to test each of the creatures that I rescued that day. I first visited the snake. When I got to his home I called out and the snake emerged from his home and he said, "Kind sir, I will tell you where the gold is," and he told me. I thanked him for holding his end of the promise and told him I would go get it when I needed it.
I then visited the rat, then the parrot. Each animal showed that they were still so grateful for me saving them. I was pleased and felt happy that they were so grateful.

 Finally, it was time to visit the king. When I approached the king in court, he acted like he did not know me and ordered me to killed for asking for money. The guards were in shock. As they took me into their grasp I began to tell them the story of how I rescued the king from the river. The guards looked at each other and then charged the king, killing him. They then placed me on the throne and crowned me king." concluded the king.

"Thanks dad." nodded the eldest prince as he rolled over in his bed and joined his brothers in a deep and restful sleep.

The king smiled as he watched his sons sleep.

Author's Note: The original story is much like this one. It was titled, The Wicked Prince and the Grateful Animals. The original story focused more on the wicked prince versus the poor man. The story line stayed the same. I simply changed the perspective of the story from third person to first person by making the poor man (the deserving king) tell his sons the story of how he became king. I personally thought that the story would become so much more powerful hearing the story in first person and would add another dimension making the king's sons proud of their dad. I also liked the idea of the king's sons thinking that the story of how their dad became king was the best story he ever told. From this, I feel like there could also be a lesson,which is what the king's sons were taking away from the story. During the original story, I felt that the main theme was about being selfless and caring for the well-being of other and also, most importantly being grateful, honest and truthful. The moral of the story was do not make a promise that you do not intend to keep. This was a very indirect lesson and takes some thinking to understand.

Bibliography: "The Wicked Prince and the Grateful Animals" from More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit.