Squirrel and Bear
In this second unit of my Humanities Stories Class, we learned more about fables. Fables are stories with a moral at the end, usually conveyed through anthropomorphised animals or objects. For our FE, we went to the Field Museum to learn more about stories from Naitive American peoples. For this Action Project, we were tasked with writing our very own fable, as well as create a visual to go alongside it. Below is the fable that I wrote.
Squirrel was on his way to school one day, carrying an acorn under his arm. It was a sunny day, but Squirrel was a bit gloomy because he had no one to look forward to seeing upon his arrival there. Squirrel thought to himself, pushing his glasses back up onto his nose, “I know I’ve always been the short, geeky type. I know I’m not strong physically, but at least I’m smart. So why won’t anyone want to be friends with me?”
As Squirrel walked through the halls of his large school, lost in thought, he accidentally ran into Bear. He let out a small squeak as he realized who he had run into. Bear!
“Watch where you’re going, Tiny,” Bear growled at Squirrel as he pushed past him.
Bear was his fellow classmate, and was a part of the school’s football team. He was a very sports-orientated person, with his grades being average. He was also the school’s main source of bullying, and Squirrel happened to be his current target. Bear would call him names, shove him around, and just generally make Squirrel’s school life miserable.
Even when he was crying because of what Bear did to him every single day, his classmates just sat there and watched it all happen, or nervously laughed their approval. Goat was too stubborn and obsessed with his reputation, Rabbit was terrified of being hurt, and Hyena found Bear’s bullying to be hilarious, as he was always laughing hysterically whenever Bear did something. There wasn’t much the rest of the class could do, since Bear would likely target anyone who tried to stop him, making their life miserable for standing between him and who he wanted to see suffer.
The worst part of the day was lunch. Bear would scoff down several other kids’ lunches. He would sniff them first, to check if they had anything he wanted to eat on them, and then quite literally shook them down for their food, using his size and strength to his advantage. The teachers didn’t try to stop Bear because he was the largest and scariest animal in the school, and he knew it. Squirrel was sick and tired of how he and his fellow classmates suffered because of Bear.
When Bear eventually snuffled his way on over to Squirrel, who was currently reading a book and minding his own business. At this point, Squirrel was getting quite tired of Bear constantly picking on him. He thought to himself, “You know what? I think it’s about time someone stood up to this guy.” Bear finally made his way over to Squirrel, hitting the book out of his hands with a big, food-covered paw.
“Give me that acorn, Squirt. Or else,” Bear snarls at Squirrel.
“You can go ahead and try, Bear. But the moment you touch my acorn, I can and will bite your nose with these sharp teeth of mine. And then you will never be able to small delicious food again,” Squirrel angrily retorts, fed up with being pushed around. Bear stumbles backwards a bit, utterly shocked. No one had ever tried to stand up to him before like this, especially someone as small as Squirrel. After standing there in shock, Bear runs off, tears starting to glisten in his eyes. The rest of the lunchroom cheers for Squirrel, as Bear’s reign of terror was over. Squirrel paid no attention to the other students, and instead walked off to go find Bear and find out why he was crying.
After several minutes of searching, Squirrel hears snuffling from a nearby bathroom. Upon walking in, Squirrel finds Bear crying. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on, Bear?” Squirrel asks, as he “I always acted like a bully because I was afraid of being called stupid by anyone. So I used my size and my strength to scare everyone into thinking that I was a tough, smart person. Even the teachers, and my parents. I don’t even have any friends…” After Squirrel learns this, the two end up becoming good friends, helping each other through school. Courage can prove to be a valuable tool.
In conclusion, I thought that this AP was pretty tough. It's a lot harder to write a 500 word long fable than you'd think it is, since fables are supposed to be shorter stories. I liked that we were able to come up with our own fable. I disliked the length it had to be, as such a long story just doesn't seem right for a fable.
Squirrel was on his way to school one day, carrying an acorn under his arm. It was a sunny day, but Squirrel was a bit gloomy because he had no one to look forward to seeing upon his arrival there. Squirrel thought to himself, pushing his glasses back up onto his nose, “I know I’ve always been the short, geeky type. I know I’m not strong physically, but at least I’m smart. So why won’t anyone want to be friends with me?”
As Squirrel walked through the halls of his large school, lost in thought, he accidentally ran into Bear. He let out a small squeak as he realized who he had run into. Bear!
“Watch where you’re going, Tiny,” Bear growled at Squirrel as he pushed past him.
Bear was his fellow classmate, and was a part of the school’s football team. He was a very sports-orientated person, with his grades being average. He was also the school’s main source of bullying, and Squirrel happened to be his current target. Bear would call him names, shove him around, and just generally make Squirrel’s school life miserable.
Even when he was crying because of what Bear did to him every single day, his classmates just sat there and watched it all happen, or nervously laughed their approval. Goat was too stubborn and obsessed with his reputation, Rabbit was terrified of being hurt, and Hyena found Bear’s bullying to be hilarious, as he was always laughing hysterically whenever Bear did something. There wasn’t much the rest of the class could do, since Bear would likely target anyone who tried to stop him, making their life miserable for standing between him and who he wanted to see suffer.
The worst part of the day was lunch. Bear would scoff down several other kids’ lunches. He would sniff them first, to check if they had anything he wanted to eat on them, and then quite literally shook them down for their food, using his size and strength to his advantage. The teachers didn’t try to stop Bear because he was the largest and scariest animal in the school, and he knew it. Squirrel was sick and tired of how he and his fellow classmates suffered because of Bear.
When Bear eventually snuffled his way on over to Squirrel, who was currently reading a book and minding his own business. At this point, Squirrel was getting quite tired of Bear constantly picking on him. He thought to himself, “You know what? I think it’s about time someone stood up to this guy.” Bear finally made his way over to Squirrel, hitting the book out of his hands with a big, food-covered paw.
“Give me that acorn, Squirt. Or else,” Bear snarls at Squirrel.
“You can go ahead and try, Bear. But the moment you touch my acorn, I can and will bite your nose with these sharp teeth of mine. And then you will never be able to small delicious food again,” Squirrel angrily retorts, fed up with being pushed around. Bear stumbles backwards a bit, utterly shocked. No one had ever tried to stand up to him before like this, especially someone as small as Squirrel. After standing there in shock, Bear runs off, tears starting to glisten in his eyes. The rest of the lunchroom cheers for Squirrel, as Bear’s reign of terror was over. Squirrel paid no attention to the other students, and instead walked off to go find Bear and find out why he was crying.
After several minutes of searching, Squirrel hears snuffling from a nearby bathroom. Upon walking in, Squirrel finds Bear crying. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on, Bear?” Squirrel asks, as he “I always acted like a bully because I was afraid of being called stupid by anyone. So I used my size and my strength to scare everyone into thinking that I was a tough, smart person. Even the teachers, and my parents. I don’t even have any friends…” After Squirrel learns this, the two end up becoming good friends, helping each other through school. Courage can prove to be a valuable tool.
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| WH, 2018, Squirrel Reading. |
In conclusion, I thought that this AP was pretty tough. It's a lot harder to write a 500 word long fable than you'd think it is, since fables are supposed to be shorter stories. I liked that we were able to come up with our own fable. I disliked the length it had to be, as such a long story just doesn't seem right for a fable.
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