He circled the pond, and came to rest in a pine tree. He peered over his shoulder to examine his own black feathers and was suddenly disgusted by the drab color.
From afar, he watched the Swan in order to figure out how the Raven could develop such a wonderful white coat. He observed as the Swan neatly snipped off pieces of water reeds with his beak and cocked his head back to swallow them down. The Swan splashed playfully in the crystal clear water and swallowed some of it.
After making several mental notes, the Raven decided he was ready to make his transformation. The Raven flew to the water and landed in it with a satisfactory splash. He tried paddling with his feet to stay afloat, but without the webbed feet of the Swan, the Raven quickly began to sink. Panicking, he swallowed some of the clear water like he had seen the Swan do. But this only made him sink faster and made the sputtering worse.
(Milo Winter's illustration of "A Raven and A Swan" (1919)
The Raven dragged himself to shore, assuring himself that once he had completed the routine, he would feel better and his feathers would change to match the Swan's lovely snow white. The Raven bit off pieces of the water reeds and struggled to swallow the coarse food.
Stomach rumbling and exhausted from his near drowning, the Raven waited for his feather's to transform. He tried squeezing his eyes shut. He attempted waddling as he had seen the Swan do. He even tried filling his beak with water a few more times.
But he did not prevail.
With a heavy heart, the Raven left Briar's Pond to the Swan and returned to the skies.
Author's Note: This story was inspired by Aesop's Fable "A Raven and A Swan," as seen in Aesop for Children, illustrated by Milo Winter (1919). In the original, a Raven was jealous of a Swan's gorgeous white feathers, and so the Raven tried imitating the Swan's routine in hopes of changing the color of his feathers. Obviously, he was unsuccessful and perished from a poor diet. I kept the Raven in my story alive to learn more lessons in the future. The moral of both stories is that one cannot change his nature simply by altering his habits.
Well clearly you are in the correct major. Not only is this story well written but also very enjoyable. This story is great! I love how descriptive you were. I love how you described everything, to the point where I can imagine exactly what is happening when the raven is eating the water reeds. I think you did an awesome job retelling this story, keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed stories with a deeper meaning to them, and I really think you took it one step further. While I do love the morbidity of the Aesop Fable’s, in life you do not die when you try to change who you are even though it can certainly feel that way. It is a very good lesson and gives you some food for thought.
ReplyDeleteThat was a fantastic adaptation of the story and I think you did very well in conveying the underlying message. I think this applies very suitably to society today, especially in college as everyone attempts to change who they are to become who they want to be. In the end, I think we all learn it is best to be yourself in order to be most successful. It definitely got me thinking, excellent job.
ReplyDeleteHi Alissa!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great retelling of the original story! I think the changes you made were improvements over the original, but you still managed to retain the central moral of the tale. I'm glad the raven was still alive at the end of your story. He should learn the lesson that he cannot change what he is just by acting differently, but he shouldn't have to learn it in trade for his life.