Storytelling for Week 2: The Last Melon

This story begins in the land of the Ice Age, where Dodo birds once roamed, and Saber-tooth tigers wandered. One flock of Dodo birds lived in the area of Dreece, while the other flock lived in the land of Ploy. The Dodo birds were going extinct, and these were the only two flocks left on earth. In order to live, the Dodo birds ate the Green Melon; a rare fruit that could only be found in the frozen land in between the two flocks. As the years went by, the fruit became more and more scarce, until one day, the Dodo birds figured out that there was only one melon left. They all loved the melon, needed the melon, and had to have the melon. The chiefs of the two flocks came together one day, and made a pact saying that the flock of Dreece could have the melon since it was closer to their property, and no bird from Ploy was to come and try to steal it. 

 

One day, however, a bird from Ploy came and stole the melon in the middle of the night, and caused a great war to happen between the two flocks. The whole flock of Dreece came together to try and take back the melon that was rightly theirs. One bird in their flock, Adilles, was half Bald Eagle and could fly and do things the other Dodo birds could not do; he was the key to taking over Ploy and reclaiming their precious melon. Unfortunately, the chief of Dreece was a jealous, selfish and mean bird who had insulted Adilles' Bald Eagle origin, so Adilles refused to help the Dreece flock. After a little convincing by his best friend, Drocaltus , Adilles decided he would help Dreece fight Ploy and take back the melon. 

Adilles sent his friend Drocaltus to aid in the battle until Adilles decided to show up. When Drocaltus went to Ploy to fight, something was stirred up inside of him, and he tried to take over Ploy even though Adilles had specifically told him not to. The payment for this was death. Drocaltus was killed by a bird named Wector, who was a mighty fighter and the brother of the bird who stole the melon. 

When a Dodo bird dies, the whole flock comes together, sings a beautiful song, and then makes a pair of large wings for the dead bird (since we all know Dodo birds can't fly) in order to help it fly away to heaven. The Dodo birds could not do this however, since they did not have the poor body of Drocaltus! So the war raged over which flock would have the flightless bird's body. Dreece won the battle, and gave Drocaltus a proper Dodo funeral. 

Adilles was still angered over the death of his friend, so he decided to go after Wector and fight him. Adilles was quite the intimidating bird, which his large wings, distinctive white patch of hair upon his head... When other birds saw him, they would tremble in fear. Wector reacted similarly, except Wector was so nerve-wrecked when Adilles approached him, that he simply had a heart attack and died! This was not all that surprised to the other Dodo birds, since they all knew regular Dodos had very weak hearts anyways. 

Adilles would then move on to conquer Ploy and take back the last melon. 

A shot from the movie Ice Age where the
Dodo birds are protecting their melon
Source: Animated Views

Author's Note: This story was based off Homer's Iliad retold by Alfred J. Church (1907). The story is originally about Achilles, a demigod who lived in Greece, and was called to help take back the fair Helen who had fallen in love with a prince of Troy. I changed the characters to Dodo birds to the story, mainly because when I was thinking of ideas the scene from Ice Age popped into my head, when all the Dodo birds are going after the last melon. So I combined the two ideas and the result was this story. In the original story, there were many interferences from Greek gods, but I left those out of my version to make it a little simpler. The storyline as a whole is generally the same. 

Week 1 Introduction: The Life of a Militician (Military/Politician)

Hi there everyone! My name is Savannah, I'm 21 years old and I am currently in my Senior year at OU. I'll start you off with a little background about me: I was born in Macon, Georgia, but I'm also an Army brat so I moved all over the place while I grew up. I moved 11 times until I was in 6th grade, but most of my childhood years were spent on the East Coast: South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. That's also where all of my extended family live as well, so I'm extremely southern at heart. In middle school my dad was stationed in Edmond, OK from South Carolina, and retired when I was a freshman in high school. I graduated from Edmond North, came to OU, and am now a Political Science major with a minor in French.

Standing in front of the Capitol,
this is my first day living in DC starting my 3 month internship.
Source: Personal Photo May 2014

I fell in love with politics in high school, volunteering much of my free time with organizations like Americans for Prosperity, and paging at the State Capitol. I continued my political involvement in college by interning on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC for a summer, in addition to other local Congressional and Senate offices here in Oklahoma. I did, however, begin another adventure by joining the Air Force ROTC and pursuing a career as an Air Force Officer. Being a Senior, I've completed the majority of my training, and now I just have to finish up my degree and I'll be on my way to becoming a 2nd Lieutenant. In addition to that, I recently got into campaigning over the summer, and am currently working full time on staff for a Congressional campaign. Yes, that means full time school and full time work. It's a blast though and I really couldn't ask for anything more.

For fun, well... I'm a country girl. I love hunting, fishing, shooting; anything along those lines. My family lives out by a lake so I fish all the time when I go home, mainly just bass and catfish, and every year I look forward to deer hunting season. My little brother is 14 years old, and is my partner in crime for all of these activities. I also have an 18 year old little sister, but she's never been too keen on touching a fish or holding a gun, so her and I love to hit up the mall and have some coffee at Starbucks.

My prize out of our neighborhood lake:
 An 8 lb Largemouth bass
Source: Personal Photo May 2012

More fun facts about me: I adore children and babysit as often as possible, I love the beach more than anything in the world (Charleston, SC to be exact), I'm saving up to hopefully take the backpacking trip of a lifetime to Europe next summer, I'm a born and raised Baptist with a heart for serving the Lord, and last but not least, I am a die hard, no kidding, born and raised Dallas Cowboys football fan for life.

My little brother and I after a few hours of paint-balling.
Source: Personal Photo March 2015

Storytelling Week 1: Bo-Peep and Her Sheep

"Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,

     And can't tell where to find them;

Leave them alone, and they'll come home,

     And bring their tails behind them."

(traditional nursery rhyme)

Once upon a time, there was a young lady named Bo-Peep and she owned many, many sheep. You see, Little Bo-Peep's parents were sheep herders and raised her to love and care for all of her sheep for every moment of every day. One day, however, Little Bo-Peep had a visitor; it was the handsome young man from next door. Bo-Peep, being single and available, couldn't possibly turn down the chance to get to know her future husband. As a polite host, Bo-Peep went inside for a few minutes to get the young man a glass of lemonade and a tart, and figured the sheep would certainly be fine being by themselves for only a few minutes. Before she knew it, over an hour had passed since Little Bo-Peep had gone out to check on her sheep; you see, falling in love can make a person lose track of time. When Bo-Peep noticed the time, she jumped out of her seat, sprinted outside, and stared forlornly at the empty green field before her... all of her sheep were gone. She pondered for hours about what she could do in order to find her sheep. She then decided that if they loved her as much as she loved them, then they would come back. So, she decided to leave them alone, and wait. 

"Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep,

And dreamt she heard them bleating;

But when she awoke, she found it a joke,

For they were still a-fleeting."

As she waited, the hot sun beating down, Bo-Peep thought she would take a short nap since the heat and stress of losing her sheep had exhausted her. As she slept, she also dreamt that all of her sheep had come safely back to her. She was leaping for joy and hugging her sheep, when she suddenly awoke and realized... oh, it was only a dream. Bo-Peep proceeded to stare out the window for many more hours, at the sheepless pasture behind her home.

"Then up she took her little crook,

Determin'd for to find them;

She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,

For they'd left all their tails behind 'em."

As Bo-Peep stared, hour after hour, she kept thinking to herself that maybe she should go search for her lost sheep. Then it suddenly occurred to her that maybe the sheep became thirsty and went down to the creek for a sip of ice cold water. So she pulled on her walking boots and trekked through the woods, into a valley towards the the nearby creek. As she was nearing the creek, she saw little white puff balls prancing around just over the next small hill. Bo-Peep became ecstatic at the sight of her sheep and ran up the hill as quickly as she could to meet them. Once she finally reached her flock of sheep, she nearly fainted when she noticed their tails had fallen off! From that moment on, Little Bo-Peep kept a close eye on her sheep, and made sure they never again went near the water in that poisonous little creek that had made their tails fall off.

Litte Bo-Peep looking for her sheep
Source: Wikipedia

Author's Note & Bibliography: Based on the original nursery rhyme "Little Bo-Peep" sourced from The Nursery Rhyme Book  by Andrew Lang (1897).