During the winter months, a very wealthy
man, one of the wealthiest in the state, and his wife were on their way to
visit their family for the holidays. It had been snowing and sleeting for some
time now, but the man refused to stop and wait the storm out. As they were
driving on an old rural road, their car hit a hidden patch of ice and slid off
of the road. The passengers were unharmed, but their vehicle had hit a tree
head on and would not start. They tried to contact the towing companies and
police for help, but they had no cell signal in the small town.
They had no other choice but to walk and
try to find help. They walked for what seemed like hours, not seeing a single
establishment along the way. A few cars drove by the couple, but not one of
them stopped to offer help. Eventually, they came upon a small farmhouse.
They walked up the road to the house,
passing by an old broken down car and through a rusted gate, and knocked on the
door. An elderly man opened the door and greeted the couple. “Hello sir, we had
an accident a couple miles down the road and we really need some help,” the
wealthy man said. Without hesitation, the owner of the home replied, “Yes,
please come inside where it’s warm”. The couple entered the home and sat down
by the fire in the living room, where the elderly man’s wife was sitting and
reading. The couples introduced themselves to each other and explained how they
came to be stranded on the road. The elderly man asked the couple if they were
hungry, and began to prepare a meal. By the condition of the house and all of
their belongings, they could tell that the elderly couple did not have much.
They had no electricity, only candles, and they had only vegetables and bread
in their pantry and a single cut of meat in their refrigerator. The elderly man
cooked the meat though. He cooked the meat, along with some corn and green
beans, and retrieved a bottle of wine from the cabinet. As everyone sat at the
table, the elderly man told the story of how he was given the bottle of wine as
a gift from his late father. As he was opening it, he said he was saving it for
a special occasion. The old couple shared that meal and their wine with the man
and his wife as they reminisced, telling stories of their pasts and enjoying
each other’s company. The next morning, the old man drove the wealthy couple to
the next town where they were helped to their holiday destination.
The wealthy couple could not stop thinking
about how kind and generous the old couple was, even though they did not have
much and were living in poverty. It was Christmas time, though, and they
decided to repay their hosts with a gift. They sent them a bottle of wine and a
check, along with a note that read “There are not many people in this world
that would do what you have done for us, so please accept this gift as a token
of our gratitude. We will never forget the hospitality that you provided us,
and we hope to be as kind and caring as you.”
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“Let those who love the gods become gods: let those who have honoured them, be honoured.”
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| (Photo of an old farmhouse found on Flickr) |
Author's
Note: The idea of this story came from Ovid's
Metamorphoses III, which was translated by Tony Kline.
This story is of an old couple that takes two gods into their home
when nobody else would. The gods are disguised as mortals, so their
identities were not known to any of the people in the village. After the couple
allows the gods to come into their home, they cook their only food for the gods
(the old couple was very poor, as they did not have much food or drink). Because
of their hospitality, the gods reward the couple by turning their home into a
temple and granting them their wish to die together so that they do not have to
live a day without one another.
I left the original theme of the story,
but I changed the setting and characters to give it a more recent feel. I
chose to rewrite this story really because of its message. I do believe that
good things happen to good people, and that is exactly what happens in this tale.
Helping those in need and showing generosity can be rare in today’s world, but
I believe that it really is important.
I love how you rewrote this story!! It was so cute!! I love how it was an old couple who took them in. It's really sad that this generation doesn't go out of their way to help people such as pulling over to help people with car troubles. This was such a good story!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the story, Adam. The language was a little stilted at times, but the sentence structure was very reminiscent of that used in the Greek myths like the one your story is based off of. Because I also read this unit this week, I knew which story you were retelling, but it might be a good idea to include the title of the story in the author's note so people don't have to click the link (like I did) to find out what the name of the story is. This is just a personal opinion but I felt like the tone of the narration was a little too formal for the events of the story. When I started reading, I thought this would be a story set in the past (100 years or so), but then I read the word "car" and I was a little surprised that it was taking place more recently. Like I said, this is just a personal opinion and not really something "wrong" with your story. On a positive note, I really enjoyed your retelling of the story. I liked how you scaled it back from a fantastical story about gods and transforming people into trees to a more realistic story that could have actually happened. Good job!
ReplyDeletePretty interesting story, I enjoyed the reading. Right of the bat, the colors are great! The red and white contrast each other very well. The dark red doesn’t make it seem plain, yet it is not distracting in anyway. The font was good. Nice and simply, and super easy to read; very much appreciated. I would recommend breaking up the dialogue for the characters with spaces. For me personally, it is easier to follow who is saying what. It is easier to go from line to line as well. Other than that, the format of it all is great. Your links are great, but I would recommend trying to figure out changing the background of the image so you can see the link. It works, just looks like a blank space next to “on”. The link to the story was good. It was defiantly easy to see and find it!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the modern aspect you put on this story! I like to make my stories a little more realistic sometimes too and I think you did a really great job. From the way the story began, I wasn't sure if it was going to end as happy as it did. Sometimes, we think of people with lots of money to be judgmental, especially towards people living in poverty, but I'm so glad it ended with them repaying him for his kindness. Also, I really like the layout of your site. It's easy to navigate and the color scheme is nice too.
ReplyDeleteYour story flowed well which made it very easy to follow and read. I like how you modernized the story as well. The character descriptions were vivid and complete and I could really feel the warmth and generosity of the elderly couple in your story. I also loved how you had the wealthy couple repay the elderly couples kindness with a check and the wine. That was a very nice touch to the story.
ReplyDeleteYour picture choice was spot on. I like how it looks like an old farmhouse where an elderly couple might live. The picture is also depicted in the winter-time, so it also fits in the storyline from that aspect too. Overall, you did a good job on your storytelling assignment.
My only comments for you would be the background & font color choices. The white lettering on the red background was something I'm not used to. I found it a little distracting and the white lettering was pretty bright for me.
I really enjoyed your story. It flowed very well and was easy to read. I also liked the idea of making it more realistic by using different characters. It had a great moral and I am glad that it ended so nicely. The only critique that I can think of would be to maybe break up some of the larger paragraphs. It gets too easy to just skim over them when they are too long. Other than that, I really enjoyed your story.
ReplyDelete