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Week 9 Storytelling: Why the Cheetah is Fast

Once, there was a town with many animals that lived among each other in peace. There was a watering hole that they all shared and there were minimal issues. The town provided many benefits to the animals and they were all grateful. However, there was a cheetah who was always looking for ways to be better than the others and he wanted to prove that he could beat every animal in the town at something. He did not realize everything that the town offered him and he often thought he deserved better.

During the week, each animal worked hard to get his or her garden looking great so as when the town got visitors they would like the way it looked. The cheetah however thought this was pointless and never did anything beneficial to the town despite all that it offered him.

One day, the cheetah was walking along the trail in the woods that led to the watering hole. As usual, he tried his best to beat the others there so he could be the first one and have the freshest water. Along the way, he stepped on everyones flowers that they had worked so hard on the week before to plant and make their town look good. This was the last straw.

The animals in the town did not like this and they brought it up to the king. The king said that since the cheetah was no longer taking the time to enjoy the little things in life, he would be permanently punished by being the fastest animal in the world, and therefore, he would never have time to enjoy all the things he took for granted.

Now the cheetah still walks among the others but he is the fastest animal in the world and each day he lives with how much he was able to do when he could have slowed down.

Author's Note: I got my inspiration for this story from the Nigerian unit because a lot of these stories, such as why the bat flies at night present a story that explain why a certain phenomenon occurs in the world. I wanted to think of something in the world that maybe has a certain evolutionary or scientific meaning and get creative with a story for why it actually happens.

Bibliography: Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell, Nigeria Unit

Image Info: Cheetah




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Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 21, 2017 at 4:41 PM

    Stephanie, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your story on how the cheetah became the fastest animal. It was a unique way to create an origin story. I like how you were consistent with the personality of the cheetah. He was essentially a villain in the story and he ends up getting what he deserves by not being able to appreciate the little things in life even if he wanted to.

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  2. SonaliOctober 22, 2017 at 10:46 PM

    Hi Stephanie,
    I can totally agree with you that the Nigerian unit was very interesting in presenting lessons about the world. I definitely like how you still kept the message that was being portrayed in the original story, but also were able to make it your own story. I like how you continue to develop the cheetah's personality throughout the story, and really make readers aware of the message you are trying to send. Nice job!

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  3. Alanna CurryOctober 24, 2017 at 3:48 PM

    Hi Stephane! I really liked that your lesson had a moral of the story. I try to have each one of my stories have a lesson incorporated with it. Your story was very straightforward which I like because in the Nigerian stories sometimes the moral of the story was a bit confusing. I think this lesson applies to our day-to-day lives, because we all tend to move so quickly throughout life and forget to appreciate the little things.

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