Updated version of the story located at College and Karma.
It was a quiet Saturday afternoon on the university's campus. Joe, a junior at the school, was taking a quick nap at the courtyard of the student union. Joe had a big exam coming up so he was studying all hours of the day and night and he was exhausted. John and Johnny, some guys who lived in the same dorm as Joe, saw Joe sleeping there and wanted to mess with him. While Joe slept, John and Johnny went to the store to get some supplies. Joe was having restless sleep as he was dreaming that the student union building was collapsing.
This awful dream caused Joe to wake in a fright. Just in time as Joe woke, John and Johnny set off firecrackers hoping to frighten Joe. Not only did the loud noise scare Joe, he panicked and believed that his dream of the student union collapsing was real. He started running as fast as he could to the dorms to collect some of his things and leave the campus to get to safety.
Although it was a quiet day on campus, several students were outside hanging out with friends and enjoying the cool weather. The first man to see Joe running wondered what he was doing so he decided to follow him to find out. Joe was screaming that the student union was collapsing thus
causing many of the students to follow him to safety out of fright. The students did not ask questions but they instead followed Joe trusting him. The closer they got to the dorms, dozens of students had joined them thinking the worst.
Nearing the outside of the dorms, Ralph, the resident advisor, went outside to see what the commotion was about. Everyone told Ralph they were following Joe because he said the student union was collapsing. Joe told Ralph he hear loud explosion noises and assumed the building was going to collapse down on him. Ralph told Joe to get in his car to show him where he was before he started running. The rest of the runners stayed back at the dorms, impatiently waiting to hear the news about the student union.
As Ralph and Joe pulled up to the courtyard where Joe had been sleeping, Ralph spotted John and Johnny playing with something. Ralph, noticing that the building was indeed not collapsing, went up to John and Johnny. Realizing the loud, explosive noises were coming from the firecrackers John and Johnny were playing with, Ralph assured Joe that nothing was wrong with the school and there was no danger of buildings collapsing. Ralph took all the boys back to the dorms to let the other students know that there was no reason to worry. In that moment, Joe realized how he had jumped to conclusions and should have looked around to see that John and Johnny were messing with him. Had it not been for Ralph, who knows how far Joe would have taken all those students to get them to safety.
Author Note: The story written above is my interpretation of the Jataka tale "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit". The original tale is about a rabbit who believes the world is breaking up and starts running for the mountains. Along the way, many animals join him until they reached the Lion King. The lion took the rabbit back to sight of the breaking to see that a coconut had fallen, making the noise at which the rabbit believed would break the world. The lesson in this story is that the lion stopped all the animals from running far due to assumptions.
Bibliography. "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit" by Ellen C. Babbitt. Website: The Jatakas
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| (Talley Student Union; Source: Wikimedia) |
It was a quiet Saturday afternoon on the university's campus. Joe, a junior at the school, was taking a quick nap at the courtyard of the student union. Joe had a big exam coming up so he was studying all hours of the day and night and he was exhausted. John and Johnny, some guys who lived in the same dorm as Joe, saw Joe sleeping there and wanted to mess with him. While Joe slept, John and Johnny went to the store to get some supplies. Joe was having restless sleep as he was dreaming that the student union building was collapsing.
This awful dream caused Joe to wake in a fright. Just in time as Joe woke, John and Johnny set off firecrackers hoping to frighten Joe. Not only did the loud noise scare Joe, he panicked and believed that his dream of the student union collapsing was real. He started running as fast as he could to the dorms to collect some of his things and leave the campus to get to safety.
Although it was a quiet day on campus, several students were outside hanging out with friends and enjoying the cool weather. The first man to see Joe running wondered what he was doing so he decided to follow him to find out. Joe was screaming that the student union was collapsing thus
causing many of the students to follow him to safety out of fright. The students did not ask questions but they instead followed Joe trusting him. The closer they got to the dorms, dozens of students had joined them thinking the worst.
Nearing the outside of the dorms, Ralph, the resident advisor, went outside to see what the commotion was about. Everyone told Ralph they were following Joe because he said the student union was collapsing. Joe told Ralph he hear loud explosion noises and assumed the building was going to collapse down on him. Ralph told Joe to get in his car to show him where he was before he started running. The rest of the runners stayed back at the dorms, impatiently waiting to hear the news about the student union.
As Ralph and Joe pulled up to the courtyard where Joe had been sleeping, Ralph spotted John and Johnny playing with something. Ralph, noticing that the building was indeed not collapsing, went up to John and Johnny. Realizing the loud, explosive noises were coming from the firecrackers John and Johnny were playing with, Ralph assured Joe that nothing was wrong with the school and there was no danger of buildings collapsing. Ralph took all the boys back to the dorms to let the other students know that there was no reason to worry. In that moment, Joe realized how he had jumped to conclusions and should have looked around to see that John and Johnny were messing with him. Had it not been for Ralph, who knows how far Joe would have taken all those students to get them to safety.
Author Note: The story written above is my interpretation of the Jataka tale "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit". The original tale is about a rabbit who believes the world is breaking up and starts running for the mountains. Along the way, many animals join him until they reached the Lion King. The lion took the rabbit back to sight of the breaking to see that a coconut had fallen, making the noise at which the rabbit believed would break the world. The lesson in this story is that the lion stopped all the animals from running far due to assumptions.
Bibliography. "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit" by Ellen C. Babbitt. Website: The Jatakas
Hey Lindsey, good job with the first story! I like the way you chose to retell the story, changing the character students to make them more relatable. Good job on keeping the main elements of the story too, but also making it your own. I know it can be hard to balance your own creative element with the original story's, but I was still able to see where the story diverged and stayed the same.
ReplyDeleteHey Lindsey!
ReplyDeleteI like the way that you modernized the story and adjusted it to have OU as the background. I think it made the story more funny because I could really visualize everything happening. You did a really good job of following the story while also changing it up in ways to make it unique. In your author note, you did a great job of explaining the traditional story but you should explain more of your story too and why you made the changes you did. Other than that, I loved reading this!
Hi Lindsey! This was such a neat adaptation to the Rabbit story from Jatakas! I was able to recognize the source story as soon as Joe started running. The prank with firecrackers was a good way to represent the falling coconut and totally sounds like something my little brother would try to do! The nap at the student union because of a test was a little too real though. I've definitely passed out in the biz a few times during finals week!
ReplyDelete