Week 12 Story: Blackie's Money
Blackie's Money
Blackie showing Granny the money that was earned
Web Source: Gateway
In a small town, there was a rich man who had many possessions. His most favorite possession was his prized elephant and her baby.
One day, the rich man traveled to town and noticed an elderly woman all alone. He recalled that this same elderly woman was the same woman who helped raise him as a child. He decided to do the unthinkable to help with her loneliness.
The man ran back home and with permission from the mother, gifted her baby to the elderly women so that she would no longer be alone.
The man took this baby elephant to the elderly women and she graciously accepted the man's gestures and returned home wit her new family member.
The baby elephant was very small, cuddly, and had beautiful dark black skin that glistened in the sunlight.
After taking a long look at him, the elderly women said, "I think I'll name you Blackie."
Blackie became the talk of the town and as he grew in size, so did the love the neighborhood had for him.
Blackie became known as the fun and playful neighborhood elephant while the woman became known as "Granny" to all of the neighborhood children.
Granny and Blackie were loved by all and often helped out the neighborhood with any tasks. All they asked for in return was love.
One day, Blackie noticed that Granny was growing old and unable to complete tasks as quickly as she used to. Blackie set out into town to look for work so that he could bring home money to support Granny.
Once Blackie got into town, people were flocking to his side and begging for help. Blackie gladly accepted all of these jobs and worked up a pretty big pile of silver.
It was nearly dusk and he was finally ready to head home with all of the silver he had earned for Granny.
Granny saw him coming up the dirt road and called out to him. Blackie quickly ran up the road and showed Granny his earnings. She was so pleased with Blackie and thankful that he was willing to take care of her now.
Granny and Blackie could now live peacefully. They now knew that Blackie was able to provide for their little family.
Author's Note:
For this story, I decided to take out the parts where the man tried to rip off Blackie by only giving him one silver piece instead of the two pieces promised. I did enjoy the original story, but I do not enjoy the negative aspects of it and how Blackie was just trying to earn a wage, but was being taken advantage of instead. I also wanted to tell more of a background on how Blackie came to be with Granny. I thought it would be cute to make him her companion for life. I sought inspiration from elderly people and how they will often adopt pets to keep them company because they do get lonely.
Granny's Blackie
Author: Ellen C. Babbitt
Web Source: Gateway
Hi Adrianna!
ReplyDeleteI understand the desire to save characters we love from hardship, but a good story needs to have friction, because "Everything was good and happy" isn't a particularly interesting story. It was clever to make the lack of money the antagonist. You could play this up a little bit, though, to add drama to the story. For example, talk a little bit about how worried they were that Granny wouldn't be able to support Blackie, or herself, especially with how much Blackie eats, so they may have to choose between Granny starving or selling Blackie. Hope this helps!
Hey Adrianna! First off, I love how your story was formatted using the separated sections as the story progressed. I think it allowed the reader to move through it very quickly, but still was interesting, which made it a nice read! I do appreciate your need to keep the characters from painful times, but I do agree that sometimes some drama is interesting and makes a story more intriguing! Great job though!
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