Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Storytelling for Week 3

Achilles and the Fire
Once upon a time there was a farmer named Achilles. He was a hardworking and intelligent man. Achilles was from western Oklahoma where there is plenty of wide-open space for farmers to grow their crops. The competition in this area was pretty hectic amongst the farmers due to there being a lot of him.

Achilles was a great farmer, but he did not do things on his own. He worked for a man named Agamemnon, who was the owner of the plantation. Achilles didn’t like the way he treated the other farmers who worked for him.

One day an old man came over by the farm to ask Agamemnon if he could buy back his one-acre of land that he sold to him 10 years ago.  Despite Agamemnon having over 1000 acres he said no and shunned him away.  The old man went back to where he came from and wept. The man prayed to the gods that bad things would come for Agamemnon.  When Achilles tried to warn Agamemnon about this he ridiculed him and said that he does not even need him anymore. Achilles quit and said that he would never work for him again. Achilles became furious and almost struck him with a fist until the goddess of Athene came down to give insight to him. She said not to hit him, because Agamemnon will offer Achilles 100x his salary and beg for him to come back. He listened and withdrew back to his house.

Achilles knew that he was now jobless and would run out of money soon, but he didn’t care. He vowed to himself that he would never work for Agamemnon again.

Over the next few months it began to get hotter and drier than normal. It had not rained in over 3 months and everyday it was over 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Before long a wildfire sparked 50 miles away from where Achilles lived.  The fire was spreading fast and there were no signs of it slowing down. The Fire Department had a hard time controlling it due to it spreading so much, and over the next few days the fire was only 10 miles away.  All of the homeowners and farmers tried to help as much as they can, but they were struggling. Some of Achilles best friends and ex- coworkers went over to his home and begged for assistance. They also said that Agamemnon would give him 100 acres and money if he would help stop the fire. Achilles still refused and told his friends that he vowed not to assist Agamemnon no matter what the offer. The only way he would help is if he were in danger. So is friends went back to deliver the news.


As the hours passed by the fire spread closer and closer toward Achilles house.  He finally decided to help the others stop the fire. Achilles was very intelligent so he knew exactly how to stop the fire from spreading any further. He informed the people to dig a trench around the area of their homes and fill it with water to block the fire from spreading.  Once blocked the fire department will be able to contain it. So the people did what he said and the fire stopped spreading. Achilles saved the farmers and the citizens! Agamemnon apologized and gave him is reward that he promised, but Achilles refused the reward and thanked the gods for being on his side.

Wildfire by famartin 2011
Source; Wikipedia


Authors Note: 
I based my story from Homer's Iliad in the Un-textbook. The reason why I chose this story is because I love reading classical stories especially ones that involves greek gods and goddesses. My main goals for the story was so try and re-create the dilemma that Achilles faced in the original story. In it Achilles was a warrior for Greece and King Agamemnon ridiculed him and said he did not need him. At the same time the army of Troy started to attack the Greeks. Achilles was requested for assistance, but he denied. Eventually he helped push back the army and kill their leader Hector. In my story the fire is supposed to represent Hector and his army. I also changed Achilles from being a warrior to a farmer. Finally I changed the setting of the story to a farm in Western Oklahoma to try and relate more to the culture here. 

Bibliography
The Story I read is Homer's Iliad in the Un-textbook.
Author of the original story called The Iliad for Boys and Girls by Alfred J. Church (1907).

2 comments:

  1. I really liked how you turned Hector into an element in this story, and he was still just as horrible. I could definitely understand why Achilles didn't want the reward from Agamemnon because once you've been hurt like that money can't make up for it. But I was glad that Achilles still did the right thing in saving Agamemnon. Achilles really was the hero of the story!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really liked reading your story! I thought it was really cool how you had Hector and his army still in the story and represented them as fire. I would have never thought to do that. I think having the story here in Oklahoma with wildfires makes it more relatable too. I can definitely understand why Achilles denied Agamemnon after what he did to Achilles; money doesn't make up for being treated poorly.

    ReplyDelete