Thursday, September 18, 2014

Storytelling for Week 5: Shahar and the Ring

 Shahar and the Ring

Once upon a time there were two brothers named Shahar and Yonatan. The two of them lived in Egypt their whole life. Yonatan was the eldest of the two and had a house, wife, and farm.  Shahar didn’t have much so he lived with Yonatan. The two brothers cared for each other deeply always respected one another.
            One day Shahar was tending the farm like he usually does. But he saw something strange. He called out, “Hello! Is anybody there, Hello!?”, but  nobody replied. It seemed as if there were a strange being standing towards the end of the farm field. It was approaching closer and closer. Once Shahar could see more clearly, he noticed that he saw a beautiful woman.

He called out to here, “Oh why Hello. I didn’t realize you were a woman. I could not recognize you from so far away. “

 Sorry for my intrusion but, I am looking for something,” the woman replied.
“Oh what is it that you are looking for? I’m sure you might be mistaking me for somebody else.  The only people that live here are my Brother, his wife, and myself.”

The woman didn’t respond. Little did Shahar know, the woman was a legendary thief, and she wanted to steal the big diamond ring Shahar had on his finger. The ring was from his mother who passed away, and it was worth at least $50,000 dollars. The woman looked and then suddenly attacked Shahar with a dagger. She struck him into the heart and he died on the spot. The thief stole the ring and fled somewhere into the city of Cairo.
By the time Yonatan came out to see what his brother was doing, he was already to late. Yonatan wept for the loss of his brother and prayed all night long to the god Ra. Ra was the god of the gods and goddesses He heard Yonatan’s prayers and decided to bring back Shahar to life so he could go pursue the woman who stole his ring. Shahar came back as a bull so the woman would not be able to recognize him. Shahar searched for days around the city until one night he spotted her. As he slowly approached her he whispered to the woman who stole his ring.

“Ha you thought you stuck me down! For I am alive and I know what you did. I will have my revenge,” exclaimed Shahar.

The woman freaked out and stabbed Shahar in the heart again. She felt relieved that he was dead again and carried on with her night. Over the next couple of months the woman was resting upon a tree on a hot summer day. Suddenly, the tree whispered to her and said, “ Ha it is me Shahar! Did you think you that you killed me before? I came back as a bull then, and now I am here as a tree.  I will have my revenge!” The woman was so freighted see burned the tree down where she stood. As she was doing this a little piece of charred wood entered her throat, and she swallowed it. The thief became so paranoid that she was unable to sleep for along time, and was constantly looking over her shoulder.

Nine months later the woman bore a child. She was married and had a husband who loved her very much. Everything seemed great and they named their child Anpu. Anpu lived a normal happy life with his family. 30 years later, Anpu went up his mother (the thief) and wanted to speak with her. He said, “Mother, ha. You thought that you got rid of me forever! It is I Shahar! First I came back as a bull, then a tree, and now your son! What ever shall you do to me now? I will have my revenge.”  The woman couldn’t believe her eyes and began to have a heart attack. She couldn’t believe who her son really was. She died minutes later, and Shahar took back his ring and said to the dead woman, “See I told you I would have my revenge! 30 years later, I have gotten my revenge."

Diamond ring by Stephen Durham
Source: Wikipedia

Authors Note:
I decided to base my story of the story of The Two Brothers that can be found in the Un-Textbook unit story called Ancient Egypt. The story is about two brothers who searched the city of the ex wife of one them who betrayed him. The brother came back as 3 different things and tormented her until the brother eventually overthrew her. The god Ra helped the brother come back to life and that is what I decided to do in my story. The main goal for my story was was to try and copy the plot and setting of the original story and I think that I did.  

2 comments:

  1. My friend has a saying that comes to mind when I read your story. "Persistence beats resistance," he tends to say. In your story, I think Shahar captures those words of wisdom. From his perspective, I wonder how much patience it would have taken to wait so long for revenge. In fact, I find it surprising that maintain his desire for revenge so long. Then again, I haven't had a comparable experience. Nice work!

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  2. I thought it was true love that never dies, but apparently the need to exact revenge never dies either. This was a fascinating story. I can't believe that Ra brought him back so many times. He should've just come as the son the first time and would've saved him a lot of dying. But seriously, as a mom it would be quite impossible to kill your child. You would certainly be at their mercy.

    Very interesting storytelling, Anthony! I think I might have to go read that story for myself!

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