Week 12 Story : Wrath

** The updated version of this story may be found on my portfolio. **

Once upon a time, there lived a King.  He was very wealthy and held power over many lands and people.  One day, the King decided to make a pond in the castle's courtyard.  He wanted his sons to be able to play and swim in its clear waters.  The King directed his servants to fill the luscious plants and various fishes.  

After the pond was finally finished, the princes could hardly wait to jump in.  They excitedly ran to the pond the second the servants were finished perfecting it.  The boys happily swam in the water, played among the cattails, and took interest in the many fishes in the pond.  The princes saw many different colors shimmering in the water.  All of a sudden, the youngest prince pointed out something odd.

"What is that?", he asked his brothers.  The other boys turned to what the youngest was pointing at.  

The creature had clawed hands and feet.  Its skin was scaly and reptilian.  It had a tiny snout and beady eyes.  The most uncanny thing about this novel creature, was that it had a large round shell covering its entire body.  

The boys quickly took interest in the turtle and began prodding it with a stick.  The turtle, frightened by the aggressive intrusion, retreated back into its shell.  Shocked by this strange response, the boys became afraid of the turtle, and believed it was a demon.  The princes hurried back to their castle and alerted their father that there was a demon living in their pond.  

The king commanded his soldiers to capture the demon and bring it into the castle.  The king could see that the turtle frightened his sons greatly, and decided that it should be killed.  He was repulsed by its odd appearance, and the desire to destroy the thing grew.  The king's soldiers asked how the king would like his order to kill the demon be carried out.  The men were also disgusted by the turtle.  They suggested pounding it to powder and baking it in hot coals.  One of the men suggested throwing the demon in the pond and drowning it.  

When the turtle heard of this fate, he mocked fear and desperation.  He cried in anguish and begged for mercy.  The king, believing that this was surely the worst fate for the turtle, ordered it to be carried out.  

As the turtle was thrown in the water he laughed to himself, for how could the king and princes know that it was safest in the water. 

Turtle in pond.  WikimediaCommons. 

Author's Note

The original reading note for this story is placed in italics below.

In this story, I wanted to feature the deadly sin of wrath to continue my series.  I think that by dramatizing the story, I can emphasize how hatred from an individual is unnecessary.  In the end, good will always triumph and I think that this is a good moral of the story.

In my previous story that featured a sin, I placed the setting of the story in a forest derived from the Mahabhrata and the main characters of my story were the Pandava brothers.  I had originally wanted to continue from this first story, and make a series featuring one of the seven deadly sins in each story.  The collection of stories was supposed to be a new adventure for the group of brothers, but I think that it would be much easier if the stories for each sin were separate, instead of attempting to tie them all together.  I think that this could get confusing and hard to follow.  

Bibliography

This story, written by Ellen C. Babbitt (1912), can be found on gatewaytotheclassics.