A lonely raven was soaring across the sky, gazing down at the mountains below. She spotted a group of wolves playing in a pile of leaves, a deer a little ways off, and a rabbit that had just emerged from its den.
(the raven, source)
Nothing out of the ordinary. She told herself.
Until all of a sudden she noticed a man heading towards a small stream. As he reached the edge of the water he kneeled down and scooped some up in his hands, and began to bring it up towards his mouth.
NO. The raven thought as she dove towards the man.
The man didn’t notice her until the last minute, and he was so startled that he jumped up and dumped all the water from his hands. He then turned around and glared angrily at the raven before dunking his hands back into the water for another drink.
Just as he brought the water to his lips the raven swooped down from a branch and knocked it from his hands again. The man then jumped upwards furiously and attempted to grab the raven, but she was too fast and dodged his attack.
The man then began walking slowly to the stream once again, and kept looking over his shoulder to see if the Raven followed. Sure enough she crept closer each step he took.
“Why can’t I drink from this stream!?” He yelled. “I haven’t had a drink in days, do you want me to die of thirst?”
The raven only stared sadly at the man before cawing at him. She then flew in a few circles and headed further into the woods cawing as she went.
I hope he follows. The raven thought.
Lucky for her the man was curious and stumbled after her. Eventually they reached the source of the stream, and the raven landed on a smooth rock before nodding towards the water.
The mans eyes widened in shock as he saw a jumble of animal skeletons. Just beyond them he saw a dead snake, and from its mouth came the “water” he had almost drank.
The raven watched carefully as his mind began to wander. She felt relieved that he wouldn’t end up like the other animals.
All of a sudden the man spoke again, “thank you so much! You saved my life!” he paused briefly, “but why?”
The raven hopped down from her rock and looked towards the animals by the shore, hoping he would understand.
He had a puzzled look on his face briefly before realization finally lit up his features.
“Were they your friends?” He asked quietly.
The raven nodded and many memories of them came to her mind.
“And you couldn’t save them. So now you watch this area to make sure no other animal has to die?” the man pondered.
Once again the raven nodded at his accurate statement.
The man looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing, “I’m going to stay here, and help you protect animals from drinking here ever again.”
The raven heard this but couldn’t believe it, a new friend? It had been so long. In response she only cawed and landed happily on the mans shoulder.
Author's Note: I kept this story mostly the same when it comes to the original. However, I added the Raven's point of view. I also gave her more of a backstory and showed why she was so desperate to help the man. In the original the man ends up killing the Raven and regretting it later, so I took that part out.
Bibliography: "How the Raven saved the Hunter" by Albert Shelton from the Tibetan Folktales.
Aw I think your story was really sweet! I like how the raven was just trying to save the man’s life, and I really appreciate that you took out the part where the raven died! When I read that in the author’s note I got real sad. He doesn’t deserve to die, he just didn’t want the guy to experience the same fate as his friends!
ReplyDeleteThis was really cute and short. It kind of sounded like a children's story. Pretty simple and straightforward. I love animals making friends with humans. I would kind of like to know why the guy was wandering in the woods though, and why he decided to stay there instead of move on. Like why it's not that important to him to find his way out of the woods. It could make a kind of cool legend though, a guy and a raven protecting a poisoned river. I like to potential there.
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