Suddenly, like a miracle from the Allah, a heard of elephants came stampeding in front of my tree! These creatures were enormous with long, mighty tusks that shined like white gold. They raised their trunks high in the sky and bellowed a loud cry. It almost appeared as if they were in pain... But, my eyes were on the prize. I stood up on the sturdy branch slowly, and pulled my arrow back. I tried to keep a steady aim on one elephant, the largest elephant of the heard, but the powerful stomps from the stampede were causing me to lose my balance. I only had one shot. I took it. The arrow pierced the elephant's tough skin behind the ear, and it immediately slowed down. My heart raced! This could be my freedom! I immediately took another arrow from my sack and shot the elephant two more times. The creature stumbled on the ground and was left behind. Success.
I quickly climbed down the tree and rushed to the elephant's side. I couldn't believe that I finally killed one! I imagined my master embracing me and thanking me for retrieving such large ivory tusks. Then, I'll be free. As I was approaching the elephant, I noticed that its chest was slowly rising and dropping. It was still alive... I prepared my bow and arrow just in case it tried to attack me. I took hesitant steps towards the head. There was blood trickling down its face from the bows. I couldn't believe this monster was still alive! I pulled my bow once again to finish it off. One straight shot through the eye should do the job. Just as I was about to release my last bow...it looked at me. I couldn't explain what it was, but I lowered my bow. The elephant's golden eyes stared into mine, and I saw the pain that I caused. I saw an elephant graveyard filled with numerous tusks for my master. I saw my master congratulating me. Then, I saw my freedom. The vision was so vivid and realistic. I dropped to the ground and sobbed. What have I done?
There still could be a chance to save its life. I pulled out the arrows from the elephant's ear, and bandaged it with medicinal herbs that my master gave me to fight infections. For the next two weeks, I cleaned the elephant's ear, fed it, and attempted to heal it to the best of my ability. Finally came the day when the elephant walked away healthy. My master arrived just as the elephant was leaving in the distance.
"There's an elephant, Sinbad! Why don't you kill it? Kill it!" shouted my master. I looked at my master with a disgusted look and threw my bow at his feet. "I wouldn't dare take another animal's freedom just to have my own." With that, I took my freedom from slavery and walked away.
 |
| Elephants in the sunset. Source. |
Author's note: I decided to rewrite the seventh voyage from The Voyages of Sinbad. In the original story, Sinbad was sold into slavery. His master sent him to a forest with a bow and arrow to kill elephants. Sinbad killed hundreds of elephants and collected all the ivory tusks. One day, a group of elephants surrounded Sinbad and took him to the elephant graveyard. There were piles of skeletons and tusks everywhere. Sinbad relays his findings to his master, and they makes a trip to Ivory Hill (what they named the elephant graveyard). Pleased with his slave's hard work, Sinbad's master gives Sinbad a portion of the fortune along with his freedom. I wasn't a fan of the fact that Sinbad had to kill elephants in order to win his freedom. I interpreted the graveyard scene as the elephants showing Sinbad the many lives he took from their heard which is how I changed the story.
Bibliography: The Voyages of Sinbad from The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang (1898).
I really liked how you changed the story to Sinbad having mercy on the elephant and ended up saving its life. It makes me sad to hear when people kill elephants for their tusks. You gave it a much happier ending. You gave the story a lot of emotion and I could feel Sinbad's pain over the choice he had to make, his freedom or the elephant's life. Great job!
ReplyDeleteWow, I really like that you changed the story up like this! This reminded me of How to Train a Dragon a bit in how Sinbad could not kill the elephant because of the look it gave him. I think this a great retelling of the story with a new moral and I very much look forward to reading more of your works.
ReplyDelete