Week 7 Storytelling: The Three Ducklings

It was Scrooge Mcduck's final hour, and he had to tell his grandnephews something very important before he went to heaven.

"Huey, Dewey, and Louie, come close please. I must give each of you a gift." The three grandnephews scooted closer to Grandpa Scrooge's side, being careful not to miss his final Scottish words. "My dear boys, you know that I am wealthiest duck because of my successful business. I have worked hard to give you, my grandnephews, a better life than I have lived. Now it is time to give each of you a share of my fortune."

Huey, Dewey, and Louie jumped with joy! They were going to be filthy rich!

Huey: "Thank you Grandpa Scrooge! With your money, I'm going to buy the fastest jet in the world!"

Dewey: "Grandpa, with your money I'll be able to buy the fastest boat that has ever sailed the ocean blue! You're the best!"

Louie: "Grandpa, I can buy the newest, fastest, car that just came out the market! It's all because of you!"

The three grandnephews hugged Scrooge with such delight, hoping that their grandpa would pass over in any moment so that they can buy their new toys. Grandpa Scrooge rolled his eyes and sat his grandnephews at the foot of his hospital bed. "Listen here, young boys! You will not be receiving money! Instead, I have just the gifts for you." Grandpa Scrooge rummage around his sack that was next to his bed. "Huey, here is a scythe. Be very careful with it. It's very sharp, and I better not see you chasing your brothers with it, young man! Dewey, for you I have a rooster. It is the finest rooster in all of Duckburg. Don't let it chase your brothers like a mad man! Last but not least, Louie, I have a cat for you. It's very fluffy."

Huey, Dewey, and Louie looked at their gifts with shock. This was not what they had in mind at all. All of the sudden, Grandpa Scrooge coughed violently. "Boys, do me proud and make a fortune from those gifts." With that, he was gone.

A week later, the boys were still searching for a way to make money from their gifts.

Huey: What can I do with this giant scythe? No one wants it!
Dewey: At least it cuts! I have a rooster that wakes me up at the crack of dawn! Who would want that?
Louie: I like my cat. It's fluffy.

Then their prayers were answered. A stranger came into town.

Stranger: Top of the mornin' to ya young lads! I was hoping that you could point me in the direction where I could find a tool for cutting crops, an alarm clock, and poison for the rats. My town is in trouble. My crops rot because we can't pull the stalks by hand fast enough. My workers sleep in because they have no sense of time, and mice have infested my town! They eat all the crops!

Huey, Dewey, and Louie looked at each other with great joy!

Huey: Say no more, sir! I have your tool for cutting crops!
Dewey: I have your alarm clock!
Louie: I don't have anything for rats...

Huey and Dewey kicked some sense into Louie.

Louie: I mean.. I have a fluffy cat.

The stranger paid the three boys more than their weight in gold for the scythe, the rooster, and for the fluffy cat. From the heavens above, Scrooge Mcduck looked down at his grandnephews with tears of joys in his eyes. "My boys, my little entrepreneurs, I knew they would make me proud."

Scrooge with Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Source.

Author's Note: I wrote this story based of off the Filipino tale The Poor Man and his Three Sons. I the original story, a poor man gave his three sons gifts: a scythe, a rooster, and a cat. With these gifts, he told his sons find a place that will give value to each item and sell them. The son with the scythe sold his tool to a village that needed to cut down rice crops. The son with the rooster sold his rooster to a town that had never seen a rooster before. The son with the cat sold his cat to a town that was infested with mice. He son had won a large sum of money because they selected the right place in which to trade (the moral of the story). I changed the story up a bit. Since there were three sons, I immediately thought of some of my favorite cartoon characters: Huey, Dewey, and Louie. They had an Uncle Scrooge (aka Grandpa Scrooge) who was a successful business man and tycoon. I tried to portray each of their personalities into their dialogue. To make the story shorter, I had on stranger needing all three of their items.

Bibliography: Filipino Popular Tales by Dean Fansler (1921)