Week 1: Storytelling

Stanley the Stag was a great deer. He was one of the best deer you would ever meet. However, he could be more than a little vain at times. Stanley's pride and joy was his antlers. He was the envy of every stag in the forest. Everyone wanted antlers like him. Stanley would spend hours in the morning making sure they looked perfect for all of the does in town. His antlers resembled branches extending from a tree and they had over twenty points on them. With all the attention he received, it was no surprise that he had such an enlarged ego. However, he was insecure with his legs. Stanley had high and unrealistic expectations of how he should look. He insisted that if his antlers were indeed flawless, then the rest of him should be perfect as well. He was always looking at deer fashion magazines. He tried all the best leg workout on the web, but, he could not get his legs to look the way he wanted. So Stanley did the only thing he could think of and had surgery on his legs to make them immaculate. Although Stanley had the legs of his dreams, the surgery left him very weak. He could hardly stand and was told by his doctor to not participate in a lot of physical activity. The next day Stanley went to his groomer, Panther. Panther hated Stanley and his perfect antlers. While he was trimming around Stanley's antlers Panther cut a little too close and chopped off the left antler. With a quick smile, and only a second of hesitation, Panther cut off the right antler too. After realizing what had happened, Stanley went completely insane with grief over his lost antlers and ran toward the forest. While he was running, however, Stanley's new legs failed him. He tripped and rolled down a hill and into a cave waking a very angry bear and was never seen again.

Red Deer Stag by Bill Ebbesen transferred from Wiki Commons

Author's Note: The original fable "The Stag and His Reflection" can be found in  The Aesop for Children with pictures by Milo Winter. The original story is about a stag that is looking at his reflection in the water and is admiring his antlers. He also notices his legs and is ashamed of them. The stag then notices a panther and runs for it. However, his antlers get caught and the panther killed him. The thing he admired most about himself ended up being the stag's downfall and what he despised was more useful to survival. In my version, I concentrated more on the vanity of the stag and how it became his downfall.

Bibliography: "The Stag and His Reflection" from Aesop's Fables written by Aesop and illustrated by Milo Winter (2006). Web Source: Project Gutenberg