For my Narrative project I decided to take a short story, or in this case a fable and retell it with my own style of language. The fable I used is titled "The Tortoise and the Eagle" by George Fyler Townsend.
There once was a turtle who had become tired of his boring routine life. He wished for a change and sure enough along came that change. An eagle passing bye saw this golden opportunity and seized the moment. The eagle approached the turtle and whispered in his ear, "I can show you the sky." The turtle desperate, hastily replied, "yes, yes, please do." Ah but the eagle was cunning, "Sure but it will come with a price." Desperate yet again the turtle replies, "anything." So the eagle swoops up the turtle and carries him high. Oh what a beautiful sight but sadly it only lasted an instant for the eagle released the turtle and the turtle began his rapid decent. A simple shift in force caused the beautiful sky to transform into the gateway of the afterlife. The turtle smashed into the ground and the eagle had received his reward, the turtle had become his lunch.
I stumbled upon the fable one morning while eating breakfast and was inspired to use it within my narrative project. At the same time the concept of eating breakfast played into the story and so I felt creating an image out of my cereal would be a creative way to interpret and visually tell the story. Yet I decided that fables may be short but they contain many elements to them and so I decided to change the style of art found from one image to the next. To illustrate the bird, a sketch was introduced. The vast detail showed the importance and intelligence of the bird. For the mountains and scenery I went with a photo of the mountains located here in Santa Barbara with the understanding that my audience would be able to relate to them, and perhaps find a parallel to the the turtles need to see their beauty from above.
actual fable (I in no way claim ownership to the fable)
The Tortoise And The Eagle
A TORTOISE, lazily basking in the sun, complained to the sea-birds of her hard fate, that no one would teach her to fly. An Eagle, hovering near, heard her lamentation and demanded what reward she would give him if he would take her aloft and float her in the air. "I will give you," she said, "all the riches of the Red Sea." "I will teach you to fly then," said the Eagle; and taking her up in his talons he carried her almost to the clouds suddenly he let her go, and she fell on a lofty mountain, dashing her shell to pieces. The Tortoise exclaimed in the moment of death: "I have deserved my present fate; for what had I to do with wings and clouds, who can with difficulty move about on the earth?' If men had all they wished, they would be often ruined.
