Prompt: Choose a fable from Aesop, Brer Rabbit, or another folklore tradition, or perhaps from a favorite childhood story, and re-tell it. Gain power from concision. Characterize the animals or people that you represent through a few well-chosen words of description or dialogue. Try to make your language plain and memorable. Allow the moral to be implicit or ambiguous.
One sunny morning, an aged wet Nurse threw open the windows to her house so that she could eavesdrop on the conversations of the birds as she tended to her work. She tidied and dusted until it was time to feed the child. She fetched the child and, taking him on her lap, began to move his head to her bosom. But the child began to cry, as he had in the morning, and the day before that. In a flash of anger, the Nurse warned him, “If you make noise like this again I will throw you out the window to the hungry Wolf.”
Just as this was uttered, the Wolf happened to be stalking outside the house. As the Nurse’s words carried through the open window, the Wolf became excited at the prospect of his meal. He was sure the child would cry again, and at this time he would be ready. He ran fast through the woods to fetch Mother Wolf and the Pups, told them of their upcoming feast, brought them to the Nurse’s home, and positioned them, open-mouthed, underneath the bay window.
Later in the day, the Nurse readied anew to feed the child. The Wolf family waited in anticipation of their fleshy meal as they watched the child’s mouth near the Nurse’s bosom. When he started to cry, they all made howls of joy. The Wolf looked in the window at the Nurse, waiting for her to throw him the child. Instead, the woman screamed when she saw the furry creature and set her Dogs on the Wolf family. They were able to scatter away safely, but the Wolf was forced to endure for many days after the exasperated glare of Mother Wolf and the hungry howls of the Pups.
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