Week 11 Story: Chad and Blake

 Once there were two boys who lived with their father.  The boys, named Shane and Ryan, were inseparable.  They also loved finding danger and trouble.  Their father, however, was a cautious man.  He knew that there were some dangerous parts around their cabin.  So, in order to keep his boys safe, the father would often give the boys warnings.  

"Stay away from the far bank of the river.  There is a giant snake there who loves to lure in children and other animals before eating them," said the father. The next day, Shane and Ryan went to the river bank across the way to see the snake for themselves.  Sure enough, they found a monstrous snake.  Surprisingly though, it was very friendly.  The boys were cautious, and dropped to their stomach right as the monster snake lunged towards them.  Unable to react to its miss, the snake flew into the water and began to sink, for it did not know how to swim.  The father scolded the boys for disobeying him.

The next week, the father warned the boys about a haunted house close to their village.  He said they should never go there, for children had gone missing at the house for as long as he could remember.  Naturally, the boys went to check out the haunted house the next day.  After exploring it for awhile, the boys felt a sinister energy.  Feeling as though they were in harms way, they quickly ran out of the rickety old house and promptly lit it on fire.  It burned to ashes, and no one was harmed at the location ever again.  The father scolded the boys for disobeying him when he found out where they had been.

The next week, the father told the boys about a bear who lived on top of a nearby cliff.  The father said that the bear had terrorized the nearby village for years, and they should stay far away from it.  Naturally, the boys went looking for the bear the next day.  When they reached the top of the cliff, they only found some berries and half-eaten bones.  Then, a massive brown bear came charging at them from the surrounding forest.  The boys slowly backed up towards the cliff and then faced one another.  At the very last second, the boys pushed each other backwards so that they both rolled away.  The bear was unable to stop its momentum and barreled over the cliff.

When the boys returned home, the father was about to scold Ryan and Shane but ended up giving them a bear-hug.  He was grateful they were alive! In that instant, the father decided to stop warning the boys about the dangers around them.  They lived happily ever after.  

Bibliography: Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away by Stith Thompson

Author's Note: I based my story off of Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away.  The original story is about a father and mother who had two sons.  A wicked woman comes and kills the mother and throws one boy away by the cabin, and throws the other away by the water spring.  The father is saddened by this.  Eventually, a boy comes to the father (even calling him father) and the father invites him to stay, for he is lonely.  After awhile, the boy makes a friend who lives by the spring.  After returning the boy from the spring to his normal form, the father invites this boy to stay as well.  The two boys become inseparable and get into tons of mischief.  But the thing is, the father generally tells the boys of some danger to stay away from.  Naturally the boys always go straight towards where their father says to stay away from.  Fortunately, the boys are clever and always manage to get themselves out of harms way.  I liked the idea of mischievous brothers.  I decided to write a story about a father warning his boys of some dangers. Similarly, the boys go against their father's advice.  In my story, however, the father smartens up at the end.    

A creepy house in a cemetery.

source: commons