The Woman Stolen by Killer Wales by Stith Thompson
Living in the country is fun. It is quiet and serene. The most difficult part is finding food. One day, a fisherman was out on the water, attempting to find food for him and his wife. Recently this has been proving to be a challenge. He was alone on his boat. He had just dropped a line when he felt a tug. It was stronger than he had ever felt before. He tied the cast line to his canoe and rowed as fast as he could so he wouldn't lose it. He had never used more muscle to paddle than in that moment. He made it to the beach and called out for his wife. She ran out to help pull the line in. Between the two of them they managed to rope the fish onto land and kill it before it had the chance to escape. They cleaned and readied it to be cooked.
After that, she went to clean her hands off in the water. There was nothing grosser to her than fish guts. But, as soon as she put her hands in the water she was pulled in. She was frantically attempting to pull away. She struggled just long enough for her husband to see her.
He ran straight to the fish king and begged him for answers.
"She was taken by killer whales" the king answered, "they sought retribution for their friend".
"Please, will any of your fish fight with me to get her back? I didn't know what fish it was when I caught it. I- I- would do anything" he bargained.
"I will go" the shark announced.
They set off for the home of the killer whales. As they arrived they noticed a fire. It was hot enough for them to begin cooking their dinner. The shark looked in the window to find out what..or who would be dinner. The answer was unsettling for the man. They must move fast.
Shark was their friend and he was allowed to enter the home. Upon entering, the head whale asked him to go get water to boil over the fire. He did so with no question, but while returning, he spilt the water on the fire sending ashes and smoke everywhere. This made for a worthy distraction. He grabbed the woman and told the man they need to swim. Swim faster than ever before.
"If something happens, I will stay and fight. But, this is not your domain, you will not survive. Leave as quickly as possible, I will provide all the time I can" the shark told them.
And that they did. They swam until they reached shore. As they turned around, they realized how little time they had left to make it to the shore before they were caught.
Photo of killer whales swimming. Source: Flickr
Author's Note: Not anything was changed with the plot. The shark does go onto to fight the killer whales for them.
Hi Brynlee! I love this story! Sharks get such a bad rep and it's contributed to their status as endangered (so so so many species are either vulnerable or critically endangered). I love that this story flips the narrative and shows that sharks really are just vibing and living their lives. They aren't the murderous machines that media like Jaws makes them out to be.
ReplyDeleteHi Brynlee! This story was very entertaining! I kept reading faster and faster, waiting to see what happened at the end. I think making the shark a good guy in this story was definitely a twist because everyone always assumes sharks are the bad guys that will betray you whenever they can. You really broke that barrier and made the shark your good guy within this story and I loved it! One thing that I did not particularly like was the sudden ending. I feel like there was more that had to be said and the story seemed to end in the middle of a scene. I think if you alter that ending just a little bit by adding a little more it would make this story even better. Overall, I think you did a really good job!
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