Storytelling Week 9: The Poor Good Man

There was once a very poor family. The head of the family was Fabio, and he was not sure where he was going to get the money to feed his family. For a couple of days Fabio sat and pondered on ideas and ways he was going to be able to get the money, but nothing seemed to make sense. During this time nobody was making any money because jobs were scarce, so working for the money was not going to happen. Almost everyone in the village was out of a job and starving. Fabio needed to think of something and he needed to do it fast!


Fabio liked to think of himself as an honest hard-working man who always had his family fed even if it meant he himself was not able to eat. The decision Fabio came to was not an easy one, but it was one he believed to be necessary. Fabio was going to travel to one of the nicest villages he knew of and become friends with the people so he could take their food. He was not going to tell him he was taking their food, but instead he would just leave a note letting them know one day he hoped to repay them. Desperate is the only word that could describe Fabio at the time.


It was a cold winter day when Fabio set out on his journey to the village where he was going to find his family’s food. He only informed his wife he would be leaving to work a job, because that is all she needed to know.


When he arrived at the village he made friends easily at the local gathering spot. Soon after arriving a man named Louis asked Fabio to join him for dinner. Louis was a hard-working man just like Fabio. Since Fabio had nowhere to stay that night, Louis offered his house and a free meal. Fabio could not believe how easy it was going to be to get the food.


That night Fabio had a wonderful dinner with Louis and his wife and children. Not sure how he was going to get out with the food without getting caught, Fabio decided to stay the night and make a plan. He was awake all night planning the perfect escape with the food.


The next day came and Louis told Fabio he could stay as long as he liked, but he was going to be going to work and his wife was walking the children to school. That was the perfect time for Fabio to implement his plan. He got all the food he believed he would need and wrote a note to Louis thanking him. Louis tried explaining why he did what he did, but it would not come out right, so he just went on his way hoping everything would be okay.


Fabio got all the way to the edge of town when he came into contact with the sheriff of the town and Louis. He just thought he had gotten away. Earlier the day before Fabio had told a gentleman about his plan, and it just so happens that gentleman works with Louis and told him everything.


Louis was so disappointed in Fabio because he thought he was a standup guy like himself, but Fabio proved him wrong. If Fabio would have just asked Louis for some food he would have happily of given it to him. Instead Fabio is now sitting in jail in a village nowhere near home. Which mean he has no way to feed his wife and children, or even let them know of what has happened to him.

Author's Note:

When writing this story I had the story The Theft of Fire in my head. In that story the Karoks were cold and did not have a way to warm themselves up. The Coyote offered to steal some fire from the Hags for them. All the animals got in a line so the Coyote could hand them the fire and they could pass it down the line. The Hags let the Coyote in and he scoped the place out and made a plan with the Indian for the next night. The Coyote managed to make it out of the tepee with the fire and handed it to the Lion, and it made it all the way to the Frog who put it on the driftwood. They got to keep the fire. In my story Fabio is without work and unable to feed himself and his family. He goes to steal food from a new friend and is caught. So, instead of getting away with the food like the animals got away with the fire Fabio was caught. I wanted him to get caught because a lot of the time if, you just ask someone for something they will give it to you. Especially if they believe you are an honest person, and Louis did believe Fabio was an honest person. Just because you need something does not mean you can just steal it. I wanted to make my story a lesson instead of the bad guy getting away with it like they usually do in these stories. I did use people instead of animals also because I have a hard time believing some of these animals all worked together like that since I never even see them together in the real world. I am not sure why but I even though I know these stories are not real it is hard for me to make fake stories like that.

Bibliography:

Picture: Man behind bars

Source: The Inquirer

"The Theft of Fire" by Katharine Berry Judson, from Southwestern and California Legends. Website:UnTextbook