Week 10 Story: Wolverine and the Birds

 Once upon a time during the heart of summer was a wolverine running along a seashore looking for something to entertain him. The wolverine being from the wolf family was a cunning fellow that had a reputation of tricking weaker animals and then eating them. He saw a group of birds that consisted of many geese, clucks and loons. All these birds were innocently playing around in the water, minding their own business. The wolverine then yelled to them “Hey brothers, does the water feel good, I’m feeling hot and I want to join you guys for some fun!”

Wolverine in pond. Source

All the birds looked at each other with confusion as to why such a vicious animal was being nice. They seemed like they were falling for the wolverine’s trap or was he really that nice? Nobody could really tell yet, but one loon was feeling skeptical and was not so amused by the wolverine’s plan to join them in the water.

The wolverine was anxiously waiting and yelled “Come on brothers, I’m getting too hot out here waiting for you guys to decide!”. The birds looked at each other and told the wolf to join them in the cold refreshing water. The wolverine directly jumped in and caused a wave of water to splash on the little birds. This was a reminder of how bigger and stronger the wolverine is relative to the birds. The wolverine came closer to the group of birds who remained really close to one another. The birds were feeling anxious and frightened because the wolverine has come so close to them and they are not used to it. However, them being together is a essential because he would not be able to take them all at once.

As they sat in the water, the wolverine was nice to the birds and was conversing about the hot weather and telling them stories about the different animals he has been seeing recently. All that small talk was for the birds to feel comfortable around the wolverine and let their guard down. Later on, the wolverine didn’t have much to say so he proposed that they play a game “Hey brothers, why don’t we play a fun game? Let’s play tag, I will play against all of you but you need to scatter”. The birds looked at one another and wanted to have some fun so they agreed to the wolverine’s proposal.

The bird scattered around the water some going further than others while some remained close. The wolverine started the game by chasing one bird that was the heaviest one of the group. He chased him at a slow pace but away from the group so they could lose sight and he could drown him and leave him next to a tree to retrieve him later. However, he kept on yelling “Oh brother, you are a fast one I can’t tag you!” so the other birds would fall for his trickery.  The wolverine used this tactic with other birds until he collected enough birds to make a feast for him. Meanwhile this was happening, a hawk was flying around and observing the actions of the wolverine. In this hot weather, many predators are out and in search of food. No birds were left in the water, so the wolverine retraced his steps to retrieve all the birds he had killed, however he could find none. He started yelling “Where are the birds?! Who took them!!!!!”. The hawk flew closer to the wolverine and told him “Thank you for the birds, I’m sure they are going to taste great!”. The wolverine was devastated and felt foolish that he could never forgive himself. He later on went to search for more food but could not find any. A couple days later, the wolverine died from hunger.

Author’s Note: The original story is called Wolverene and the Geese from the Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson. The story is about a wolverine that tricks a group of birds into joining him for a dance but ends up killing them and boiling their meat. A bird saw the wolverine’s actions so the bird went and told the Indians. While the wolverine was napping the Indians came and took the meat from the pot. I chose a similar approach to the story but with a small twist. I wanted the lesson to be that for people that do something unrightfully, the universe has its way of paying them back. Additionally, I wanted to highlight how people should not be trustworthy that easily especially in a prey/predator environment. This is relatable to our everyday life because the world is about the survival of the fittest. I chose a picture of a wolverine jumping around a pond to represent the setting I intended to portray while writing this story.