Business was good for the first few years, but the town suffered an industrial decline and so the economy dwindled and people began to leave the small town. The brothers realized they could not continue to run their shop together and so agreed to move to different towns and run separate shops.
“Now, brother,” the elder began sternly, “since our first venture didn’t work, I think it’s only fair that we stay out of each other’s respective towns. Obviously one town cannot support the both of us.”
Distraught and saddened, the younger brother wept but agreed. “Because you are the eldest, I trust your wisdom. Farewell, brother. I will miss you dearly.” Then the two embraced and went their separate ways.
All towns were suffering a shortage of fresh food and ingredients due a steady decline in the economy, so the eldest brother was accepted quickly into the nearest town and his business thrived because he had better connections than other grocers of the area. The younger brother, however, did not fare so well.
He wandered from town to town peddling his art as a healer, but most towns were too afflicted by the lack of food and only wanted a grocer.
The healer was crestfallen and worried as the food shortage was starting to affect him too. His clothes began to deteriorate and fall apart and his face became sunken and sallow.
He spent a night in the barn of a kind-hearted farmer and wept, praying that his brother was faring better than he was. The younger sibling wished only the best for the only family he had left because without his older brother he would truly be alone.
In the morning the farmer came to the barn and gave the younger brother cheese and bread. He noticed the farmer had a wet, racking cough and offered to make him a tea using ingredients from his apothecary satchel. The farmer reluctantly agreed, but was surprised when his cough abated a few hours later.
Herbs at 'The Herb Room'
Image: JoyBrew
“You know, this has been spreading around the whole town. It’s not life-threatening, but damn if it isn’t annoying,” the farmer told the younger brother while sipping another cup of tea.
Hopeful, the younger brother thanked the farmer and headed into the town, going door-to-door and offering a cure for the cough. Everyone rejoiced that evening when the tea had taken their coughs and pains away and gave him food as payment.
The younger brother finally came to the door of the town grocer and gasped when the door opened to reveal his older brother! Joyous, the younger brother embraced him and praised that he was still alive. Annoyed, the elder brother put himself at arm's length away from his younger brother.
“What did I tell you about coming into the same town as me? There is no room here for the two of us."
Astonished and hurt, the younger brother searched his sibling's eyes for any warmth, any love he might hold for his only other family. But his eyes were cold and pitiless.
The younger brother cast his eyes down as a tear escaped. “I can see you’re not afflicted, brother, and that you’re still not happy to see me. Very well. I’ll take my leave.”
With that, he trudged out of town to go find work in another. Eventually he became the acclaimed healer of a seaside village and went on to live a comfortable, happy life. But he never saw his brother again.
Author's note: This story is based off of The Quarrel of the Cat and the Dog. I wrote notes for this story earlier this week and figured I could put it into a more human scenario. I've been an only child all my life, so I don't know firsthand what the sibling dynamic is like, but I took my best crack at it. Looking back, I realize I made the younger brother a bit of a crybaby in comparison to his older brother. Then again, maybe it could be interpreted that his older brother is just heartless and cruel. Regardless, I thought I would apply the Cat and Dogs' quarrel to a situation which might occur between siblings because the Cat and Dog acted basically as siblings before this huge quarrel started, and only the Cat wanted them to not be friends again due to his own selfish nature. Oddly enough, I've always grown up with both cats and dogs - they get along just fine. Maybe this myth is a little outdated, but it was still fun to re-tell nonetheless. If I were going to revise this and add more, I think I would have added more dialogue at the end instead of when the brothers reunite and the older brother is basically like, "Hey, get out of my town." Alternatively, I could have elaborated more on what happened to the younger brother after he left that town and described his adventures in coming to the little seaside village. I felt a short but sweet ending was better overall.
Bibliography:
Title: The Quarrel of the Cat and the Dog
Book: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends
Author: Gertrude Landa
Year: 1919
Author's note: This story is based off of The Quarrel of the Cat and the Dog. I wrote notes for this story earlier this week and figured I could put it into a more human scenario. I've been an only child all my life, so I don't know firsthand what the sibling dynamic is like, but I took my best crack at it. Looking back, I realize I made the younger brother a bit of a crybaby in comparison to his older brother. Then again, maybe it could be interpreted that his older brother is just heartless and cruel. Regardless, I thought I would apply the Cat and Dogs' quarrel to a situation which might occur between siblings because the Cat and Dog acted basically as siblings before this huge quarrel started, and only the Cat wanted them to not be friends again due to his own selfish nature. Oddly enough, I've always grown up with both cats and dogs - they get along just fine. Maybe this myth is a little outdated, but it was still fun to re-tell nonetheless. If I were going to revise this and add more, I think I would have added more dialogue at the end instead of when the brothers reunite and the older brother is basically like, "Hey, get out of my town." Alternatively, I could have elaborated more on what happened to the younger brother after he left that town and described his adventures in coming to the little seaside village. I felt a short but sweet ending was better overall.
Bibliography:
Title: The Quarrel of the Cat and the Dog
Book: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends
Author: Gertrude Landa
Year: 1919
I thought your retelling of the story was very good. Sometimes brothers and sisters do fight like cats & dogs and do end up not seeing each other ever again. I liked how you depicted the older brother as a strong, successful, type A personality, while at the same time described the younger brother as a more sensitive & emotional type of guy. I liked the polar opposite views of the brothers and didn't think that the younger one came off as a crybaby. I also wanted to say that I thought you did a great job translating the story about animals into a human story.
ReplyDeleteI also read this story for this week, and I thought it was tragic how the cat treated the dog. I think you did a wonderful job of translating the story from animals to people. By doing this it made the betrayal even heavier for the reader because (being human and not a cat or dog) we can better relate to it. Great Job.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think that the younger bother came off as a crybaby at all! I know that a lot of times the typical comment is to say "I love the way you made this relatable..." but really, Danni, I feel like you did a great job turning this story into something that I could see happening in real life. Also, I sort of want to slap the older brother because he is a jerk!
ReplyDeleteSomeone else in the class did this story. I really like how you changed it from animals to humans. I also liked the dialogue. You did a great job in developing this story into your own. I am an only child so I would not have thought about telling the story about siblings. It is sad in life that family can sometimes act like the older brother. It is really unfortunate because I have been raised to believe that nothing should ever come between family. Anyways, great storytelling. Good luck with the rest of the semester.
ReplyDeleteBefore I even read your story I wanted to say how much I love your layout. Your background and text color choice are fantastic together.
ReplyDeleteWow, the younger brother has such a good heart! It's sad that they had to split up. I would think that they two would be better off together than apart.
However, after reading the whole story I take that back. The younger brother is better off without his elder brother. What a jerk! I'm glad things ended happily for the younger brother, though!
I also like how you switched it from animals to humans. It made it more personal.
I think you did a great job with the sibling dynamic of the story as well. It's surprising that you didn't grow up with siblings considering how well you wrote this.
I enjoyed the story a lot, and you did a fantastic job! I look forward to reading more of your stories in the future!
I didn't read the original story, but I thought this story was a great adaptation. You took a story that had animal characters and made them more human, which allows the audience to read the story and understand it from a similar point of view. I thought you did a great job at creating the characters and developing them with their own personalities. I thought the older brother was rude, but I didn't see the younger brother as a crybaby--I just thought of him as someone that cared about family. Overall, this was a really great story. You did a great job at breaking up the paragraphs, developing the plot, and writing the story.
ReplyDeleteThe only suggestion I have is to watch your sentences--some of them seem to be a little repetitive, and others seem to be missing a word or two here and there. But that's it! Other than that, the story was great and an interesting read! Can't wait to read more of your work!
Immediately after reading your first paragraph, I was impressed with your use of words to create such clean, yet information-filled sentences. For example, this sentence was beautifully written: “The eldest brother specialized in ordering and selling groceries and the other brother specialized in remedies and fancied himself a modest apothecary crafter.”
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your Author’s Note about the story being a renovation of The Quarrel of the Cat and the Dog, I started appreciating the story even more because I saw your creativity come to life.
Adding your image in the middle of the story is an excellent idea because the reader is not staring at words for a long time. It breaks up the story to seem more approachable. The look of your website is very simple, and actually fits this story perfectly!
Have you thought about giving the brothers names? I think referring to them as younger and older makes it clear who you are talking about as the story progresses, but if you can find a way to incorporate some real names, that might be a cool idea to play around with.
I really enjoyed your story, and the way you used both imagery and dialogue to further your story and add to the descriptive element. You definitely modified the original story in changing the characters from a cat and dog to two siblings, but the dynamic does work--even if you don't have any personal experience with siblings, haha.
ReplyDeleteYou are right in stating that you made the older brother quite cruel, but sometimes relationships (sibling and otherwise) break down in ways that are hard to comprehend and grasp. The way you depict it, it seems almost as if the older brother resented his younger sibling (possibly blaming him for the decline in business) and just wanted him gone. The fact that the younger brother was able to have a happy ending gave a more uplifting note to the story, though.
This was a great story, humanized and easy to relate to, so I commend you on your writing! Fantastic work!
I really liked reading your story. I thought it was interesting that the original story was about a cat and dog, but you adapted it into making it about two unfortunate brothers. I thought that this would have been extremely hard to do, but also really creative. I really enjoyed the character of the younger brother. He was so humble and sympathetic to the world even after his older brother basically banished him from his life. I was relieved that the younger brother actually lived a great life in a seaside village. By the tone of the story, I was expecting a tragic ending, so the happy ending was a great twist.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like your writing style. The story flowed very well and it was easy to read. The use of dialogue was perfect and I enjoyed how you brought details about the suffering town into your story. The details gave the story more depth, which sets up for why the brothers were separated. Overall, great job with your story!
Wow the older brother is such a dick! I don’t know why he thought both could not thrive in one town; I mean they had completely different professions. I fell so badly for the younger brother. All he had was love in his heart for his brother, and he was tossed aside.
ReplyDeleteNow I got my reaction out of the way, you did a great job on this story! I completely fell in love with reading this and you had my attention the whole way. It was very easy to follow your story and you did a good job setting everything up. I did like how the brother did find work, even though he was without his brother. The only suggestion I would make is to make your font bigger. It would be a lot easier to read. Other than that, you did a fantastic job. I enjoyed reading this story a lot.