Week 3 Story: Bull Riding

 The Country Wedding Proposal

    There once was a time not too long ago where Johnny, a hardworking gifted young man, wanted to marry Taylor the prettiest girl in the town. Well Johnny knew that she was not any ordinary girl, and that he would have to prove to her father that he was worthy of his daughter. Taylor tells Johnny that all her family are going to be in town that weekend and that he should come so that he would get the chance to meet her dad.

    Johnny was ready and decided he needed to get dressed to the T's for this event. He gets his new boots out and heads over to there house. The father greets Johnny "hey kid, you ready for tonight?". Johnny began to get nervous, simply curious what he was talking about. The night goes on and it's a grand night full of drinking and eating and good laughs. Johnny goes up to the father and begins to ask him if he can take his daughter out. The father explains that this is no ordinary girl and he's going to have to prove himself, and Johnny accepts. Johnny knows that this is the most beautiful girl in the land and he would do anything to have her. Well the father tells everyone to wait inside for ten minutes and then come out the riding area. He takes Johnny out there and tells him every guy who has asked him this he makes ride his hardest bull. Johny starts sweating but he's not scared he has rode a bull before.

    Everyone comes out and Johnny starts to get ready to ride the bull. He gets on and the bull starts kicking and screaming and he gets thrown off. He is so embarrassed and sad he starts to walk home. The father catches him and says congrats no one has ever wanted my daughter enough to ride that bull.


Bibliography: "King Janaka" Public Domain Edition sourced by Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/pde-ramayana-janaka-and-sita.html

Reading Notes: 

This is the story called Janaka from. the Ramayana. Rama wants to marry Sita, King Janaka's daughter. He makes Rama withhold a bow to be able to marry her. Well Rama when he picks up the bow and pulls it back it breaks and makes a huge noise. Well he lets his daughter marry Rama. My story is basically the same characters instead in my story it is more a test of character over strength.

Comments

  1. Short and sweet story philip! I like when people take a central idea of a section of a story like from The Ramayana, and attempt to make their own novel narrative with that. I think this short story gets the same message across, about how trying means the world. Even if one fails, at the very least hey still tried. With each chance one takes, theres always a possibility they will succeed, but no possibility if one doesn't try in the first place. I like it! I think the story could have benefited from some dialogue between Johnny and Taylor, just to give the viewer justification to root for Johnnies success.

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  2. I really liked how you changed the plot to make it a "test of character," where Johnny proves himself in a way that demonstrated some kind of virtue.
    I do think what the father says at the end doesn't fully encapsulate the reason why Johnny passed the test. What if he said something about how his willingness to ride the bull demonstrated his [insert desirable quality], which showed the farmer that he was worthy of his daughter? Maybe this more closely aligns with the moral that you expressed.
    Also, a stylistic consideration that you might pay attention to is the tense of the story. You switched between the past tense and the present tense a lot!
    I've noticed that sometimes people do this while telling stories in spoken conversation. If you are trying to create a more colloquial tone, this might be a good idea. You could make it a story that someone is telling out loud. Otherwise, it might be better to stick to the past or the present, just so the story flows more smoothly.
    I really enjoyed reading this, and I think it's great that you took a story from the Ramayana and made it Oklahoma-themed!

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  3. Hi Philip,

    What I think really stuck out to me reading your story was that despite the fact that Johnny did not successfully ride the bull, he was still able to get Taylor’s father’s blessing to marry her. I liked it because as we both know, in the Ramayana, the person who successfully broke the bow was able to marry Sita as the reward. While reading, I did also wonder why Johnny was so nervous. Was Taylor’s father notorious for being impossible to work with? Was he too intimidating to speak to? Also, what if Taylor had an opinion about getting married? Is that something she wanted as well? I can’t help but wonder if she had any say in her betrothal. Would the story have turned out differently if we had known her side? Of course these are all just hypothetical questions! Regardless, I really loved your story. I thought it was short and sweet, and straight to the point!

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