Different ways to tell a fable? Why, yes, I'm able!

Different ways to tell a fable? Why, yes, I'm able!

By Joy

      Writing comes in many styles.  I thought it would be fun to post the same Aesop Fable, but in three different styles.  I also am going to explain some of the characteristics of the forms of writing, and I will post my very own writing using the different techniques.

     First up is the Uncle Remus style.  This was my favorite style to imitate. Some of the characteristics are:

• Double negatives (I used this technique in the first sentence.)
• Phrase/sentence repeat
• Onomatopoeia (Words that sound like they are spelled making a sound. Example: Crash, Bang Snap, etc.)
• Misspelled dialect
• sezee (says he)
• en (and)
• dat (that)
• Word mush (Exactly as it sounds, mushing different words together.)
• Lots of dialogue
• Anything that takes effort to say, spell it a way that takes less effort to say

     When writing with this style make sure your readers can understand what your mushed words are meant to be.

The Bundle of Sticks

By Joy

“What didn’t the old man not do Uncle Remus,” asked the young boy.  

Uncle Remus started, “A very ol man at de point of dead, e was barely evin movin e was, bekond es sonz round im to give em some wizdem.  

‘Sarvents, go grab a bundl of stiks and bring em ere.’ sed de ol man, sezee. Den e sed to is ol son ‘Break i’

But de ol son jus cudn do i, de son cudn break i.  De oder sons tried, dey did, but dey cudn do i.  

‘Now ya sons o mine, unti de stiks, each o ya take wan.’ sed de ol man, sezee.  When de ad done so de ol man continud, ‘Now each of ya, ya sons o mine, break em.’ . Wen de stiks ere broke, de ol man sed, ‘Ya see, yunyin givs strength.

The next style is King James Version or KJV, for short. Personally, this style was much harder for me to write. Some things to recognize for this style is:

• And (use the word and as many times as possible)
• Thy, thou, thine, thee
• Abnormal verb endings
• replace -ing with -est
• No quotes
• Punctuation
• use commas instead of period
• use weird colons;
• Repeat phrases
• Verse number

The Bundle of Sticks

By Joy

          1 And thy old man gathereth his sons to giveth thine sons advice; and thy old man ordereth his servants to bringeth in a faggot of sticks;

2 And when they had done what thy old man had ordered, the old man told thine eldest son, breaketh thine faggot of sticks; when thine eldest son could not doeth so, each of thine other sons tryeth, none of the sons could doeth this command;

3 And thy old man continued untie thine faggot of sticks and each of thine sons take thine own stick,

4 And thine sons obeyed;

5 Now breaketh each thine own stick, and when thine sons had done this, thy old man saideth ye see thine meaning unity bringeth strength.

This next style is called Hans Christian Andersen. This style is written like a story to young readers. It is a very descriptive, engaging style. Some of it's unique qualities are:

• Lots of similes (like/as)
• Description ("paint" a picture with words)
• Friendly Narration
• 1st person- I/we
• 2nd person- you
• Adjectives (describes a noun)
• Long sentences

The most important thing to recognize with this style is how descriptive it is. When writing with this style use every descriptive detail you can pull out of your brain.

The Bundle of Sticks

By Joy

On a bright beautiful morning with a slight breezy wind, an old man, at the point of death summoned his sons, who were working in a field, full of wheat, corn, and cotton.  While the eldest son was earnestly jogging to his father, the other five sons were slowly trudging along, as slow as a snail, they were also grunting and moaning, like a nearly dead whale .  The old man ordered his servants to bring him a bundle of sticks. They quickly did so.

Once the sons had come, as deliberate as possible, and the servants had brought a bundle of sticks the father ordered, “Sons, I want to teach you an exceedingly valuable lesson.  My eldest son break the bundle of sticks.”

When the eldest son had tried he said, “Father I can’t it is too thick, I would have to be as strong as an ox to do that.”  The other sons agreed.

The wise father continued, “Untie the bundle and each of you take your own stick and break it.” When the sons had done so the father stated, “You see my point with unity comes strength.”