There once was a small town nestled under a large mountain. The soil surrounding this mountain was very nutritious and the farmer's reaped crops so great they had enough to feed their families and even sell some to buy fine things. These farmers did not even have to practice crop rotating and rest their soil for a season like their ancestors and surrounding farmers had to. When word about the magical soil under the large mountain made its way through surrounding towns, these farmers also wanted to reap great crops from the magical soil. These farmers gathered up their shovels and plows and flocked to the small town nestled under the large mountain.
When the surrounding farmers made it to the small town they demanded farming land under the large mountain. The farmers in the small town were not willing to give up or split their land with the magical soil. After many negotiation attempts a fight broke out among the farmers.
Mount Mayon in Albay, Philippines by Tomas Tam
The farmers became so preoccupied with fighting each other they failed to notice the sleeping mountain awoke with their loud arguing. The ground began to trimmer as smoke billowed from the mountaintop. Still no one had noticed the mountain becoming more and more angry as the fighting grew louder and louder. With one more giant tremor the farmers finally noticed the smoke and ground shaking. The farmers became fearful and promised to share the land in peace but it was too late. The mountain sent hot lava oozing down its sides burning the bountiful crops.
The soil was now unable to be farmed which forced the small town under the mountain to move to the surrounding towns. Farmers from all over heard of the story about the magical soil under the mountain that awoke in anger and was told from generation to generation. This story warned young farmers to not become greedy with ones bountiful harvest because one never knows when a disaster will occur and find oneself in need of a helping hand.
Authors Note: In the original short fable, the countrymen noticed the mountains quivering and rocks sliding down the side and all became very worried. As they sat and waited in anticipation to see what doom would come none never did, as a a little mouse crawled out of a crack that was formed from all the commotion. The country men then decided "much outcry, little outcome". As I thought about what direction I would like to take my tale I wanted to take a different approach and try and convey a new moral to the story, one about greed. I thought the title was still fitting since the farmers in my version labored the soil from the Volcano.
Bibliography."The Mountains In Labor" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs.Web Source
I thought it really imaginative to turn the story into something much more dramatic and provide a very different moral from the one in the original story. That link between man's (negative) actions and punishment from forces outside humanity (be they deities or Mother Nature) is one that lots of cultures share.
ReplyDeleteThis story seems to have a theme concerning the curse of riches. While the farmers are extremely successful in growing crops, those riches make other people want to share that magic soil. The irony is that neither side is able to achieve that prosperity again. On a similar note, the whole of the village is negatively affected, not just the farmers who are fighting.