Microfiction: Two Short-Lived Tails of the Groundhog
Story 1 || 50 words:
Seven wolves once caught a groundhog. Tricky as he was, the groundhog taught the wolves seven dances, devising a way to get closer to his hole in the ground. As the last dance concluded, the seven wolves chased after the groundhog as he dashed into his hole, snatching his tail.
Story 2 || 2 sentences:
A groundhog taught seven wolves seven dances. After seven dances, the groundhog lost his tail as he retreated to his home.
Author's Note: For this set of microfictions, I wanted to do my own renditions of How the Groundhog Lost His Tail. For the first story, I decided to write a story using only 50 words, struggling to capture some of the details of the plot. However, I managed to illustrate the trickster nature of the groundhog by him distracting the wolves with his dances to get closer to his hole in the ground. I also managed to describe how the groundhog lost his tale to a wolf as he retreated down his hole. For the second story, I chose to tell the original story with only two sentences. This was much more challenging as I could not capture as much detail as the original story. The second story still illustrates how the groundhog lost his tail, but it fails to capture how the groundhog tricks the wolves into dancing so that he could escape to safety. Readers are left to wonder how the seven dances allowed the groundhog to escape, and their imaginations can undoubtedly conjure up many possibilities. I particularly like the 50-word rendition of this story the most because it captures how the groundhog was able to outsmart the wolves but still lost his tail in the process.
Bibliography: How the Groundhog Lost His Tail from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900)
Seven wolves once caught a groundhog. Tricky as he was, the groundhog taught the wolves seven dances, devising a way to get closer to his hole in the ground. As the last dance concluded, the seven wolves chased after the groundhog as he dashed into his hole, snatching his tail.
Story 2 || 2 sentences:
A groundhog taught seven wolves seven dances. After seven dances, the groundhog lost his tail as he retreated to his home.
Groundhog Standing Up - Courtesy of KUT
Author's Note: For this set of microfictions, I wanted to do my own renditions of How the Groundhog Lost His Tail. For the first story, I decided to write a story using only 50 words, struggling to capture some of the details of the plot. However, I managed to illustrate the trickster nature of the groundhog by him distracting the wolves with his dances to get closer to his hole in the ground. I also managed to describe how the groundhog lost his tale to a wolf as he retreated down his hole. For the second story, I chose to tell the original story with only two sentences. This was much more challenging as I could not capture as much detail as the original story. The second story still illustrates how the groundhog lost his tail, but it fails to capture how the groundhog tricks the wolves into dancing so that he could escape to safety. Readers are left to wonder how the seven dances allowed the groundhog to escape, and their imaginations can undoubtedly conjure up many possibilities. I particularly like the 50-word rendition of this story the most because it captures how the groundhog was able to outsmart the wolves but still lost his tail in the process.
Bibliography: How the Groundhog Lost His Tail from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900)
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