NOTE: This story, based on the Kanye West/Taylor Swift incident, was written to be performed orally on May 4th, 2010 as my "contemporary issue" story for my Storytelling class. I figured it was about time that I posted it to this site. Enjoy!
Sweet Swift and the Terrible Turk
ONCE UPON A TIME in the land of Cisum there lived a plethora of woodland creatures. Snakes, bears, rabbits, gophers – you name it and they most certainly wandered the vastness of the land! Every year, a great garden-growing contest would be held as friendly competition between the creatures. Polar bears would traverse the snow covered mountains, dolphins would swim across the vast oceans, and even the tiniest of worms would tunnel their way up to the surface to see the beautiful gardens that were planted. Among the most popular gardeners in all land were Honey the Bee, Turk the Turkey, and Swift the Rabbit.
Turk was especially infamous, for though he excelled in gardening, he was also known to be very egotistical about his work and believed himself better than everyone else. This arrogance had gotten him into trouble many times before, but was generally forgiven due to his profound gardening skills. Like Turk, Honey was a gardener who had earned various awards for her previous works. However, she was modest in nature and was always gracious and kind to others. Meanwhile, Swift was the newest of the bunch. She had never won any major awards for her gardening skills and simply seemed content to be competing.
This year’s contest was different, though, for Turk decided not to partake, leaving Honey and Swift to compete primarily against each other. Both of them worked diligently, day after day, attempting to create the best garden that they possibly could. Swift’s was filled with all sorts of flowers, from roses to azaleas, all of which surrounded the primary vegetable of the garden: carrots. The garden wasn’t large, but Swift toiled tirelessly to perfect every little detail within the small space she’d created. Lastly, she topped the whole thing off with a happy scarecrow to stand guard in the center of her patch.
Meanwhile, Honey’s garden was moderately larger in size, but every ounce of love that Swift put in her own garden was equally placed by Honey into hers. Honey’s garden was filled with the most spectacular sunflowers and daisies, with her vegetable of choice being mighty pumpkins spread throughout. Honey was very fond of the garden she’d created and liked it SO much that she put a fence around it.
After weeks of work, the time had finally come to announce the winners. Many animals had competed, but everyone knew that the award for BEST GARDEN was between Honey and Swift. At long last, the judges of the competition took the stage and announced the winner: SWIFT THE RABBIT! Completely shocked, Swift was trembling as she made her way to accept the honor. The judges presented her with the award as Swift began her speech:
“I always dreamed of what it would be like to win one of these, but I never thought it would actually happen!”
Just then, before she could say another word, Turk the Turkey flew in from the sky – interrupting Swift in mid speech! Swift was at a loss for words, so Turk used this opportunity to speak in her place.
“Swift, I’m really happy for you and I’ll let you finish, but Honey had one of the best gardens of all time! OF ALL TIME!”
With that, Turk flew back off into the distance from where he came, leaving Swift all alone, visibly upset. Her moment was ruined.
Swift ran home crying as Honey and all of the other gardening competitors followed in tow to console her. Meanwhile, Amabo, a majestic bald eagle and ruler of Cisum, declared Turk a “jackass” and forever banished him from the land and from ever competing as a gardener again. Eventually, Swift was given her moment to speak and the animals of Cisum lived happily ever after. Except for Turk, who after his outburst, lived a miserable life of shame and despair, for no matter how famous you are nor how great your skills, arrogance and ego at the expense of others is never overlooked.
THE END
