Week 14 Story: Nine Years Ago

This is a prequel to my week 2 story Rescuing Eli which takes place nine years before.

 In the year 1975 there were once two mercenaries named John and Eli working out of an oil rig in the Caribbean Sea. And while these two were the best mercenaries in their group they were an even greater team. While on missions together John and Eli could work together to fulfill their objective without killing a single combatant. This is because John and Eli were masters in stealth, and they also believed in not killing their enemies unless they have no choice. After all, they understood that their enemies were often fighting not out of their own will.

One day, however, Eli was captured by the United States in a solo operation. On the mission John was tasked with extracting an operative who wanted to defect to their group, but it was a setup. When John heard the news he immediately sprang into action. Apparently, Eli was being held on a fortified U.S. military base in Cuba where he was being heavily interrogated about who he was working for hoping to get evidence that the mercenary company was working against U.S. interest. John knew Eli would not crack, but he worried that the U.S. might see that as well and dispose of Eli. Time was of the essence. 

John arrived on the military base under the cover of the night by swimming a mile from the boat he took to Cuba. He knew this would not be an easy mission and that it may even be a setup, but that did not stop him. Eli was his friend. From the mission briefing, John knew that Eli would be in an interrogation room. John stealthily made his way to the interrogation room and found Eli, but as he did he noticed that it was a little too easy. 

When John arrived at Eli's cell he saw his friend was on the brink of death, and in Eli's final words he told John that that night the U.S. was going to destroy the mercenary base. 

"That's why the military base is so empty," John realized. "It's because they are all at the mercenary base destroying it!"

John then took his fallen comrade and returned to the mercenary base only to see that it had been destroyed.

John rescuing Eli

Author's notes: This story is based on The Brave Little Bowman story in More Jataka Tales. In that story a weak yet expert bowman asks a strong man to help him in getting in the army. In that story, however, the bowman ends up being the one who does most of the work. In this story I decided to have the roles of the strongman and bowman be somewhat equal. I also decided to write a story where the "bowman" has to rescue the strongman, but I added a twist. This is also a prequel to my Week 2 Rescuing Einstein story.

Bibliography: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, 1922 Link

Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales Part B

Monkeys ate from the mango tree and one day a king found the mango tree. The monkeys saw that the king was eating the mangos so the king decide to kill the monkeys. The king monkey then saved his subjects and the king decided to not kill the monkeys.

A man was good with a bow. The bow man was weak so he got a strong man to join the army so he could work under him. The strong man and the bowman did good work. The bowman then got some credit as well.

Two traders were friends. The town traders sold the village traders plow. The village trader hid his son. Then they went to court and they got their stuff back.

Wolves were eating goats except they couldn't catch one. The wolf played dead and his mate tried to trick the wise goat. The goat did not fall for it and the wolves left her alone

Two deer were told not to go into ripe fields. One of the deer listened and kept their herd safe and the other one did not listen and got their herd killed. 

Plow

Bibliography: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, 1922 Link

Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales Part A

 A monkey stole the queen's jewels when the servant fell asleep. The chief guard played a trick to find out if a girl monkey stole the pearls. The guard found out the monkey stole the jewels.

There were three fish named thoughtful, very-thoughtful, and thoughtless. They lived near a town but very-thoughtful wanted to leave cause he did not want to be captured by fishermen. Thoughtful and thoughtless were captured, but very-thoughtful saved them and they got away.

A wolf wanted to eat some rats. The wolf acted like he could not walked on his front legs and that he only needed to eat air to survive. The rats would visit the wolf and the wolf would eat the last one of them. The chief rat found out what the wolf was doing though and the rats stopped going to the wolf.

A golden goose gave his feathers to a poor woman with two daughters. But the woman decided to try and take all of the feathers from the goose. All of the feathers were plucked and they turned into regular feathers. 

A king gave a holiday to the people in his city. The king's gardener got the monkeys to water the trees so he could enjoy the holiday. The monkeys pulled up all of the trees' roots so they could be sure that the trees had water.

A man tried to play dead so he could kill an animal and eat it, but a king wolf saw his trick and made sure none of the animals were fooled by it.

A monkey was eating some peas, but he dropped one. He then dropped all of his other peas to find the one pea he lost, but he could not find it. Then he was left with no peas. A king saw this and decided to not throw away his kingdom in pursuit of something lesser and he went back home.

A wolf wanted to give a fish to his mate, so he tricked some otters into giving him half of their fish.

Wolf

Bibliography: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, 1922

Week 13 Story: The Roommates who don't Clean

There were once four roommates named Eli, David, George, and Kaz. The roommates had known each other for a long time before they had begun living with each other, so they figured that being roommates would be a good fit. And for the most part they were right.

However, there was one thing that was wrong. Two of the roommates, David and Eli, were very messy. And it was not just that they were messy, but they were messy and did not clean up after themselves. Sure they kept their respective rooms clean, but they never took care of the common area. They often left their trash in the common area and they never vacuumed the floor or wiped off the counters in the kitchen. 

One day, after vacuuming and cleaning up their trash, Kaz decided to tell the roommates that they needed to make sure to clean up their stuff and that it would not be so bad if they decided to do some vacuuming as well. David and Eli realized that Kaz was right, and they decided to be more aware when they left trash around the house. They also decided to help with the vacuuming.

Kaz also would bring it to George's attention whenever I would clean the bathroom. Maybe one of these times he would get the hint that he should lend a helping hand. After all, he is 20 years old and he should not have to be told these things.

However, David and Eli soon started leaving trash around the house once again. They even left garbage on the kitchen counter when the trashcan was right next to it. I could not fathom it, yet I decided to clean up after them anyways cause they were still asleep. Also I should not have to tell them to throw their trash in the trashcan. IT IS NOT GOING TO MAGICALLY GO AWAY!!!!! IF YOU WERE NOT GOING TO THROW IT AWAY NOW THEN WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO THROW IT AWAY?!?!?!? Also George still never cleaned the bathroom, so I have kind of lost hope that he ever will. 

Mr. Clean

Author's notes: I got inspiration of this story from the Jataka Tale in which the horse gives up his life to make sure the kingdom will be able to survive 7 kings attacking. However, in this story the metaphorical horse is left thankless.

Bibliography: Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (Khan), 1939 link

Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales Part B

An old woman took two pigs into her basket and treated them like her own children. One day the woman decided to sell one of the pigs, but then everyone changed their mind and nobody ate the pigs. 

One day a monkey was trying to annoy a buffalo, but the buffalo never let him bother him and a fairy drove the monkey away. 

One day an elephant walked towards some voices he heard. The voices were of men dying. The elephant told them men where to find food and water. The elephant then sacrificed himself so the men could eat him and survive.

One day quails were being hunted. The king quail told them to fly up so they would not be captured. But one day the quails started fighting and some quails were caught.

One day a hare thought the end of the world was happening so he told all the other animals the world was ending and they started a stampede. A wise lion was able to stop them though saving the animal's lives. 

A horse lived in the richest city and seven armies decided to join together to destroy this city so it would not become too powerful. A warrior took that horse and defeated six of the armies however the horse was wounded. The horse still fought and it died after defeating the seventh army. 

Elephant

Bibliography: Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (Khan), 1939 link

Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales Part A

 A monkey ruled over 80k monkeys and the monkeys were happy. Then a piece of fruit fell into a river and humans began to look for the fruit tree. Then the monkey king sacrificed himself so his subjects could flee and the king decided not to kill the monkeys and take the tree,

One night royal dogs chewed the straps of the royal chariot. Then all the dogs in the city were ordered to be killed. However, the city dogs were saved by the chief and they were taken care of. 

 One day a tortoise was carried by geese by biting a stick as they flew. However, the tortoise decided to open his mouth and he fell to his death. And a king saw the tortoise died because he talked too much so the king decided to talk less too.

A man decided to leave his wife and children to search for riches promising to come back rich. The man met a fairy and was turned into a goose with golden feathers. The man gave his feathers to his family so they could sell them. The man then had all of his feathers plucked and he then grew white feathers and lived with the birds.

A child parrot became the most glorious parrot in the world. He then went to the rice field and brought food for his parents. The parrot was then trapped in a trap by the farmer. The farmers said that the parrots could keep eating in the field.

There was a kingdom of 60k swans. A king wanted to see the swan king.  The king made a great lake for the swan kingdom. The swans then moved to the lake. But the king swan was captured by the human king. The king swan was brought to the human king and they talked and the swans decided to move to the beautiful lake.  

parrot

Bibliography: Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (Khan), 1939 link

Week 12 Story: The Greatest Rivals in the World

 Eli's restaurant was empty despite it being the nighttime rush. And this was not the first time this had happened. Ever since he had opened his restaurant it had consistently been empty, and the customers he did get often asked for a refund since his food was so terrible.

"Maybe I should not have decided to become a small business owner," he thought. "After all, I do not know how to cook at all and my restaurant is on the verge of bankruptcy."

But this was Eli's dream he had ever since he retired from weightlifting.

It was now closing time, and as he was about to close up a hooded man walked in. 

"I have heard you need some help with your restaurant," the stranger said. "I am a master chef who can help you, but it will cost you."

"What will it cost?" asked Eli.

"For everyday I work here you must give me 1% ownership of your restaurant until I own 50% of the restaurant. "I will handle the cooking and you will handle the business side."

Eli was hesitant to accept the offer as this was such a strange request, but seeing as he had no other choice he agreed.

"What should I call you anyways?" asked Eli.

"Just call me Snake," replied the man.

Like Snake said, he was able to help save Eli's restaurant. But he didn't just save it; in the first week of working there Snake had turned Eli's restaurant into the most popular restaurant in the state of California. And in two weeks it was the most popular restaurant in the world! 

However, something bugged Eli. He never actually knew who the man was. The man always wore his hood down and Eli could never get a good look at his face, but despite this there was something familiar about him. However, Eli never pressed Snake on his identity. After all, the restaurant was the most popular restaurant in the world.

Then 50days had past and Snake asked to speak with Eli.

"As you know I now own 50% of the restaurant according to the deal, and I would like to reveal the plan I had all along," said Snake.

With that Snake took off his hood and it was David, Eli's old weightlifting rival, underneath. David spoke before Eli could.

"While we were weightlifting rivals I often thought about what a good team we could be," David said. "And like you I decided to open a restaurant, but it failed due to me not knowing the business side. And when I heard about your failing restaurant I knew that I could use my naturally good cooking skills and your naturally good business skills to create the best restaurant in the world. I am sorry for deceiving you, but this was the only way I could think you would work with me. Will you continue to work with me?"

Eli sat there in silence for a minute and finally said, "Yes I will, friend."

David and Eli shake hands

Author's notes:  This story is a sequel to my week 2 deadlifting world champion story. This story is based on The Frog King's Folly from the book Indian Fables and Folklore. In the story a snake tricks the frog king into letting him eat all of the frogs he ruled over, and then the snake ended up eating the frog king himself. In this story I decided to make the snake Eli's old weightlifting rival David, but in the end I decided to have the rivals reconcile the past and become friends to make the greatest restaurant in the world.

Bibliography: Indian Fables and Folklore by Shovona Devi, 1919