Week 4 Storytelling: Billy and Mr. Nutty Nut

 He crouched down as he prepared to take off as soon as the squirrel turned his back. The weather is so lovely today, he felt like he could run for miles. The squirrel had almost picked the perfect pecan, wait there he goes making a run for it. Bentley took off at that instant to try and beat the thieving squirrel to the tree. WAM! Bentley hit the tree almost as fast as the squirrel. “You come down here, Mr. Nutty Nut!” Bentley ferociously barked at the squirrel. “That’s Mr. Squirrel to you, Billy.”

Bentley had been after Mr. Nutty Nut since he was a pup. Now that he was a mature four year old dog, he felt that it was his duty to protect all of the pecans on the orchid. He had watched his master and his family take such pride in the orchid to let a pesky squirrel carry off the precious pecans. “Just you wait; my master will come out with that fire rod and light up that fluffy tail of yours!” Bentley howled at the squirrel.

Since it was fall and the pecans were just right for the picking he was sure someone would notice his barking soon. Bentley barked and he barked, he thought surely someone would come out of the house. He then realized his master’s truck was missing. I bet he is at work Bentley thought to himself. He then decided that he needed to keep the squirrel where he could see him in the tree until his master got home.

He started asking the squirrel questions. “Why do you take my master’s pecans? I know they taste good but I only eat them when my master gives them to me.” The squirrel snickered back “well Bentley, this just proves that I am smarter than you. I do not wait for a human to give me food.” Bentley was outraged and he showed his teeth to the squirrel. He let out a growl of “My master is the best human there is. She gives me food, water, buys me cool toys, oh have you seen my duck?” As soon as Bentley realized that he did not know where his neon duck was he took off to find him and show him to Mr. Nutty Nut.

 Bentley looked around the shed, underneath the deck, and finally he spotted his duck in the hole he had dug in the flowerbed. Now I can show that nutty nut what humans are capable of he thought. He started toward the tree with his duck and he stopped, he heard his master’s truck coming down the driveway. Quickly Bentley ran towards the tree the squirrel was in and he started to bark to let his master know there was an enemy in the tree. Bentley looked and looked, but he did not see the squirrel in the tree. Soon he saw his master was behind him look up the tree. “Silly Bentley, there isn’t anything in that tree. Nice try though,” his master turned to walk towards the house. Bentley looked at the tree in disbelief, from the very top on the highest limb, he saw the squirrel clinging for dear life with a smirk on his face. Bentley had fell victim to the squirrel’s tricks once again.

Author's Note: 

I tried to mimic the plot of the Monkey and the Crocodile. The first thing that came to my mind was my dog and his obsession with chasing squirrels. I thought I would tell this story form a dog's perspective because I feel like if he could talk this is what his day would consist of, which is entertaining to me. In the story of The Monkey and the Crocodile, the crocodile is trying to catch the monkey because his mother wants the monkey’s heart. The crocodile tries to outsmart the monkey and has his chance to capture him, but the monkey quickly realizes how to fool the young predator. Once the monkey uses the crocodile to get across to the island with the ripe fruit he tells him that his heart is in the tree in which he lives. The crocodile returns the monkey home and is unable to bring the heart to his mother because the monkey was safe in the tree. Bentley relates to the crocodile because he is easily tricked. The squirrel represents the monkey because he can often get away from Bentley and sometimes a squirrel will sit on a high branch and snicker down to him on the ground.

Story source 

Bibliography: 

“The Monkey and the Crocodile” by Ellen C. Babbitt from Jataka Tales (1912).

Personal Photo of Bentley. How I would picture his facial expression to be after he lost a squirrel.