A Mother's Love
One day, late in the summer, a group of monkeys gathered to celebrate the birth of the newest addition to their family; baby Justin. There was much joy, love and partying, but no one's excitement compared to that of Mother Monkey's. Everyone at the gathering could feel the amount of love Mother Monkey had for her son. She thought he was the absolute prettiest, sweetest, dearest darling in the entire world. Her affection showed through everything she did. From her holding him, to bathing him, to simply being around him. Mother Monkey never let baby Justin out of her sight. A few weeks after baby Justin's birth, Mother Monkey went to town to get her family bananas. While in town, she stopped to talk with her best friend, Tina.
"Have you heard about the contest Jupiter is holding?" Tina asked.
"No...what are you talking about?" Mother Monkey inquired.
"Jupiter is awarding a prize for a baby show," Tina replied.
"Oh, I must enter! Justin will win for sure," Mother Monkey declared.
With that, Mother Monkey began planning her trip to the competition. She absolutely adored her baby and knew the rest of the world would, too.
"Jupiter will be so impressed by baby Justin," Mother Monkey said to herself.
The day of the contest finally came. Mother Monkey and Justin made the long trek out to the city very early that morning. Mother Monkey was so excited that she could not wait any longer to leave. They were the first to arrive, getting there 2 hours earlier than any other contestant.
As others started arriving, Mother Monkey noticed how the other contestants were looking at her dear baby Justin. They were laughing ad giggling. Pointing and gawking.
"Surely that's not at my baby," Mother Monkey thought to herself.
Just then, she overheard the other parents talking.
"How ugly!" One exclaimed.
"Agreed. That baby has such a flat-nose," another said.
"He's such a hairless, pop-eyed little creature," chimed in another.
Mother Monkey was hurt. How could someone treat young Justin in such a way? She had had enough. Mother Monkey turned around, looked the parents straight in they eye and said, "Laugh if you will. Though Jupiter may not give him the prize, I know that he is the prettiest, the sweetest, the dearest darling in the world."
The other parents quickly shut their mouths and walked away embarrassed. Though baby Justin did not win the prize from Jupiter, he would always have his mother's love.
Monkey and his mother. Source: Wikimedia.
Author's Note:
Jupiter and the Monkey
My main goal for this story was to show the mother's blind and absolute love for her son. My mother loves me unconditionally, which is why I became attached to this story and wanted to write about it. I changed the original to create my own version by expanding the original story. I also added the unconditional love to the story. I feel as though the original story only had blind love and not unconditional love, but sometimes they go hand in hand.
Bibliography:
This story is part of the Aesop (Winter) unit. Story source: The Aesop for Children, with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919).
Great story adaptation! The way you described how the mother felt and acted at the beginning really set the tone of the story. Was Jupiter the name of the town? I also liked how you added the unconditional part to the story. The picture that you chose was very interesting. I can't wait to read more of your stories throughout the semester!
ReplyDeleteThis story starts off very strong. I really feel like we can see the fun that everyone is having. And even more than that we can see the start of the mothers love for her son you did a very good job describing this to us. I like the dialog that that mother monkey has with Tina especially the part where she does not just say but she declares that Justin will win. the dialog is also strong where talk about how ugly the baby is. you could have just said they said mean thing about him and left it at the but the dialog that you used really lets us feel the pain that the mother monkey would have felt. i think the title that you picked for this story fits very well. and so does the picture of the mother monkey and the baby monkey. over i think you did a very good job on this retelling.
ReplyDeleteI love monkeys so this caught my attention very fast. I loved the characters and you could feel the love from the mother monkey to Justin, the son. The character development was great because I could feel the emotional connection. I would love to read about more things that Justin does as a cute little baby monkey. The mother has so much love but it would be great to see exactly why her love for her little boy is so strong. I also wonder why Jupiter thought Justin was so ugly. Besides his flat nose, was there something else wrong with him? What was he looking for? I know this is a short story and I really enjoyed reading it. Maybe if it was only a little more detailed to paint the picture in my head, I could really wrap my head around this situation. Great job!
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