Jena Schnettler
In the beginning there was one man and one woman. The man lived in North America and the woman lived in Africa. They had no clue of each other’s existence until one day the Woman dropped a marble seal into the ocean and a giant fish came up from the depths and swallowed it whole. The woman cried because the seal was her most prized possession.
Her Most Prized Possession
Late one night the man went out fishing. Hours past and he had caught nothing. The man reeled in his rod and released the worm that he was using as bate. He took a blue coin case out of his pocket and used one of the coins as bait. He cast the coin out as far as he could and before the coin could hit the water a giant fish leaped out of the ocean and swallowed the coin. The fish put up a great fight but could not get away. The giant fish made a deal with the man. If the man would let him go he would give him a marble seal. The man asked where the seal came from and the fish said it came from a beautiful woman. The man took the seal and let the fish swim back into the ocean never to be seen again. The man decided then that he would spend the rest of his life searching for this woman so he could return the seal to its rightful owner.
The man planted three magical seeds that grew into 3 50 foot trees in 3 days. He cut the trees down and used the bark to make a magnificent canoe. He packed food, a knife, and a drum. He then set off on his voyage to find the woman and return the seal. The man spent most of his time carving statues. The first statue was of a beautiful African tribal woman. The second was of himself dancing and playing his drum. He then carved a small villa with a stone court yard where the two would live and raise a family. He wanted to carve a son but he did not have enough wood so he only carved the head and painted the eyes bright blue and the lips rosy red.
One day the man saw land for the first time in 3 years. He was filled with joy and began to dance and play his drum. He lost balance and fell off the canoe into the ocean. The man used all of his strength to stay afloat but the current was so strong that both of his arms broke and he was taken away by the current and almost drowned. The man washed up onto shore. The next day the woman spotted the man and rushed to his side. She then used all of her strength the carry that man to her home where he would be safe and warm. The man was very sick. The woman covered the man in a velvet blanket with a beautiful flower pattern so he would stay warm. The woman tended to the man’s arms. She had to use a ruler and a leather wallet to bind his broken arms. The woman then took out a small green jar that was filled with medicine. She pulled the cork of and poured the medicine into the man’s mouth. The man then opened his eyes and saw her for the first time. Her beauty nearly killed him at that moment, but before he died the man dug into his pocket and gave the woman the seal.
