Week 2 Story: The Ewoks

Note: the current story is on my portfolio page.

(Ewok: Wikimedia Commons)

The Ewok and the Storm Troopers

One day on the planet of Endor, some storm troopers were doing their daily routine. They went from checkpoint to checkpoint making sure that nothing suspicious was occurring at the base. Suddenly, they heard a rustle in the leaves that almost made them jump out of their armor.

"Who goes there," one of them said.

Soft, garbled speech was heard, but it wasn't anything these storm troopers had heard before.

"We better check it out, we don't want another incident like last week."

As the storm troopers approached the bushes where the speech came from, they drew their weapons. They pushed the bushes aside and to their astonishment found one small, furry-like bear. The creature was an Ewoks, but the storm troopers had no idea due to never seeing anything like it before.

"What is this thing, I've never seen it before!?"

"Who knows, but we better take it back to base to question it."

So the storm troopers took the Ewok back to base and began debating on what to do with it.

"We don't know what this is or how many of them are out there. We should kill it to send a message to the others not to come near us," said one of the generals.

"Yes, we should place it in a cage outside camp and let it starve," said one of the storm troopers.

"Burn it alive!" said another.

"Wait!" said the commander, "it is a small creature, we should abandon it in the trees because it can't possibly climb or be able to get down from there."

Although the Ewok could not speak in their language, he could perfectly understand what they were saying. At the sound of this, he quickly began to squeal and cry.

"See! It understands us and knows that this will be the worst way to die," said the commander.

The storm troopers then carried the Ewok out into the woods and placed him very high up in one of the trees and then left. As soon as they were gone, the Ewok rejoiced and laughed for he knew that Ewoks lived in the trees. Although they were of small stature and it was difficult for them to get around, they were excellent climbers. They were also able to swing from the vines that were high up in the trees. After calming down from all of the joy he was experiencing, the Ewok climbed down the tree and made his journey back home safe and sound. 

The Ewok and the Speeder Bike

As an Ewok was walking back to his village one day, he got lost. He saw two storm troopers in the distance and went over to them to ask for help. As he was walking over, he saw a bush filled with berries. He was so excited that he stuffed his face full of berries. Afterwards he walked over to the storm troopers. The storm troopers noticed him and instead of being scared, they cautiously walked up to the Ewok. The Ewok started talking to the storm troopers, but they were unable to decipher what the Ewok was saying because they did not speak its language. So, they got out a language converter that was able to tell them what the Ewok was saying.

The Ewok said, "hello, my village is far away and I was wondering if I could hitch a ride on the back of your speeder machine?"

The storm troopers replied, "why most certainly you can! The only problem is that the speeders only accompany one person per machine, so you will have to ride in the cargo that we are pulling behind the speeder."

The Ewok agreed and was given strict instructions not to stand up during the ride because if he stood up, he would be carried away by the wind due to the speed they were going at. The Ewok climbed into the cargo trailer after he told the storm troopers which way they needed to travel. As they were travelling at a very high speed, the Ewok saw some berries. He was overcome with joy and emotion because these berries were his absolute favorite. At that time, he stood up and was suddenly lifted up from the cargo trailer by the wind and thrown out onto the ground. The Ewok rolled through the ground some and eventually came to a stop. After looking at his surroundings he was able to find the berries and munch down until his belly was full. After eating the berries, he came to senses and realized what had happened. The Ewok cursed himself for being so stupid. As the day went on, the Ewok realized that he was lost and did not know where he was. He soon became depressed and was unsure how to find his way home.

As time went on, his village still talks about him to this day and his love for berries, but the Ewok was never found. In fact the Ewok to this day still wanders around the forest of Endor trying to find his village. He continues to survive on the berries he finds, but has yet to find his village and get home back to his people and back to his family.

Authors notes: I based this off of the the Two Turtle Jatakas by Ellen C. Babbitt. From the story, the central theme - to me - was patience and wisdom. Also, its underlying message was the actions we take have inevitable consequences. In this story, I tried to recapture that by showing the different sides of patience and impatience; good consequences and bad consequences. For the first Ewok, his patience and wisdom allow him to choose a punishment for him that actually works in his favor. By doing this, he is able to live. For the second Ewok, he is impatient and does not show any discipline even though he is given simple instructions. By not following this he is unable to get home where he desires to be.

Bibliography:
"Two Turtle Jatakas" from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt