Chapter One:
“THUMPER” yelled Phil from outside Thumper's house. “Thumper, get out here. It is time for us to go”. That day Phil and Thumper were going out to badger's side of the woods to explore the land and maybe even see some of the strange human things. The humans always stayed on the badger side of the woods to catch the deer that would wander into their lands. Phil wanted to take a risk of seeing the humans as well as mess with Ol’ Master Badger in his home under the big tree of the forest. Phil and Thumper loved to mess with Ol’ Master Badger even though they were terrified of him if they got caught. It is said that Ol’ Master Badger was even more scary than the humans that would hunt the deer.
As Phil and Thumper took off into the badger's side of the land they heard shots in the distant. “What was that!?” Thump whimpered to Phil.
“Nothing to worry about, Thumper. Those hunters are a long way off and will never be able to catch us from here”, Phil answered Thumper. And they continued further into the woods until they found the big tree of the forest. “Okay,” Phil said, “let’s make tons of noises like those guns that the humans use, and scare the begeebers out of Ol’ Master Badger.”
BANG, BANG, BANG! They made all sorts of noises and ran to hide. Badger ran out of his hole and yelled at the boys, “I know that was you, Phil! Just wait, you’ll get what's coming to ya.”
The boys ran away laughing at Badger. They made it home with no harm to them and no humans after them, but Badger had sent an owl to Phil’s mom letting her know what the boys did. Phil’s uncle, Jeff, came out to meet the boys as they were coming in. Jeff was a tall strong buck, wiser than any deer in the forest. “Boys,” Jeff started, “you need to be more careful and smarter. Going into that side of the forest where the humans are you are going to get hurt, you are going to get caught. And Ol’ Master Badger is getting mad at you for your silly stunts. He rules these woods and you have to respect him. If you do not start being wiser in your actions one of you, maybe even both of you, will get caught by him. You might even get caught by the humans and then we will never be able to save you.”, Jeff finished. Thumper headed home with a warning that his parents knew what he did. Phil went to his bed grounded for his dumb actions.
The next day, Phil decided not to heed any warning that Jeff left him with. He persuaded Thumper and they went trekking into Badger's land. Though Thumper tried his best to keep them from going, Phil wanted to prove a point. As they went up to Badger’s tree they made gun noises all over again.
BANG BANG BANG! And they ran to hide behind a tree and watch him come out yelling. This time Badger saw the boys and starting chasing them out of his woods. The boys ran and ran and finally lost sight of Badger. When they stopped running they looked around and realized they didn't know where they were. They walked around until they finally found the right way home. All of a sudden they heard a strange noise. SNAP! The sound was followed by a loud yell from Phil. “AHHH!" His foot got caught in a hunter's trap. “Thumper! Go get my uncle!” Phil yelled at Thumper. And Thumper ran off to Phil’s home to find Jeff. When Thumper and Jeff made it back to Phil, Jeff just looked at Phil with pity.
“What did you learn?” Jeff asked Phil. And Phil responded back, “That I need to be wiser.” And Jeff helped him out of the trap he found himself in and carried him home. From then on things changed in Phil’s life.
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Author's Note:
So this story is based on the Jataka, “The Deer Who Would Not Learn." In this story the Buddha tells a foul-mouthed monk a story of a deer who was disregarding seven admonitions that he was given and thus he got trapped and died. I decided to tell this in my story with Phil because I wanted to tell how Phil was a deer who would not learn from his wise uncle and would always want to do whatever he wanted to do. In doing this the deer in the original Jataka was wandering around the forest not learning the ways of the deer when he got caught in a snare and then died. His uncle told his mom not to worry about him because he would not learn. I obviously did not want Phil to die and end the story, but instead have to learn a painful lesson from his mistake. This is the beginning of Phil’s story and will lead into the next story of Phil’s life. It is important to understand that listening and learning is important in the Buddhist culture. And if you do not listen and learn then you will - well in the original story - die for your errors. In “The Deer Who Would Not Learn” the monk that the Buddha is talking to was abusive and foul-mouthed. Phil in my story was abusive in the way he used his freedom and the way he treated the badger. Not in the most extreme way, but in a subtle way.
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Bibliography:
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The Deer Who Would Not Learn
Jataka Tales
V. Fausboll
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