A Little Walk

Transformed From: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
In the Style of an: Allegory

The boys travelled East on a brisk winters morning. The forest was dense and unforgiving, the trails could easily be lost if you were not paying attention. There were twelve of them: Alex, Adam, Jasper, John, Bert, Raymond, George, William, Joseph, Nick, Richard and Charles. George was the leader, because of a democratic vote, followed by his best friend Jasper. George was skinny, but taller than the rest, his hair was jet black, his nose was thin, and his lips were full. Jasper was short, and stubby, his hair was a dirty blond, and features had been lost in his face due to the fat under his chin and on his cheeks. Some of the weaker boys fell behind when travelling through the forest, their feat scraped on the soft mud beneath their feet.

After three hours of walking a black squirrel started to follow the boys. It was bushy and looked friendly. It didn’t interact with any of the other boys. The ground hardened, the trees parted, and the sun burst through. The boys loved the squirrel; it brought them luck they couldn’t have imagined. Their feet no longer squelched under them, and their back-backs didn’t feel as heavy. George kept a watchful eye on their guest. He didn’t understand why it would take the time to be with them. He didn’t think they were all that interesting.

They set up camp for the first night. They took all the necessary precautions, making sure the tents were correctly pegged, all zips were secure, and their bellies were full. In the early evening the squirrel stood upright, and looked into the infinite darkness that lay before him. It didn’t move. The boys soon drifted into unconsciousness and dreams pursued. As for George, he lay awake and waited for the right moment; the right moment to get out of the tent and go over to the squirrel. When he did depart from his shared tent he just about saw the black squirrel because one candle lit in the middle of the camp. George took good care in trying not to disturb the creature, until he was right behind it. George wrapped his hands round the animal and broke its neck. Jasper saw all of it. George accidently awoke him when he opened the tent.

Jasper told everyone the next morning. George was highly disappointed in him. The squirrel was wrapped around his bag. When Jasper sprung to mind in his head he wanted to punch the trunk of a tree. He was demoted from the leader of the group and Jasper was obviously promoted. Jasper looked like a pig, George thought. When walking that day the mud and puddles become unbearable. Make a wrong step and a boys leg would be lost. The bushes and trees became so close together that they had to go single file to stop bumping into one another. Raymond was the first to speak to George, ‘That squirrel gave us luck. The ground was hard and the trees were far.’ George didn’t reply, he did not want to humour such a gullible fool. At lunch they discovered the crate of full water bottles had gone missing. It was soon found out that Alex had forgotten the crate at the last camp sight. Everybody sighed with dried throats.

Night soon fell and the boys bickered as to how to ration their food, and who deserved the most and who deserved the least. George and Alex deserved the least, they decided. As they set up their tents they heard footsteps coming their way. Everyone became on edge, they were petrified it could be a mad man. Two figures soon immerged from the darkness. One was a woman. One was a man. The woman was in red. And the man in black. The woman looked like love. And the man looked like death. Could it be? It turned out they were looking for directions to the way out the forest. George told them, and they headed west, hand in hand.

The next day wasn’t so bad, apart from one small thing. Everybody died, or seemed to anyway. It was midday, and the boys were having a rest. George was standing up, he looked like hell. All of the other boys were lying on the soft earth, all of their mouths opened simultaneously and white shadows lifted into the sky. It created a cloud above George’s bewildered head; it was not a dark cloud, but a rather light one. He pondered and cried for a while wondering desperately what to do. He couldn’t leave them, but he didn’t want to die with them. He ended up waiting five hours, thirty eight minutes and a couple of seconds. In this age George appreciated the nature surrounding him. The wind whistling, the birds singing songs to their significant other and the vibrant colours the forest had to offer, which hardly anybody would see. He thought just because a lake that is in a middle of forest, which nobody will ever see doesn’t make it any less beautiful and serene. As he thought this thought at five hours, thirty eight minutes and a couple of seconds the cloud of souls above his head plummeted back into the bodies of the boys surrounding him. The squirrel from George’s bag fell onto the leaves, and rested peacefully.

All of the boys awoke from what seemed like a deep slumber. They all looked at George and nothing sprung to mind. The trees appeared to part and a main road was in front of them. They left the forest and never returned. George saw an old lady walking down the street the next day; he grabbed her and told her everything.


by Frank Wheeler

The Ancient Mariner Transformation

Transformation into style of George Orwell

A mother pulled another shirt from the basket, placed it on the ironing board and continued to iron. This continued for some time until her son came running into the room, covered in mud, with grass stains all over his clothes. Her son appeared to be very excited. “What is it, son?” asked his mother.

“Mum!” he shouted, “I have to tell you about my expedition through the forest”

“But son, I have many clothes to iron and more chores to see to”

“Never mind that, this story is incredible. Now listen” he ordered.

“We were trekking through the forest. There were seven of us in total. All around us were trees, and the ground was muddy. It looked like it would be a difficult trip for my friends and I. Some of the boys lagged behind, dragging their feet, because the mud was difficult to walk through.  We used rakes to push bushes to the side to clear some paths. It was a difficult journey for all of us.”

“Okay son, that’s a very nice story, but if you don’t mind, I have work to d-“

“Please, wait; this is where the story gets interesting” he pleaded.

“We continued to walk, when a squirrel came running towards us. This squirrel was small, and it was black. My friend told me how black squirrels were very rare. It was a very striking squirrel, I thought. It came to us and stayed. We all thought how weird it was, because it wasn’t running away. It accompanied us on our travels. We all noticed a difference in the forest as we walked on. The paths were clear, the ground became firm and the tress opened up above us, allowing sunlight to pass through. The boys were happy about our companion as it seemed to have brought us good luck as we made our way through the large forest. We made camp for the night in a patch of area clear of trees, as it was beginning to get dark. As we setup the camp and sat beside the fire, the squirrel stood beside us looking into the dark of the night, almost as if he was standing guard, protecting us from whatever laid ahead in the darkness. Our nerves calmed, and we were very thankful for having the squirrel with us. Some of us even prayed, thanking God for giving us this blessing. My friends went to sleep with clear minds, however, I didn’t. Whilst my friends were asleep, I got up, went over to the black squirrel, and kicked it away, into the dark.”

“What? Why? Why would you kick it away? It was helping you…” questioned the mother.

“Just let me finish and you’ll see” he told her.

“I turned around to check if I had woken up any of my friends, but they all appeared to be asleep. I went back to bed myself, when I realised that the night had become very cold. I tried to sleep but then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and all my friends were standing above me. They asked me why I kicked the squirrel away. They seemed angry, and scared. Then, a strong wind came upon us, blowing out the fire and causing our tents to collapse. My friends all blamed it on the absence of the squirrel. They all assumed that the good luck was gone, and had been replaced with bad luck, and they blamed me for it, because I kicked away the squirrel away. Since there was no place for us to sleep anymore, we decided to carry on our expedition through the night. We were all very tired, and the conditions were worse than when we started off. It was very cold, the winds were strong, and it was raining. The ground became muddy, and the paths were filled with shrubs and thorns. We moved at a very slow pace. My friends were bitter towards me, as they blamed me for the terrible conditions we were in. Some of us kept on falling, getting covered in mud, and we all had to stop and help each other up every time.”

“You got what you deserved. You should treat nature with respect.” The mother told her son.

The son looked down at his feet and was embarrassed by his actions. He then continued to tell the story. “Things were beginning to calm down however, as we continued. The rain had stopped, and it was no longer so cold. We were making our way when I tripped over a root form a tree, getting covered in mud. I got up by myself, as none of my friends came to help me, however, when I looked around, my friends were nowhere to be seen. I was alone in the forest, and it was very quiet. I wasn’t sure what to do, or where they went. I made my backwards from where I was going, however, I had lost my bearings and I wasn’t sure what direction to go. So I just moved forward. Nothing but me and the forest I was in. I walked along, as the path was clear, unlike before, however, there was something different.  I noticed that, the greenery was illuminated, almost as if they were glowing. Then I looked around, and realised that the whole forest was glowing. Everywhere around me, nature was giving out a dim white light. It was beautiful. As I walked through the forest, I lost focus on what was ahead of me and instead I looked around me; at the trees; the sky and the moon. Soon, bright red birds came to fly beside me. It then came to my attention that there were hundreds of them, in front of me, in the trees and to my sides. The scene that was before me, it was amazing. Nature looked wonderful as I stood in it. Something came upon me just then. I realised that, this is the work of God. He created me, he created the trees and he created the birds. He created everything. And he loves his creation. I wonder what God thought of me, when he saw me kick his squirrel”

“He probably thought bad of you, and thought you needed to be taught a lesson. Have you?” the mother asked

“Yes I have” her son replied.

“And what lesson did you learn?”

“To respect God’s creation” he said proudly.

“So what happened next” she asked.

“Once I realised what I had to, everything went black. I opened my eyes to find that I was back at the place where we camped. My friends were asleep around me, and the black squirrel was still there, standing beside us.”

- Anas