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