Bedtime Stories

Rakifi and I were lying in bed the other night, and I asked him what he wanted to do: "Do you want to watch a movie? Should I put on a story? Go to sleep? Just chat?"
"I want to chat," he said, "Tell me a story."
"What about?"
"Hm, okay, I'll give you five words and you need to put them all in the story."
"Deal."

I told him a story and then he told me one. With many apologies, I can only remember four of the five words that either of us gave.

His Story
Elephant, Mouse, Emerald, Silk Dress

There once was an African boy by the name of Ubah, and he had a pet elephant by the name of Emo. Emo was the only family that Ubah had, for he was an orphan. One day Ubah and Emo were walking in the jungle and Ubah came across an enormous emerald. Ubah's dream was to move from Africa and go to America and live wealthy and he knew this emerald was his possible ticket to the promised land. Suddenly a snake which was camouflaged in the undergrowth slithered its body toward Ubah looking to acquire Ubah's body for nourishment. As the snake lunged toward Ubah, Emo caught the snake with his trunk and flung the snake into the bushes. Surprisingly the snake uncovered a hiding mouse and ate him. Poor mouse.
Meanwhile, an evil secret society kidnapped the Princess of Decco and threatened to kill her if the King did not comply to their wishes. The secret society posed the ransom of the unique emerald, which in turn, upon acquiring it, they would use to expand their operations. The emerald was worth billions of dollars, so whoever owned it could have dramatic influence. The King dispatched his whole army and all his servants to find the person with the emerald, and to bring this individual to the King's feet. A servant of the king found Ubah and told him the story and Ubah agreed to go to the castle to meet the king. The King demanded Ubah hand over the emerald so that he could rescue his daughter from the secret society. Ubah was in agreement with the king but it would have to come at a price. Ubah wanted enough money to start a new life in America. The king granted him his wish. The King made contact with the secret society and claimed to have the emerald them. The secret society agreed to the return of the princess in exchange for the emerald, and this was done. In doing so, the secret society seemed to have all of the necessary resources to obtain power until the secret society was ambushed by the King's garrison after the transaction was made. For the betterment of the world, they destroyed the secret society. Ubah was granted a handsome reward for his noble act.


My Story
Dragon, Sorceress, Rabbit, Flying Carpet

There once was a kingdom in which the houses of nobility got together every year for an annual rabbit hunt. Like a fox hunt, they would release a rabbit into the wild, and then would chase it with their hounds, the nobility riding behind on horseback. There was a sorceress who had once had a love affair with a member of the nobility, but had been scorned by him. He had casted her aside, and she now wanted revenge. Knowing of the rabbit hunt, she decided to summon a dragon and unleash it upon the hunt. While she had fallen in love with a member of the nobility, she also knew that they had lost touch with the common people and become isolated within their society. She felt that it would do them good to be shaken up and loose some of their complacency. However, while she was angry, she didn't want the dragon to eat anyone, she just wanted it to scare the heebie-jeebies out of them. She followed the dragon on her magic carpet to make sure it didn't harm or eat anyone, especially the horses who were after all innocent and blameless. The dragon terrified the nobility. Their horses panicked and bolted, and they were scattered far and wide across the kingdom. This turned out to be a good thing for all. It was good for the country, as the nobility were forced to meet the commoners as they found their way home again, and while self absorbed the nobility were not bad people, and they learned from the experience. It was good for the sorceress as she was well pleased with the result of her adventure. It was also an exceedingly good thing for the rabbit, as the hunt was distracted and it was able to live happily ever after.