Week 2 Story: The Deceptive Pelican

There once was a pelican that lived in the deep marshes of the swampy forestland. He had been separated from his flock for the past ten years. He was a loner. This pelican had a reputation for being a real jerk among the local fish population. The pelican constantly preyed upon the small fish that were scattered throughout the different bodies of water in the marsh. He was also a very deceptive and cunning predator. The pelican was always thinking of ways to trick his prey. The pursuit of food was a game to the pelican.

One year, the marshland had become very dry and arid. The water in the marshland was starting to dry up as the temperature rapidly increased. This prolonged period of heat had gone on for quite some time, and it made life difficult for the many different fish living in the marshland. The pelican saw this is an opportunity to feed on the fish that were in desperate need of water. He approached a population of fish that were living in an almost evaporated body of water. Since the pelican was so cleaver, he decided to offer to take the fish to another body of water that was abundant and cool. The fish did not believe the pelican and questioned why their predator was offering them help. So as a signal of good will, the pelican took one of the old and sick fish to the new body of water. He dropped the old fish into the water and let him enjoy the cool sensation. The pelican then scooped up the old fish into his beak and brought him back to the rest of his people.

The old fish excitedly raved and rambled on about how awesome the water was on the other side. The fish were so desperate for water, so they were not very resistant to trusting the pelican now. Every fish began to line up in excitement as they waited for their turn to hop into the pelican's beak. The pelican began to transport five fish at a time in his beak. The pelican would fly over the new body of water and tease the fish. He would then swallow them all in one gulp. The pelican did this over and over until there were no more fish left.

(A picture of a pelican similar to the one in the story. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Author's Note: I kept my story fairly similar to the source story. The source story details the actions of a crane as he tricks his prey into trusting him. The crane convinces the fish that he would transport them to another body of water that was much cooler and better suited for them. As the fish were desperate to escape their current state, they begin to trust the crane. This would turn out to be fatal as the crane transported each fish individually in his mouth. Instead of taking the fish to the water, the crane would eat them. He completely devastated the population of fish. The crane tried to do this trick on a crab that was nearby. However, the crab was more intelligent than the fish. The crab convinced the crane to transport him to the cool body of water. The crab ended up severing the head of the crane as the crane tried to eat the crab as well. I left this detail out in my story.


Bibliography: The Cunning Crane and the Crab by W.H.D. Rouse. Source: Google Sites