Jordan Writings From This Year

THE SELFISH KING AND THE SHAPE-CHANGER

Once upon a time a fierce, tough, gruesome and hungry dragon tried to destroy a town. He said, "give me a beautiful princess every week or I will destroy you all"!
So what could the townspeople do, they cried and gave him the princesses. Nine died.
One day when the time had come they could not find one. The king had hidden his last daughter. So they sent for the cowardly king. He was also knight. He had
come and slay the dragon or die trying. He also meant to keep the reward he had offered for slaying the dragon, for he was very greedy. As much as he explained the size of the giant reward nobody believed him about it.
Finally, in frustration, he went to do it himself. Before he went a small boy asked for some money to buy some fruit. The selfish king would not even give him this!
So by and by there came the dragon for his princess and the king in his gleaming armor. The dragon was hideous with 19 heads 30 tails. He had a turtle's shell that
was armored and spiked. All the heads were breathing fire. Its tails were lashing and spikes were flying everywhere. The king dodged in and out of claws, teeth, fire, tails and spikes!
Then a spike pinned him to the ground and then the dragon roared, "YOU WIILL NOT GIVE ME FOOD AS A BOY OR A DRAGON AND I WILL NOT
GIVE YOU YOU'RE LIFE! SAY GOOD BYE!"
The king was eaten. The dragon was fed and he left. The townspeople were happy. When the king was gone the princess ruled wisely and well, though she missed
her father.

The Two Brothers And The Three Challenges

Once a long time ago there was a duke who had two sons. When it came time for his sons to marry the duke was troubled. Both his sons
wanted to marry the same princess and the princess wanted to marry both sons. The king decided to hold a three year long contest, which
would test both princes. The contest would have three parts. One was to test the confidence of the two princes. The next courage and the
last chivalry and wisdom.
The first part was to find the emerald that was named Athule and possessed great power. There was an invisible shield surrounding the
emerald. Anywon who touched it immediately lost hope and went back home. Both sons reached the wall at the same time. The first son
went home empty handed but the second was so confident that he took the crystal and went home.
The second task was to destroy ten sentinels in one year. Both sons fought courageously but in the end the second son fled because he lost
his courage. The first son said that he had fought well. This comforted him.
The third and final challenge was to cross the lake of riddles and take the golden elephant back to the king. The first riddle was, "a box
without hinges key or lid yet golden treasure inside is hid, what am I?" "Egg", said both sons at once. "Thirty white horses on a red hill first
they stamp then they clamp then they stand still, what am I?" "Teeth" said both sons. "Alive without breath as cold as death never thirsty ever
drinking all in mail never clinking, who am I?" "Fish", said both sons.
The first son grabbed the elephant and the second let him he could not lift it. The second son tried and easily picked it up and carried it to the
king. Nobody knew that without chivalry you could not lift the golden elephant. The Princess thought this was fair and she married the second
son and lived happily ever after.

(The riddles in this story are taken from J. R. R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit.)

The Real Magic Show

"Abracadabra alaksam flim flam fiddle patooy kabam come forth elf and make a command. Bamboozle bafoosel slam-dunking slugs turn
that rabbit in to doves. Ilicky olicky ollylamb sockroney bishone saleck oune main soul spirit you're the lord of the flame!"
Oh this'll never work! I've got to perform on Tuesday and I only know the simplest spells. It's already Monday. Ohhhhhhhhhh.
(Tuesday evening) Well I'll do my best. "Slippery slimy slithering snakes I want you to become rakes (9 of 10 snakes turn to rakes). Last
snake now here me call dire rat begin to brawl." (Dire rat and snake fight). Suddenly the rat turned into a manticore and spitting poison
destroyed every thing within ten feet of it. Then went on a red-hot rampage. Everything was a nightmare. Then the grand wizard came and
almost lazily subdued the manticore.
Then it turned into a furious fire-breathing dragon. Which promptly destroyed every thing in sight. Every body thought everything was over
when in a desperate attempt to live the young wizard cried out one last spell.
"YINSON BLONO". The dragon was blown to shreds and the play theatre was rebuilt in an instant. The show was canceled but no one
was hurt.
"Well done my son."
" Dad" "
Yes its me and now the family can be together."

How Rio Came to the House

Once, a fairly long time ago, we had no dog. This a story about how we got Rio. We needed a companion dog, and that is what Rio is.
We searched online for a good dog. We were looking for a child friendly, cat friendly dog. These two things together were very hard to
find. We wanted to rescue a full-grown dog.
We found a couple that looked good. So we took a very long trip to see them. It turned out they were not the kind of dogs we wanted.
They were too shy.
Rio was shy, but not that shy. We went online again. I was starting to feel ready to give up. When we found another good chance. They
were in Petaluma. Rio was found at a herding dog rescue. The woman who ran it was named Judy Wright. She took dogs from pounds,
and strays, took them in and took care of them. Then she gives the dogs to families who would take care of them. That is where we found
Rio and Shadow.
Shadow and Rio lived with us for a week. But then we found out that Shadow was too dominant and returned him to Judy. Shadow found
a new a good home two weeks latter.
Rio is timid but a good playmate. Rio weighs about 40 pounds. His color is red merle. He is a Queens land Heeler, mostly.
We had to be very gentle with him to help him settle in. He trained Rio. We gave him toys. He trusted us.
Things have changed now that Rio is around. Some mornings I let Rio in from his run. Then we make Rio make breakfast. Sometimes he
has gravy or cottage cheese with breakfast. I play with Rio in the mornings and the evenings. Rio likes to play ball. In the house he runs from
one person to another.
Rio is family. He is a very good dog. I like him.

The Life of John Muir

John Muir was a great person who believed in the beauty and importance of nature. Sometimes John Muir got sick. Then his wife would
send him off to the mountains. She knew that he had need of them. John Muir thought that the wild would strengthen body and soul. John
Muir opened people's eyes to the beauties of nature.
John Muir was born in Dunbar Scotland, 1838. His father was happy when John was a small child. But something happened and his father
grew very grim. He had two sister and two brothers.
John loved books. His father only let Muir read religious books. John borrowed novels, explorer's journals, and famous poets books.
John loved climbing, nature, and inventions. He was inventing as a boy. John Muir made a machine that would hold a book open of fifteen
minuets, close it and put another book in its place. He made a bed that would flip someone out of bed at a set time, on their feet. He made
a model sawmill. He took his inventions to the Wisconsin state fair in 1860.
John Muir worked as an elementary school teacher so he could get money to go to college. John Muir had an unquenchable thirst for
knowledge. John Muir was poor but when he learned that some students lived on graham crackers and water he decided to join the
University of Wisconsin.
Professor Carr was his favorite teacher. John Muir liked him because he taught chemistry and geology, and he was good friend. Jeanne Carr
was professor Carr's wife and also a good friend of John Muir's. His new friends had many books that he loved to read.
John Muir then worked in a machine shop because he loved inventing. He was trying to tighten a machine belt when his file flew and struck
him in the right eye. In reaction his left eye dimmed and his vision faded away.
Some people called an eye specialist to see Muir. Others read to him. John Muir decided that god had closed his eyes to the beauty of
nature forever. He got his vision back. He said, sometimes god has to nearly kill us to teach us a lesson. John Muir had been taught that he
was not a factory man. He was meant to live in the wild. John Muir wanted to open people's eyes to the beauties of nature.
John Muir gave up his chance of being rich just to be in the wild. He packed some bread and tea and went out to become a tramp and save
the wilderness. John Muir had begun his "Thousand-Mile Walk". On September 1st, 1867 John Muir started walking Kentucky all the way
to Florida. Along the way, he collected botany samples. He researched plants and wrote down his observations in a journal.
John Muir wanted to get to California and Yosemite Valley. Once John Muir got to Yosemite, he decided that was his home. He thought
nature and all of the wilderness was holy.
He decided to settle down in Yosemite. John Muir worked at a sawmill that sawed already fallen trees. John was also a guide. He guided
people through Yosemite on tours. John Muir told people about that they were seeing.
John Muir starting writing articles in magazines, 1874. John Muir wrote about nature. He wrote about its importance. As the Indians would
say, "man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it".
Jeanne Carr kept in touch by writing letters with John. Jeanne was the one who introduced him to his wife, Louie. John and Louie had two
daughters. The Muir family lived in Alhambra Valley. John Muir kept a fruit ranch. He was a good businessman. If people would not pay
what he thought was a fair price he would not sell them fruit. People would always be back to get their fruit. In this way, John Muir made a
very good living.
John Muir would stay with his wife and children but sometimes he would go back to the wilderness to get reacquainted. John Muir gave
lectures and wrote books to get his point across.
Some people understood John Muir's love of nature. They started the Sierra Club in 1892 and asked John if he would be the first president
of the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club tried to protect the Sierra Nevada and make more parks. The Sierra Club is still around and you can join
it.
John Muir's books are named The Mountains of California, My First Summer in the Sierra, The Yosemite, The Story of My Boyhood and
Youth, and Stickeen. Stickeen is a book I've read and it was quite good. I sugguest that you get this book because it has an exciting true life
adventure. He learned that such a small body could contain such a lively soul. He learned this from a little dog named Stickeen. He and
Stickeen jumped across crevasses (crevasses are ravines in a glacier). The climbed across a very wide crevasse and this is where, for the
first time, Stickeen was scared. They became great friends.
I like John Muir because he was a great believer in nature. He fought for nature. John Muir used his words and books to express these
thoughts.