Walk On The Ocean Week 12 Storytelling

And Lo! For the lord, our God, had heard of the death of the one beloved by him, John the Baptist, whom hath baptized our lord while he hath been just a babe in swaddling cloths. Our God wished to be alone to pray and meditate on his miracle. And Lo, our Lord and Savior bid farewell to his disciples as they set off across the Sea to Galilee.

And Lo, behold the Sphinx observed the Lord, Our God, as he traversed the sand. Jesus hath no attempt made to conceal his footprints that appeared in the sand. The Sphinx delighted in remembrance of the tricks he hath wrought before.

The Spinx watching Jesus

Courtesy of Flickr

But he of jealous intent doth behold our Lord Jesus as he turned toward his friends who sailed off in the distance. For then, the lord realized he had left his miracle watch in the boat with them and must go to it. Without this divine instrument our God would not know when the next miracle hath been scheduled. Thus the Lord sayeth a quick prayer and stepped onto the water.


And Lo, it doth hold his weight! The Lord walketh on water without sinking into it! A jealous knot grew in the belly of the sphinx as he determined he must know how Jesus achieves this trick. Thus the great Sphinx lifted his wings and flew out in front of our lord.

Jesus walking on water

Couretesy Pixabay

And Jesus wept. For he thought he had been done with this foul creature.

“Why doest thou fly in my way?”

The Sphinx smiled thus plainly. “I would know the nature of your ability to walk on water.”

“Get the behind me, Satan,” cried Jesus impatiently, “I am on God’s errand!”

“Dear Savior, thou credit me too much. Satan I be-eth not. Too much work. I am simply a lowly Sphinx who wishes to walk on water as well.”

“Thou art an evil of temptation. I should smite the now and be done with ye,” grumbled Jesus.

“Oh now, good Savior, that wouldn’t be saving anything,” grinned the Sphinx

“It would be saving me from having to talketh with thou,” retorted Jesus.

“I simply wish to know, how thouest come to not sink in the waves.”

“Thou may ask how one breathes, how one thinks, or how one sleeps. The answer lies in the question.”

The Sphinx then was tickled at this reversal. “Now, Jesus, my lord, becometh the riddler.”

Jesus thus then waved the creature a dismissive wave. “Be gone creature.”

And Lo, the Sphinx did turneth to see the ship far out to Sea. “Thy ship is getting further away, best to tell me how you are performing this miracle thus leaving thou to thy journey.”

And Lo! Jesus was exasperated with this creature. “Fine, I walketh on stepping stones. Behold, there, just under the waves. I simply see them and walk.”

And Lo! The sphinx gazed upon the water and saw the dark outlines under the waves and knew the source of the miracle.

“Ha! I see how thou performest a miracle without magic!”

“Now let me be, thou mangy quarter feline, I must get my miracle watch!”

“Farewell, good Jesus, I shall also walk on water.”

And with that, the great beast of man, lion, and feathered bird alighted on the water but found no solid footing. The dark place hath been simply a fish under the waves. The beast thus tumbled in.

And Lo! The beast did not know how to swim. Hence our Lord, Jesus, watched the simple being flounder in the water with the smallest smile of satisfaction.

“Thou hast tricked me, thy quick witted Savior! There be-eth no stepping stones here.”

“No, beast of temptation and spite! I walketh on water because I am the Son of God and the Servant of Humanity. I walketh on water because I be-eth divine. Thou be-eth not divine and thy poisoned soul will pull you under the waves!”

And the Truth was spoken as the beast floundered in the sea his body hath sunken under the waves and he sputtered out a cry for help.

“Great savior, please forgive my foolish ways. Please help me in my time of need and let me feathers once more touch the sky.”

And our Lord God reflected on these words and a pained expression greweth on his face. Our lord contemplated on what the price of being good was.

“Please doeth not forsaken me, my Lord!” And with that the great Sphinx’s head did not appear above water again.

Jesus heping hand

Courtesy of Youtube

And our Lord Jesus, taking pity on the soul of his tempter, reached out a hand and pulled the great beast from the waves. He thrusteth him skyward and the great Sphinx quickly shooketh the water from his feathers and alighted into the sun.

"Great lord of humanity, I thank thee for your grace.”

“Remember my charity to thee and provide that charity to others. Cease thou immoral jokes and praise the works of the righteous.”

“So shall I do my Savior, till my last breath.” With that the great beast flew off shining his feathers in the sun.

And the lord god, looked back at the boat that had been caught in a storm, and saw then the fact that the fool, Peter, had attempted to walk on water to bring the miracle watch back and was sinking himself. Jesus sighed and began to run to help his poor simple profit.

Walk on the Ocean

Toad the wet Sprocket

Courtesy of Youtube

Authors Note:  This story was inspired by the parable The Crow That Thought He Knew.  It is about a crow who is learning the art of fishing from a master crow fisher.  However he began to think he knew better than the master and tried to fish himself and ended up dying in the water.  

I thought that the previous story was fun and decided to continue it with this story.  The previous story employed the same two character and is on this blog at The Lost Versus.  I wanted to continue this story because it brought a laugh to a couple people and it was fun to write.  

The Crow That Thought He Knew from Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock

News at Ten: Week 11 Storytelling

Begin News Transcript

Bert:

Tonight we bring you a story that will warm your heart and your soul.  And who do we have to thank? Why our illustrious and wise king of course.  Here's Tamera O'Keefe with the latest.

Tamara:

Thanks Bert.  I standing here at the royal palace where the reunion of a lifetime is about to commence.  Here at the animal sanctuary which is provided by King Bramha-datta lives a beautiful elephant named Bubbles.  She is the pride of the king's elephant guard. 

Judas:

I didn't know what I had done.  All of the sudden she wouldn't eat.  She wouldn't sleep.

Tamara:

You see, Bubbles, had made a friend.  A friend that she would go to the ends of the world for.

Judas:

The peasant came and offered me some cash for the Bella.  How was I supposed to know it would affect Bubbles so badly.

King Bramha-datta:

I was livid I tell you.  Livid.  It was obvious to anyone who cared to look that Bubbles and Bella were inseparable friends.  It was ridiculous that elephant keeper sold him.  

Tamara:

That's right folks.  You heard it here first.  The kings favorite elephant had befriended man's best friend!  And when Bella was no longer around Bubbles grew listless.

King Bramha-datta:

I was really worried about Bubbles.  She was losing weight rapidly.  I was afraid she was going to die.  I launched a search party for Bella as soon as I heard she had been sold.

Peasant:

I can tell ya.  That King guy we have.  Sure is generous.

(clinking of gold coins heard in a bag)

Best thing I ever did buying that dog off of Judas.  

(sounds of Peasant being robbed of his 

gold coins is heard in the background)

Tamara:

One man's good fortune was another's pain.

Bubbles:

She was my only friend in the whole world.  At first she just ate whatever was left over.  You know that I dropped.

Bella:

I liked to call myself her apron.  She was always such a messy eater.

Bubbles:

But Bella grew on me you know?  And what do you do when that is taken away.  I mean I lost my family when I was young to ivory poachers.  They came and killed everyone.  That's when King Brahma-datta took pitty on me and took me in.  But finally having someone to call family and then...she was just gone.

King Brahma-datta:

That's why I fired him.  I should have had him whipped.  It's inexcusable that he separated those two.  Besides everyone on this land is mine, not his.  He sold what was mine.

Judas:

Yeah I got canned.  It wasn't nice either.  I had to clean out all the manure from all of the stables first. It was sick work  

(Pause)

But I'm glad they are back together.  I deserved it.  

Tamara:

Now we are about to see the two reunited after such a scary ordeal for the first time.  King Brahma-datta has made sure that no one would interfere with their reunion.  We are truly blessed to have such a wise king.  We now go to Draupadi for the play by play reunion:

Bella and Bubbles play fetch

Courtesy of Youtube

Authors Note: This story is based off of the story of "Faithful Friends" from Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock.  In it an elephants best friend is sold to a peasant.  When the king finds this out he asks the Buddha what he should do.  The Buddha says to announce there will be a fine for any person found keeping the dog.  When the person who bought the animal heard this he released the dog and it rushed back to the elephant.

In my version I took it from the perspective of a news transcript of coverage of the reuniting.  I used real footage from a news crew about an elephant and a dog being best friends.  In my story the King pays a finders fee to the peasant but the peasant ends up losing it to thieves for comic relief.