The Highlight of the Third Day of School

   Okay, so technically it's the fourth day of school as I write this, but I didn't write it yesterday, so I'm going to now.
   Yesterday we had Round II of writing class, taught by, you guessed it, Mom. We are learning to Key Word Outline (From the writing course by the Institute for Excellence in Writing)and we were assigned "The Farmer and His Sons" for practice. Here is the original story, in case you aren't familiar with it.

 The Farmer and His Sons

   A hardworking farmer, stricken by a fatal illness, wished to be sure that his farm would continue to prosper and that his family would be taken care of, His sons were somewhat lazy, and he was afraid that they would be careless in tending the land. He called them to his bedside and said, "My sons, there is a great treasure hidden in one of my fields." The sons, after his death, took their spades and mattocks and carefully dug over every portion of the land. They were disappointed to find no treasure. However, because of their thorough "plowing", the fields yielded an extraordinary, abundant crop that year, and the family survived comfortably. Finally, the sons realized that the "treasure" their father talked about was the fruit of their own labor.

   Now, here are our takes on this story, in the order in which they were completed: (I will call them all "The Farmer and His Sons" because we haven't gotten to creating titles yet)

Bennett:

The Farmer and his Sons

A farmer that was stricken by a fatal illness wished for his farm to prosper. His sons, who heard about treasure in the field from their dying father, were lazy and had a careless background. However, after their father's death, they took their shovels and dug in every field. "No treasure?" the sons thought. But because of their thorough "plowing", they had an abundant crop, and successfully survived the winter.

Henry:

The Farmer and his Sons

   A farmer, who was stricken with a fatal Chainsaw wound, wanted to make sure his farm would be taken care of after his death. His sons, however, were lazy and careless, and lacked any trace of motivation. The farmer, who was very wise, cleverly hatched a plan, so he called his sons to hs bedside, and said, "There is a safely buried treasure hidden in one of my fields." The sons, after his death, diligently combed every inch of the fields. Finding no treasure, the sons grew frustrated. They were then very much surprised to find an abundant harvest that year, which bore the family comfortably through the winter. The sons, realizing that the treasure was the fruit of their own labor, developed into superb farmers.

Greta:

The Farmer and His Sons

   Once there was a farmer with two sons. One day, while working in the fields, he was struck on the head with a dirty hoe. A day later he was diagnosed with necrotysingpositis Later, on his deathbed, he said to his sons, "Kids, I'm dying. But there's a treasure hidden in one of my fields." And with that, he died. His sons, who were lazy and careless, didn't want to do any work. However, they all loved treasure. So, they dug up every single piece of dirt in, or out, of the fields, And guess what? No treasure. Who knew? However, the sons thorough "plowing" produced an abundant crop, and the family lived in great wealth and luxury for the rest of their lives. The sons, who were disappointed at not finding any treasure, realized that the prize their father was talking about was the fruit of their own labor. Later, hiding in the woods, the farmer, who was still alive, was conversing with the doctor. 

"I told you it would work!" said the doctor.

"But how did you know? whispered the farmer.

"I did it myself." the doctor spoke proudly.

So, it turns out that it was just a big set up, but why does that matter?

Moral of the story: the fruit of one person's labor is a much greater treasure than many people's gold.

Oh yeah, also: Setups are a great way to find out things.

Eliza:

The Farmer and His Sons

   Once, there was a farmer who had been struck by a fatal illness and wished to be sure that his farm and his sons would continue to prosper. So, he called his sons, who were usually very lazy, to himself and told them that there was a treasure hidden in one of his fields. That way, he thought to himself, all their digging searching for a nonexistent prize will plow the fields, and produce a bumper crop. The old farmer was right, and as soon as he died, his sons hastily grabbed up all the shovels and "plowed" the fields. However, frustrated at finding no treasure, and empowered by their greed, the sons decided to "plow" the nicely manicured lawn. In the meantime, the fields grew a bountiful crop of beautiful golden grain which was forgotten and neglected as the sons began to dig up the expansive garden. Harvesting time came and went as the sons busied themselves with renting demolition tools to tear up the house. The grain molded and rotted in the fields as the sons and their new bulldozers, jackhammers, and axes took the grand old home apart brick by brick. Soon, each son was out of funds for their maniacal quest and was as poor as the old beggar sitting at the corner of Council and Main, and they gave up the hunt for the treasure, for they had found not so much as a penny in all that time. So, one-by-one each man moved away, and what was left of the old, now decrepit house was left to stand as a sad memorial of a father who left his kids without clear instructions.

The End

I hope you liked the results, and had a good laugh! Have a great day!