Week 2 Storytelling: How Death Gave an Old Man New Life

There once was an old man named Nicholas. Nicholas had been working as a laborer since the ripe old age of 11; his father had died from pneumonia and because he was the oldest and only boy in his family, that meant he was now expected to provide for his mother and three younger sisters. However once he started working, Nicholas never got to stop. Nicholas was not given the privilege to attend school like other children his age, even though he had a love for learning. His mother taught him how to read when he would get home from a hard day’s work. Nicholas would often drift off to sleep while pretending he was in a far off place somewhere else with the characters of his books and free from all the responsibilities of his real life

Nicholas is now approaching his 92nd birthday and still has the books his mother gave him when he was just a boy. All those years of working hard labor jobs have visibly taken its toll on Nicholas’s body, he can barely stand up straight and his eyesight has begun to fail. His mother and sisters have long since been dead and with their passing also went Nicholas’s zest for life. He feels as though he has no one left in this world and often wishes it would all just be over.

One blustery day Nicholas went out to the woods behind his house to gather up some sticks to keep his fire going and his house warm. He was getting to the point where even menial tasks such as gathering sticks was increasing difficult, he thought about the state of his life and felt so hopeless that he threw down the sticks and begged to just be dead. He shouted out to the trees that if Death were out there it would be a perfect time to come swoop him and take him anywhere but here. He was in such a state he didn’t even really know was he was saying; he fell to his knees and wept. Nicholas missed the family that was so dear to him and did not think he could continue on this Earth alone any longer.

(Death)

All of a sudden the wind started blowing and the trees started violently shaking, and when Nicholas looked up through tear-filled eyes he saw a skeleton-like creature wearing a black robe standing in front of him. The creature reached out his bony hand for Nicholas to go with him, but Nicholas, who was filled with terror and frozen with fear, could not move. He then realized that his was Death and he had come to take him away into the abyss. Nicholas stumbled to his feet and apologized for the inconvenience of making Death travel so far when he surely had such a busy schedule, but that he was in fact not yet ready to die. Death just shook his head and in the blink of an eye was gone.

Nicholas was in awe of all the events that had just transpired. He heard a branch break in the distance and was afraid that Death had come back for him despite that fact that he was not ready. The noise was in fact made by a young boy named, Abe, who was trotting through the woods and when he saw the old man he stopped to offer to help him pick up sticks. Nicholas gladly accepted the help, for he was now a changed man and had resolved to live what little he had left of his life to the fullest. Abe told Nicholas that he was an orphan whose parents had just died and he was coming through the woods to find work in the nearest town. Nicholas took Abe in and treated him as his own son. He taught Abe to read and shared the books that his mother had given to him as young boy. The two become the closest companions and Nicholas was able to spend his final days in peace because he was once again in the company of someone he loved.

Author's Note:

I took some liberties and added the details about the old man's family, I wanted to give some reasons as to why he was so miserable and wanted Death to come find him apart from the fact that he was old and his body was breaking down. So I took on the heartache angle to give him family members that he missed and wanted to be reunited with. I also wanted to include ages so you can get a sense of just how long he had been working and that his body was literally about to give out on him. In the original fable the old man did not want to die when Death actually comes so I kept that the same, but I added in a lot more that was not present in the original to give it more depth and create a hopefully somewhat interesting story. I wanted to give him a child so he would have someone to care for him and someone he could teach and pass down his love of reading onto. I also wanted it to end happily and I didn't want to him to die sad and alone. 

Bibliography:

This story is based on the fable The Old Man and Death in Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs