Bob of All Trades

Bob the cheetah was tired of running through drills at track practice. He was already the

top of his class at the academy for young cheetahs, but he wanted more. He slept through his

classes and still aced the tests, and he always won first at the races. His friends heavily envied his

speed and intelligence, but Bob felt alienated because he did not care about these things as much

as they did. He had enough of his monotonous daily routine of running, studying, and catching

small gazelles to eat, so he planned to run away.

The only part of Bob’s routine that he enjoyed was the journey back home. Birds flew

through the air. Leaves swayed in the wind. Flying fish jumped out of the water, dancers

performing for Bob, almost inviting him to join them. As Bob walked home from school that

day, an old, mysterious-looking cheetah noticed the gloomy expression on Bob’s face.

“What’s wrong?”, said the old man.

“I don’t want to run anymore,” said Bob. “I do not want to follow the footsteps of my

parents and colleagues, but I feel pressured to do so. I would be much happier if I could spend

my life doing something else.”

“I know someone who can help you, but beware...” A smirk crept onto the old man’s

face, which he was quick to hide from the naive young cheetah. “ Your requests will come with a

price.”

“Please tell me, I will do anything to get away from this miserable life!”

“Come with me.”

The old cheetah rose slowly and painfully and began to walk toward the field of tall

grass. Bob followed the cheetah, completely oblivious to what he was getting into. After walking
together for quite some time, the grass began to clear. A small shrine appeared in the clearing,

and the old cheetah told Bob to call to the god of the animal kingdom.

The god of the animal kingdom slowly floated down from the sky. He glowed red like the

color of blood since he enjoyed watching all the animals kill each other and compete for food in

their struggle to survive. He had a serene look on his face, and small dots all over his body, one

for every thousand deaths that he oversaw, and black ink in his hand to add the next dot. He

looked with approval at the old cheetah, and the old cheetah returned to the tall grass to recruit

more young cheetahs.

Intimidated, yet determined, Bob the cheetah approached the god of the animal kingdom.

He was tired of only eating small gazelles and wanted more variety on his platter. Bob asked the

god for more ways to get his food. The god’s eyes lit up in response. He offered to grant Bob’s

wish, in exchange for a quarter of his speed. The god warned him that he would not be able to

give Bob his speed back if he agreed to the deal, since the god had plenty of other problems and

requests to attend to. Bob quickly agreed to the deal and gained the ability to swim and hold his

breath longer, fly, climb trees, and camouflage. He looked forward to showing the other cheetahs

his new abilities and exploring the world for new prey to kill, as the god cackled in the

background.

Bob flew back home with the falcons in the sky, receiving plenty of strange looks. He

struggled to keep up with the falcons, and his stomach began to growl. He spotted a large fish in

the water and swooped down to pick it up. However, the falcons had trained to fly to catch their

prey all their lives. With his teeth inches from his victim, one of the falcons stole the fish right

before the cheetah’s eyes. “Too slow!” teased the falcon. The falcon rejoined his friends and left
Bob in the dust. Luckily, plenty of other fish swam in the water. At first, they darted from Bob,

keeping as big a distance as they could. But after seeing how unable Bob was to keep up with

them, they began to taunt him, just like the falcon. They had trained to swim since the day they

were born, but Bob was completely new to the game. Bob felt like Tantalus, unable to eat the

food that was inches from his grasp.

Bob caved and returned to the cheetah academy, apologetic for his actions and begging

for something to eat. However, every cheetah was expected to find food themselves. Bob began

to chase a gazelle out of desperation, but he could not catch the gazelle either. The god enjoyed

the show from above, an artist admiring his new work. As the sun began to fall, Bob decided to

be smart with how he caught his prey. He began stalking a young gazelle resting nearby in the

grass. Bob’s mouth watered, and tears came to his eyes since this was such an easy target. As he

continued his stealthy approach, he collapsed out of hunger and exhaustion with the gazelle just

out of his reach. Hearing the thump on the ground, the gazelle ran off as well.

The god of the animal kingdom watched Bob lay in the grass with anticipation, black ink

in hand. As Bob lay in the grass, finally realizing his mistake in choosing too many abilities

without worrying about quality, the god added another black spot to his body, a medal for his

latest success.

Meaning: Mastering one skill is more useful than learning many.

Literary devices: Imagery, Dramatic Irony, Foreshadowing