Week 2 Storytelling: Who is President?

The day was here. It was the 2nd of January, the day every year that the animals of the New York City Zoo would choose two contestants to go to the animal version of Jeopardy. The winner of the show every year would become president of the zoo for a year.

King Max, one of the only lions at the zoo, was last year's winner of Jeopardy. He was funny and proud of who he was. Many of the other animals at the zoo were envious of him. 

King Max stepped onto the podium in front of the gathered crowd of animals.

"Ladies and gentleman, it is that time of year again. It is time to cast your ballots for this year's contestants of Jeopardy. My dear friend, Anthony the lion, will be picking up the ballots. 

The animals in the crowd furiously began scribbling on their sheets of paper. Anthony made his way through the crowd and began picking up the ballots. After a few minutes of silence, the giraffes began to tally up the ballots. 

Max pulled out a small mirror and began glancing at his reflection and looked down at his claws. He was one of the best looking animals at the zoo, after all. 

One of the giraffes whispered for Max to come over to the table. The giraffe quickly handed a piece of paper to Max and he began to make his way back up to the podium. He grabbed the microphone in his hand and began to clear his throat. 

"Ehh hmmm Ehh hmmm...Ladies and gentlemen, your 2016 Jeopardy contestants for this year are...," a big smile crept onto his face. "Max the lion, and and and, CHESTER?!" 

A hush fell over the crowd and some people even gasped. Chester, a slender leopard, made his way to the front of the crowd. He stood right by Max.

"Yes, that's me," Chester said as he pushed his glasses on his nose and adjusted his bow tie. 

Max looked at him in utter disgust. 

"Ladies and Gentleman, your 2016 Jeopardy! contestants!," one of the giraffes said. 

The audience cheered.    

Chester knew this was his chance of becoming president of the New York City Zoo. He spent the next three days pulling all nighters studying for Jeopardy. After all, he knew the main reason why Max was chosen again to be a contestant was because he was good looking. Most of the lady animals voted Max in, and the rest of the animals did not really care for him. They knew Max was extremely full of himself and that bothered them. 

The day was here. It was time to play Jeopardy. 

The animals gathered around the zoo stage one last time. 

Chester stood on the stage confidently. Max began to look at himself in the mirror again.

An ostrich stood in the middle of the two contestants.

On the giant screen the board lit up. 

"Alright, now I will ask you both a question and whoever buzzes in first will...", the ostrich was shortly cut off by Max. 

"Yeah, yeah, we know how this works," Max laughed. Everyone stared at him and no one echoed his laugh.

"Anyway, as you will see up on the screen, here are your categories: Movie quotes, History, Poetry, World Literature, and Politics," the ostrich said. 

"I'll take History for 200," Chester said. 

"Are you serious?! It's either go for the big questions or nothing," Max said. Chester quickly ignored him.

"Founder of the New York City Zoo", the ostrich said. Both contestants buzzed in, but Max buzzed in a little bit faster. 

"Who is Alexander Davis?," Max said. 

"That's correct."

"I'll take Politics for 600," Max said. 

"President of the New York City Zoo in 1959."

This time Chester buzzed in faster than Max. 

"Who was Jacob the bear?", Chester said. 

"That's correct."

The next question would determine who would be the president of the New York City Zoo for 2016.

"I'll take World Literature for 800," Chester said. 

Chester knew he had a chance on winning Jeopardy if he chose World Literature as the last category. He knew that Max had never even picked up a book in his life.

Chester could see Max begin to sweat. Chester smiled and took a deep breath. 

"The author of the Animal Kingdom: The Journey to the Great Beyond."     

Max quickly buzzed in.

"Who is...uh...uh...Bob the snake?," Max said. 

"I'm sorry but that's incorrect. Now Chester, you have a chance on answering this question," the ostrich said. 

The whole crowd stared at Chester. Chester smiled because he knew he could even say this answer in his sleep.

"Who is Bartholomew the rhino?," Chester said. 

"THAT'S IT! CHESTER WINS!," the ostrich yelled. 

The crowd rushed onto the stage and carried Chester back to his home. 

"CHESTER! CHESTER!," they all chanted.

Max stood on the stage in utter disbelief. He could not believe he was no longer president.   

("Le lion et le leopard" Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Author's note: I based this story off of the Aesop Fable, The Fox and the Monkey. This story is closely related to the fable because one animal tricks another animal and is chosen to be the ruler instead. I changed the type of animals in my story to put a fun spin on the original. I also made Chester seem like someone who was liked by the majority of the animal population versus just someone trying to steal the throne. I also incorporated the show Jeopardy! into my story because when I was brainstorming, I saw one of the random suggested storytelling ideas was to tell your story from a TV show host's perspective. Out of all the game shows I thought of, I thought Jeopardy would be the best one to choose because it seemed like it would be one of the most interactive game shows. I also wanted to have Max and Chester have to play a game show to become president instead of just be picked by voting. I  also thought it would be fun and keep people engaged if I made my story focused around a game show. Lastly, I also thought it would be fun to write a story about a leopard and a lion because I pictured different cats in a zoo constantly having fights with one another. 

Bibliography: The Aesop for Children, with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919)