Bibliography: Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang. Link
Authors Note: Arabian Nights is a story about a story about a story which eventually comes back to the original story. The girl, Scheherazade, facing death decides to spin a tale so interesting and clever that when time is up the Sultan cannot help but let her live to continue the next day. For this post I took Scheherazade's concept of recursion and made a story that models that type of storytelling.
The camel story included is based upon a true story my daddy told me about one of his many adventures in the United States Navy.
Caption: Grandpa telling a story
Finally, the day had come where Sam's oldest grandson, Charlie, was old enough to listen to a story. Sam had often prepared and dreamed for the day when he could sit Charlie on his lap with a nice Dr. Pepper on the table and spin a tale to win the affection of his grandson for all time. At the prompting of the child's small voice saying, "Tell a story grandpa?" he was ready to spring into a world so enamoring that Charlie would never want to get off his lap.
"Alright, Charlie, come on up here and get comfortable. There you go, take your shoes off and get comfy. Our story begins on a Navy ship. This is the kind of ship with men and women dressed in white with the white caps. One of the days out to sea, everything was working properly, a rare occasion you see, and the crew in charge of the large electrical room had nothing to do. The food on the ship was rationed well, so they could not go eat. There was no entertainment at the time, either, so they were in a pickle."
"Wait," said Charlie, "How are the people in a pickle? Pickles are not big enough for people to be in.."
"Ah, you are correct, Charlie. This pickle is a metaphor. It means that they needed to find something to do. To get themselves out of the boredom 'pickle', Johnson, the leader of the crew remembered a story he had heard on the ship's last tour to the Middle East."
"What kind of story, Johnson? Only if it isn't another war story," said Petty Officer Burnt.
"No no no, it isn't like that at all. Just listen. There was once a Liberty where the ship had an awful smell, and all the crewmen unnecessary to fix the problem were made to land. There was nothing to do in this city but to sit in this little cantina in the middle of the desert and look out at all the dirt. Presently one of the party spotted a camel, and for lack of anything better to do and as camel's are not normal to see in The States, the seamen fixed their eyes on this animal. At first, it didn't do much. It just chewed and swallowed, chewed and swallowed, and the company soon forgot they were watching it. This was, however, until one of the Petty Officers presently started laughing uncontrollably!"
"What in the world are you laughing at, Petty Officer? Speak up man!" the oldest in the party said.
"It's just, that camel! I was watching it, and a man passed by. When the man came upon the camel, the beast slobbered all over his head! The man was surprised and taken aback, and he walked away with his hair drenched. He was not happy at all!" said the Petty Officer.
Caption: The Spitting Image
At this account, the crew fixed their eyes on the camel once more. Presently, a lady with a burka came passing by and AGAIN the camel spit on her even worse than he did the man! OH this company had the best time watching the camel spit on unknowing passersby. The Petty Officer who first saw the sight said to himself when the day was over, "This will be a great story to tell my kids someday."
"That was a nice story Johnson, thanks for the recount," said another Petty Officer.
"Your welcome, it was based off a true story my buddy Sam told me."
At this, Charlie looked at his grandpa and asked, "Were you the officer who saw the camel, grandpa?"
"Ha, I was son, and it is actually your mom's favorite story from my days in the Navy." said Sam. He thought to himself that telling this story to Charlie was worth the wait.
