In Language Arts, we had to read and re-create in the form of a comic, an animation, and in other ways a story from the book Wisdom Tales. I did my project as a Scratch Project. For mine, I chose a story called The Wooden Sword. It derives from Afghanistan. The challenging part about using Scratch for such a long story is that It was incredibly difficult to code, but in the end, it was worth it.
In the tale, there is a king that worries a lot. He wants to know if others worry as much as him. He disguises himself as a beggar. He finds a poor cobbler, and the cobbler shares his meal with the king. When asked how he will afford his next meal, he responds, “Day by day, all will be well.” The king decides to test the man’s faith.
The next day, an announcement from the king states that you are not allowed to get shoes repaired, instead you must buy new ones. The king returns, expecting to see the man without food. Instead, the man shares an even finer meal. When asked how he paid, he said he helped carry water. The king asked what he would do if there was no water to be carried. Again the man said, “Day by day, all will be well.”
The next day, there was another announcement. It said that one must carry their own water. Again the king returned thinking that surely this time the man would have no food. Again, he was greeted by an even finer meal. When asked how, he said he became a woodcutter. Again the king asked, “What if no one needs their wood cut?”
The cobbler once again replied “Day by day, all will be well.”
The day after that, all the woodcutters were rounded up to become soldiers. At the end of a long day, he asked the general for his pay. The general told him they only got paid once a month. On his way home, he decided to sell the royal blade. He planned to buy it back at the end of the month with his pay. Before dinner, he carved a wooden blade to put into his sheath.
When the king returned, he was shocked. He knew that there was no way the man could have afforded the meal. When asked how, the man told him of his plan. The king advised, “That is not wise. What if you need your blade tomorrow? Or the day after that?” But the man shrugged it off. “Day by day, all will be well.”
The next day, the general, a man, and a mob burst in. The thief pleaded innocence while the general ordered the former cobbler to chop his head. The man knew if he drew his blade, he would be arrested, so he thought fast and came up with an idea. He said, “If this man is guilty, let me do the king’s command. If he is innocent, let the blade of my sword turn to wood.” When he drew his wooden sword, the crowd gasped.
Later, the king, who had seen what had happened, came down to the man and asked, “Do you recognize me?” The man said, “Of course, you are the king.” “No,” the king replied, “I am the beggar you fed each night.” As he spoke, the man recognized him by his worry lines. And from that day on, the former cobbler became the man’s trusted advisor.