Storytelling for Week 12: The Illusion

There were once two different people that were very different from one another. One was a man that did not have much money for himself. His name is Phillip. The other man had all the money and wealth that he could want. His name is Robert. These two men's characters were also very different in many ways. The wealthier man was not very smart and was very greedy. The other man was more of like a modern-day Robin Hood and was very clever.

The two met on a nice sunny day because they were both in a coffee shop together. Phillip was listening in on Robert's conversation he was having over the phone with one of his clients. Robert was discussing how bad he wanted to find this special kind of gold that is supposedly lost forever. However, had heard it had recently resurfaced. While all of this conversation was taking place, Phillip's interest was increasing so he started listening closer.

Phillip started to think of ways to trick the man into giving him a large amount of money. Phillip finally figured it out and thought, "I think that I could make small bricks of concrete that are in the shape of gold bricks and coat them in gold paint." Then he restarted thinking his idea because he knew Robert would never fall for a simple plan like that and would have to be much more clever. He decided to get Robert drunk somehow.

Phillip approached Robert at his table and said, "I couldn't help but overhear you talking about how you had been looking for a rare type of gold and I think I may have just the one you are looking for." Before Robert could actually think about the mistake he was about to make, Phillip took him to a bar next door to celebrate and get a few drinks to block the judgment he might have of the false blocks. He thought for sure this would help him get away with the scheme he had planned.

After the two had been in the bar for quite some time, Robert went to the bank to gather the money in exchange for the bricks. Meanwhile Phillip hurried home to create these false bricks that he had lied about having. Robert was fast to show up to Phillip's house but somehow Phillip finished the bricks right before he had walked in.  A few of the bricks that were finished last were still drying while Robert walked through the door. Robert, picking up one of the bricks, not being able to tell they were false bricks, gave Phillip all of the money he had asked for and loaded them into his armored truck.

Before Robert could realize that the bricks were false, Phillip took the money to a local charity location and gave them the money to feed the homeless people and help with the funding for them to have jobs. This earned him a strong reputation around town because he had helped so many people that they didn't question where he got the money.

The False Gold

Author's Note:

This story is based off the story "The Priest Who Learned to be a Philosopher." The original story is about a philosopher that goes to a priest and asks for money. The priest loans the philosopher the money and the philosopher offers to show the priest a trick. The philosopher says that a priest like himself would not be interested in a little magic to get his attention. The priest becomes intrigued and offers money to the philosopher to show him how to do magic. The philosopher shows the priest two different tricks to make the priest believe he was doing actual magic. The priest begs the philosopher to show him how the magic is done. When the philosopher shows the priest the magic and receives the money he takes off before he could find out it was false. In my story I wanted to give a more modern feel for the story. I also wanted to have the thief actually end up doing something good with the money. I crossed the story form this weeks reading with the principle behind Robin Hood to give more of a familiar aspect to the story. The picture I chose is what a gold brick looks like. 

Bibliography:

"The Priest Who Learned to be a Philosopher" by Eva March Tappan, from Canterbury Tales (1908). Web Source: UNtextbook