The Man and the Phoenix

I had to write a fable for my English class, so I decided, why not put it up for you guys to read?? Enjoy!!!

One fine summer afternoon, a young man decided that he would hunt in a wood. Seeing a lard, exotic bird he had never seen before, he aimed his gun at it. Suddenly, the bird yelled, “Spare me my life, good sir, that I might repay you with life!” 

Startled by the bird, the young man jumped back, nearly shooting himself. “Y-you talk!” The bird nodded solemnly, tears in its eyes. “I am a mythical Phoenix. I am one of the last of my kind, sir, and I do not wish to end my life so soon!”

The young man, seeing the Phoenix’s inner turmoil, did not shoot the bird. 

The Phoenix smiled (or maybe he smirked, seeing as the bird’s beak didn’t show expressions very well) and sang, “Thank you, sir! You’ve done me a good deed. Now, as I have promised, I grant you life.” 

The man laughed. “Forget life, I’m already living! What I need is money. I want to have enough money for whatever I please whenever I wish!” The bird nodded, beat his wings together, and disappeared. Thinking the Phoenix cheated him, the young man hung his head, saddened. Then, he noticed it. A small brown bag was at his feet. The man quickly picked it up and examined its contents. The bag was filled with gold coins. Estatic, the man tried to pour out the gold to count his new wealth, but no matter how much he poured out, there was still as much gold in the bag as he had started with. “This is like Elijah and the widow’s oil jars!” The man exclaimed. He ran home to share his experience in the woods with his wife and children. The family quickly moved into a grand castle and lived a life of luxury. Everyone in the family was happy with the new wealthy life. Everyone except for the man. Every night, he dreamed that his bag of money was stolen. And when he wasn’t sleeping, he was thinking about how to keep the money safe. Eventually, his wife became fed up and distraught by the man’s obsession and devotion to the money and left to return to the old cottage with the children in tow. Slowly but surely, the man’s health deteriorated as he became more and more miserable with his wealth. On his deathbed, the man noticed the Phoenix resting at the foot of his bed. Angry, the man sat up. “You! How dare you! You promised me life! And… And I’ve been simply miserable!” The man began to cry as he buried his head into his hands. “I lost everything- my wife and kids…” 

The Phoenix calmly said, “Yes. I did promise you life. And life is what I will now give to you.” 

The Phoenix beat his wings together, and suddenly, the man was young and healthy again. The young man realized he was in front of his old cottage. With tears in his eyes, he ran into the home where he discovered his wife and children laughing and playing. He embraced then all, tears flowing steadily. He looked up and noticed the Phoenix through a window. He smiled at the bird, and whispered. “I had wealth all along, didn’t I?” The Phoenix nodded, smiled, and flew away, leaving the young man with his family. 

Moral: You never truly know what you have until it’s gone. 

Author's Note

How was that? I know it may seem kind of generic and obvious, so please ignore that. Other than that, how was it? Spelling errors? Grammatical mess-ups?