How the Dog Got his Bark

(With apologies to Rudyard Kipling)

Long ago, when the world first began, dogs were quiet animals. They did what they were told, particularly when it came to fetching things, and lived a quiet life, usually.

One particular dog, named Terry, liked to jump on people to get their attention. He lived with a man named Joe. Joe did not like to be jumped on. Every time Terry jumped up to get Joe’s attention, Joe hit him with a stick.

This was not very nice. Terry did not like to be hit with a stick. But he still wanted to get Joe’s attention sometimes.

One night, Joe was asleep and Terry was resting at the foot of Joe’s bed. He wasn’t quiet tired yet, so he just rested. Then he heard something approaching. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew it wasn’t good. He stood up on his four legs. Joe kept sleeping. Then Terry realized that it was a big bear. The animal was coming toward Joe in his bed. Terry realized that Joe was not going to wake up before the bear attacked him.

Terry knew he would be hit by the stick if he jumped on Joe. But he wanted to protect Joe. He jumped up on Joe. Joe, as was his instinct, grabbed the stick, which was under his pillow. But Joe missed Terry. Terry, in his excitement, swallowed the stick. Joe was still kind of asleep. Terry didnâ’t like the feeling of the stick in his throat so he tried to cough it out. It wouldn’t budge. But instead of silence, a sound came out:

“Rroof! Rroof!”

Joe jumped up. The combination of the noise from Terry and Joe’s movement caused the bear to flee. And both Terry and Joe were safe.

From then on, whenever Terry wanted to get Joe’s attention, he would simply”Rroof”, and Joe would respond. Joe liked that much better.

And that is how the dog got his bark.

[Note: Technically, I don’t think I quite followed the prompt, as it was supposed to be a “modern” take on a fairy tale. Instead, I did my own take on Kipling’s “Just So Stories” idea. It’s the first thing that came to mind.]