Being the youngest made it even worse. He was constantly teased because he "obviously did not have a power" if he could not show them. It was for their own good that he didn't show them but they would never understand.
One day, the teasing reached a point that Jacob could no longer take it. This was the day that everyone did indeed see his power and knew he was the strongest of all.
Jacob's oldest brother, Ivan, flew down from the top of the house where he had been hiding and took Jacob's toy that he had just received for his birthday a week earlier. He took it and placed it amongst the tallest trees where only he could reach.
"Ivan! Why do you always have to be so mean?" inquired Jacob.
"Tell you what. If you show me your super power then I will not only get your toy back but I will never tease you again," said Ivan.
"Boo!" came a voice directly behind Jacob.
It was his other brother. Brian had the power of invisibility and seemed to use it mostly to pop out and scare Jacob whenever the chance presented itself.
"I too will join Ivan in leaving you alone if you would just finally show your true power to us," bargained Brian.
"I have already told you guys. I can't show you because I don't want to hurt anyone," explained Jacob.
At this point, all the pestering was getting to Jacob. He knew that he couldn't fall into the trap of becoming angry because then he couldn't control his super power. As hard as he tried, the appearance of the fourth and final brother, Luke, sent him over the edge.
Luke had the power of telepathy and used it this time to tear down the wall keeping Jacob from losing his cool. He focused his energy and was able to summon Jacob's teddy bear from his room through an open window. He further used his energy to open the nearest trash can and toss Jacob's precious teddy inside.
As his older brothers laughed, something began to change within Jacob. The ground began to tremble and the trees began to shake on a windless day.
"I asked you nicely to stop teasing me," warned Jacob with a steely glare.
The young boy began to grow and grow until he was the bigger than the house. As he began to rage out of control, nothing in his path was safe. The three older brothers began to flee in fear of their lives as Jacob clobbered everything in site: cars, trees, and even the house. As if in a blind rage, Jacob destroyed everything the family had.
"Jacob! You calm down right this instant!" exclaimed a soft, yet strong voice from the direction of the smoldering house.
It was four brother's mother. Her soothing voice calmed Jacob and she rushed to hug him.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I told them to stop messing with me. I didn't mean to destroy the house," gasped the young boy.
"Don't worry, my son. Your brothers now know to not be on your bad side. As for the house, don't fret because I have the most amazing power of them all," claimed their mother.
With one fell swoop of her arm that seemed to require the tiniest of efforts the cars, the trees, and lastly the house were all reassembled in mere seconds.
"Now wash up! Dinner will be ready in 15 minutes!"
 |
| Jacob...SMASH!! (Deviant Art) |
----------
Author's Note: This story found its inspiration from The Four Brothers from Twenty-Two Goblins translated by Arthur W. Ryder and illustrated by Perham W. Nahl (1917). I used the original story and changed the events to include superheroes. The original story is of four brothers who each can each make a certain part of a dead animal with the last having the ability to give the animal life. In the story the last brother breathes life into the lion the other brothers have helped creating. The lion comes to life and ultimately kills all four brothers. I decided to give the four brothers super powers and added a little amusement at the end of the story with the mother. The inspiration for Jacob's power came from the Incredible Hulk and all the other brothers were given more generic super powers.
Wow, what a creative take on the original story! I love that you changed the brothers to have awesome super powers that we would see in a Marvel movie today. I also love that the brothers did not all die at the end like in the original. The mother with her great restorative super power was a nice touch as well.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, I really enjoyed reading your story. I am a big Marvel fan so it was cool that you gave one of the brothers the ability to become like the Hulk. Your adaptation is definitely happier than the original, which I almost always prefer to sad stories. I am glad that the four brothers lived in the end and I thought it was funny to end it with the mother calling the boys in for dinner.
ReplyDeleteI read Twenty-Two Goblins as well. I think that it was cool that you gave the brothers superpowers and changed them into Marvel Superheroes. That was a really creative take on the story. I also liked that you didn’t make the brothers die at the end. Making the mother have her own superpowers was a cool creative spin on the original story. Good job.
ReplyDeleteWill,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your story! I liked how you incorporated superpowers into this story to make the characters seem like the superheroes that we have grown accustom to. I also really liked how you chunked the paragraphs to make the story more centered around the flow of conversation; it made it very easy to read. The twist with the mother at the end was a great way to finish it up. It really put it back into perspective that they were all brothers and added a great element of humor. I am a little curious about the exact happenings of the original story after reading your author’s note. It was a little vague on the details of the original story. There were only a few little mistakes that I found in the story. One was in the author’s note when you had the wrong tense and said “creating” instead of “created.” This was a great read overall!