Once upon a time, a man named Jack was looking for a job in his town, Carmel. He was a poor man. It was 6 pm but Jack hadn’t found a job yet. He went back to his wife, Susan, and his kids, Tom, and Elissa.
That night, Jack was sitting at his kitchen table thinking about where he should look to find a job. Suddenly, a man said, “Hello, Jack.”
Jack turned around to find that the mayor was already sitting next to him. He had already come in from the back door of Jack’s house. Jack was surprised, he didn’t know why the mayor came to his house. Why did the mayor come to a house of a poor man like him?
Jack said, “Hello sir. What, what are you doing here sir? Are you lost or what? I think it’s the wrong house.”
The mayor replied, “No, I am sure that I am in the right house.”
When Jack heard that, he brought a dish that had a little bit of bread on it.
The mayor said, “I am not here for eating. I came here tell you that we have a problem in our town and you are the only one that can help us.”
Jack answered, “What? I am the only one? But can I help you?”
The mayor replied, “ You know that this is winter. Consequently, our houses will become cold. So, to make it warm we need wood.That’s why we want you to go to the mountain, The Nest, and bring us wood from the forest. I need you, all the people of Carmel need you. And we will pay you for your work.”
Jack rode his horse to The Nest. It was completely covered by a large forest. It was 5 kilometers from Carmel.
When Jack arrived at the mountain, he started cutting wood with his axe. After 30 minutes, he had enough wood. He took the wood and put it on his horse. When he was getting out of the forest he heard a deep and long sound coming from the top of the mountain. He couldn’t turn around because of the wood and the horse. So, he continued on his way. Suddenly, the sound came again, but this time it was nearer. Jack decided to look behind to find out from where that sound was coming. When he turned around he watched a huge number of wild dogs running towards him. Jack hit his horse to take him away from the wild dogs. However, the crew of dogs wasn’t one that gives up easily. They came nearer and nearer. Jack figured out that the horse couldn’t run faster because of the heavy wood. So, he threw off the wood. When he did, the dogs stopped stalking him. Jack didn’t understand what was happening. Therefore, when he arrived at the town he went quickly towards the mayor’s office and told him what happened.
The mayor said, “What! Wild dogs! Near my town! Jack, are you sure about that?”
Jack answered, “Yes sir.”
The mayor said, “That’s terrible. If they had came to the town, our kids would be eaten.”
The mayor added, “ Let’s go and tell the people this.”
Jack asked, “But why?”
The mayor answered, “We are going to keep those wild dogs as far as possible from this town.”
After telling the people the whole story, all the men of the town went to the mountain with axes, knives, and sticks in their hands.
Jack was thinking, “Why did these dogs stop when I threw the wood off? Why?”
After 45 minutes Jack and the men of the town had arrived at the forest. But there were no dogs.
The mayor asked, “Where are the wild dogs Jack?”
Jack went to a tree and started pretending that he was cutting it.
The mayor shouted, “What’s the matter with you? Are you out of your mind?”
Then they heard the sound that Jack had heard before.
A man said, “The wild dogs are coming.”
The mayor shouted, “Kill them all, men!”
Jack shouted, “No! We have to leave.”
The mayor said, “What! You brought us here, and now you -”
Jack interrupted. “This is all a huge mistake sir. I figured out now that they were trying to protect their forest. We have to leave right now; they won’t attack us if we do.”
The mayor shouted, “Get out of here, now!”
When the men got out of the forest the dogs stopped running. As a result, the men understood that the wild dogs didn’t want anybody to destroy their forest.
Jack said, “I apologize. This is all my fault.”
The mayor asked, “What now, Jack. From where we are going to bring the wood. This the only forest in our country.”
Jack answered, “I promise you that I will bring you all the wood that the people of the town need. But now we have to go back to the town.”
The next day Jack went to the forest on his horse and he took with him some meat. When he arrived, he gave it to the dogs. He was trying to make a friendship with those dogs.
On the third day he went to the forest and fed the dogs again.
Jack said, “Hi wild dogs , I am not trying to destroy your entire forest. I just need some wood from your forest to use it to warm the people’s houses.”
The wild dogs seemed like they had understood what Jack said. A dog picked up Jack’s axe with his mouth and threw it beside a tree. Then Jack understood that the dogs gave him their permision to cut some trees. Jack took the wood to the people in the town.
The mayor asked, “How did you do it?”
Jack answered, “The important thing is that I did it.”
Then Jack got up on his horse and said, “People of Carmel, the dogs gave us this wood from their forest to warm our houses. So, we have to do something to thank them and I suggest planting some trees and giving the wild dogs some meat to eat. That would be fair enough. If you agree put your hands up.”
All the people of the town put their hands up. That meant that Jack finally had a job to do.