An example of one of the best student stories written after the workshop I presented last week at Bishop Martin School in San Ignacio, Belize. The following story describes el cadejo the shape shifting dog. This creature roams the villages and reminds people of the ever present battle between good and evil; we always have the choice to do the right thing. This is a “real” spirit. Ivan Hernandez, age 11 wrote:
In the village of Santa Familia there lives the cadejos. They are the largest of all dogs with the ugliest of faces. There are two cadejos from what I’ve heard. The white one signifies love and peace. On the other hand, the black one with red firey eyes that burn like the fires of hell signifies the demons and all things that are bad. They are said to be found in many places, but I met these two in the unforgiving forest.
One night while I was camping I met the evil cadejo feeding on what looked like a baby deer. His red and gruesome looking eyes were staring right at me like an irritated bull ready to charge. I was scared to death at this horrible sight. At the blink of an eye it arose from its meal and came loping slowly towards the troop of campers and me. I was shaking with fear as it growled at us. I knew we couldn’t run because it would catch us for sure. At this mind grueling suspense, out of nowhere another collosal dog galloped and stood bravely in front of us. He was growling ferociously at the black cadejo. When I saw their faces I knew the battle was about to begin. Suddenly, a black mist shrouded the black cadejo as it sprinted towards us, but the was cadejo was in its way. The black cadejo threw a paw and hit the white cadejo with all its might. This was an all out battle between good and evil. The mist intoxicated the white cadejo and it landed right in front of me. I could not believe my ears when it whispered to me. It said, “you must pray to help me win this battle.” So I told the troop to start praying. They all did and finally the white cadejo got up and gave the black cadejo an all out smack down; “Pow! Thump! Paw! We couldn’t believe our eyes!
The sun started to rise and I noticed that the cadejos were starting to fade in the light, but in the dull picture we could still see them fighting. To this day I believe they are still at battle….