Week 11 Story: Bill and Willy

There once lived two rednecks, Bill and Willy. For some odd and unexplainable reason, they were also powerful wizards. However, unlike their fellow wizards in England who went to school to refine their powers and fight forces of evil, they mostly used their abilities to play pranks on one another. One day, Willy was fishing out on the lake in is flat-bottom, aluminum boat. Willy went fishing almost everyday and was especially proud of his tackle box. He had put charms and spells on his lures to make them nearly irresistible to the fish he was trying to catch. On this particular day, Bill happened to be passing by the lake on his way into town. As he looked across the water, and saw Willy’s boat. Having already polished off his first six pack, Willy had dozed off with hook in the water. Bill, being the prankster he was, waded into the water a little ways and transfigured himself into a 25 pound largemouth bass. As a fish, he swam over to Willy’s hook in the water, hooked himself, and began swimming hard in the opposite direction. Willy was jarred awake and scrambled to control the line. As Willy struggled to reel in his catch, the fish jumped out of the water. Willy couldn’t believe the size of the fish on the end of his line and was now more determined than ever to win the battle. Just as Willy had hope that he might win, Bill snapped the line, taking the magic lure with him. Willy was left with nothing but a story.

Later that night, both Willy and Bill met some friends at the local cantina. Willy told his fishing tale saying that it was the biggest bass he had ever seen and how close he was to catching it. Then he told everyone how the fish snapped his line and took his prized lure. As soon as Willy finished his story, Bill broke out in uncontrollable laughter. Willy, getting mad at Bill for laughing at his story, asked what was so funny. Bill, who had laughed so hard he made himself cry, wiped the tears from his eyes and pulled the lure out from his front pocket. Immediately realizing he had fallen for another one of his friend’s pranks, snatched the lure from Bill and stormed out.

A 22-pound Largemouth Bass. Source: Outdoor Life

Author's Note:

My story is based off of a story of two Eskimo wizards. In that story, one wizard gets revenge on the other by transforming into a walrus and fooling the other much the same way Bill fools Willy. The only major changes I made were to the setting and, unlike the original folk tale, I did not give a reason for Bill to fool Willy other than he thought it would be funny.

Bibliography:

"Tunguujuluk and Saunikoq" from Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).