August 19, 2008, 11:39 pm by Brett

I found the rhetorical exercises in Chapter One of Ancient Rhetoric, by Crowley and Hawhee to be of great interest. The practice of progymnasmata and declamation in ancient times taught students to prepare for active citizenship. As I read about the techniques and methods rhetoricians used to instruct their students, I reflected upon my own education and realized I had no similar experiences. I figure for my reading response, I will take a stab at the first level of progymnasmata, the fable. Enjoy:

There once was a cheetah named Tuma. He spent his days of youth roaming the grasslands of Africa with his mother and two brothers. Tuma and his brothers needed to learn how to hunt in order to survive. Their mother showed them how to run, lengthening their strides farther and farther. She encouraged the three to race while she hunted for the evening’s meal. 

While Tuma sat in the comfortable shade of an umbrella thorn tree, his brothers raced each other in the sweltering sun. Back and forth they ran, and in between races they approached their brother panting, ‘Come run, with us, Tuma. You must lengthen your stride!’ Tuma said, ‘No, brothers. You go on. I must see to this tree.’

The year came when the mother left the brothers to fend for themselves, so they traveled together for a while. Tuma could never catch his own meal, and his brothers only allowed him scraps of their own. Soon they needed even the scraps to store enough energy for the next hunt. Tuma was forced to leave them. He now spends his time foraging for carrion like a coyote. 

If you listen closely, you can hear Tuma’s cackle, cracking as he attempts his lonely coyote call under his umbrella thorn tree.