Frame+Story

**//Tell the aliens a good tale from earth, or face your country's annihilation.... (excerpt from the// 1001 Flat World Tales//, 1st Ed.)://**
"Look at them..the human race is so uninteresting. They are stupid, they are ignorant, and most of all, they are hopelessly boring. They are not worthy of this planet called Earth. Let's destroy them, so we can take their land and use the humans for 'human-testing'," Chief Zen suggested. "No, Chief Zen, give them a chance. The human race is famous for storytelling. Let them entertain us before we act too harshly," Zero replied. "Fine, Zero. But if the story doesn't please me--we destroy the storyteller and his/her country," Chief Zen said. "Great idea, Chief. Bring forth your storytellers, humans...."

= =

**The story so far....**
An alien race comes to Earth from approximately a million light years away. Why had they come? They had great expectations of humans. They had heard from passerby that humans were "extremely interesting, intelligent, and beautiful creatures." In curiosity, they underwent a dangerous journey to meet them. They had engine problems, they faced food shortages, and suffered fifty years stuck inside a spacecraft---all to meet the humans. They are angry to see that humans are nothing of what they'd expected, and they couldn't find what they were looking for--"interesting" humans. The aliens request all countries via Internet to bring forth storytellers representing their country. The aliens capture these storyteller representatives and hold them hostage in their spacecraft. Each person tells their story showing part of their country's culture. As each storyteller speaks, he/she risks the fate of their life and their country.

--writers: Jessica Yun and Pola Shim, grade 9 ('06-'07), Korea.