Mount Ararat

Hey Guys! 

It's me, King, here again! 

A cute pic of me on my first day of school 3 years ago!  from Pinterest

Today I am writing to you from my doggie bed, I just got back from saving a baby (a story for another time), so I am awfully tired but still want to write! 

My story today is gonna be about my recent adventures on Mount Ararat right on the border of Armenia and Turkey! I am a very well traveled dog and I was called on a top secret mission (but don't worry, it is now unclassified) to help find and save soldiers from the top of the mountain. 

When I first heard I was called there, I decided to do some research on my future location. As a Search and Rescue Dog, it is ALWAYS a good idea to know where you are going to be searching and what type of dangers and hurdles you'll be facing! 

Mount Ararat is a 12,000 ft high mountain,  which is roughly 2,000 ft shorter than Pikes Peak, for scale. The mountain is widely accepted by Christians as the place where Noah's Ark landed, which for a long time was never able to be proved because no one was able to hike the summit until 1829! Unfortunately for them, there has been no concrete evidence of a massive Ark found on the mountain. The soldiers I would be looking for would be around the 10,000 feet mark. Apparently they were trying to reach the summit and got lost! An easy mistake, even for mountain climbing professionals like me! 

Mount Ararat by Wikipedia

After doing my research, I packed up my specially made backpack and Search and Rescue vest and headed out the door. It was a long flight, but finally I made it to the mountain, and boy was it cold! I slowly trudged my way up the mountain, and each step was getting harder and harder. The snow was getting so thick I started to think I might need snowshoes! 

Finally, after a full day of trekking up the mountain, I started to pick up a smell. It smelled like the sniff rag one of the other Search and Rescuers gave me to smell. Could it be one of the missing soldiers? I started to get excited, and got a new boost of energy. The sun had just set, but luckily I am a dog so I have excellent night vision. I raced around following the scent, and suddenly it started to get stronger and stronger. I started digging down into the snow, and the smell got even STRONGER! Suddenly, my claws scratched something that was definitely not snow. I whined loudly to let the other rescuers know that I found something.  (They might not have night vision, but they do have very large flashlights.)

I quickly unburied the body of a man who was very blue and very cold. Scared that he was dead, I immediately started licking his face. The more I licked him, the more he started warming up. Finally, I had licked him so much that his eyes flickered open and he started to cough! I barked a loud bark of joy. I had saved him!! The other rescuers ran over and started giving him blankets and doing emergency medical care. I knew my job was done with that man, but my job was NOT done on the mountain. 

I ran frantically all around, picking up more and more scents. Each man I unburied seemed dead at first but suddenly would resuscitate once I started licking him! This would definitely be a handy little super power to have at home too. I wondered why I never tried it before! Maybe it only works for men who have been frozen in the snow though. Or maybe just on Mount Ararat? 

All in all, I saved over 62 men from a frozen grave at the top of the mountain. My best rescue record by far! I was so glad I was able to save so many men's lives, and get them home safe and sound to their families again! I know they were all very grateful for my services, because they called Aralez! Aralez was apparently an ancient mythological dog who saved soldiers long ago on the very same mountain, just like I did! I feel incredibly honored and it makes me so much more sure that this is the job I am meant to be doing. Not only do I get to travel the world, but I get to save lives?? I must be the luckiest dog in the world! 

Author's Note: 

I wrote this story based off the myth of Aralez. Aralez was a mythological dog-like creature from Armenia, who supposedly lived in the sky, and who was known to save soldiers. Aralezes apparently had wings as well and would fly down to Mount Ararat to lick the wounds of the dead soldiers which would bring them back to life. I liked this story because the Aralez were seen as heroes, versus a lot of myths where dogs can be seen in more villainous roles! (For example, the Axehandle Hound from Minnesota, or the famous Hound of the Baskervilles, or even the myths of black dogs as ghosts in Europe.) I think the myth of Aralez works really well because of my idea of King the Search and Rescue German Shepherd. Aralezes were known to be bigger dogs so it was fitting with King being a German Shepherd Dog and not something smaller like my other favorite dogs, Pugs. I decided to make my storybook about dogs because they are my favorite animals, and I wanted to highlight how amazing they can be. Instead of making each story about a different dog character, I am making each dog myth told all from the perspective of King. I also decided since each story is going to be from a different geographical region it would be really cool to add a little bit of history about where King is going to be during that current story and what is so special about it. 

Bibliography: 

The story of Aralez via Wikipedia, link to story