The Dog and the Elephant
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The Dog and the Elephant
A story from India that shows how friendship is more important than fine food and living the high-life.
This story includes a few words from the most used Indian language, Hindi.
Words translated by Jana Elizabeth.
Haan = Yes
Ji = In Indian culture, adding Ji after a name is meant to convey warmth and respect.
Doste = Friend
Haathi = Elephant
Ghee = Clarified butter
Dhal = Lentils
Adapted by Bertie.
Read by Richard.
Produced by Jana Elizabeth.
Illustrated by Bertie.
There was once an elephant who belonged to a maharajah of India and who lived in great style. The Maharajah’s personal chef prepared great quantities of rice for the elephant to eat every day - not just any old rice, but fluffy, savoury smelling basmati rice, with cardamon pods, cloves, cumin seeds and a touch of red saffron - a dish fit for a king or queen.
Now in the same palace there also lived a dog who belonged to one of the servants. He was not nearly so lucky as the elephant, and had to get by on a few dollops of butter called ghee or a spoonful or two of lentils called dhal for his breakfast. In the mornings, he would pass by the stable where the elephant lived and take in the wonderful smell of the rice. How he loved that aroma! But oh, how hungry it made him feel.
One day, the dog could hold back no longer. He slipped through a gap under the door to the stable, and saw the elephant eating his breakfast.
“Hail, oh great one!” said the dog. “I humbly ask if I may eat a few mouthfuls of your wonderful rice.”
“Haan-Ji doste,” said the elephant, which is a most respectful way of saying ‘yes my honoured friend’, and the dog, who was very much reassured by the elephant’s good manners, stepped forward and ate a share of the rice.
“Thankyou oh great Haathi.”
After that, the dog became a regular guest at the home of the elephant, and the two became great friends. When the elephant went out and about on Royal Business, the dog went too. He was starting to fill out and looked far less scrawny than before. In fact, he turned out to be quite a handsome young hound - so much so - that one day a wealthy man asked the elephant keeper if he could buy the dog.
Now the elephant keeper was not the master of this dog. He actually belonged to another servant in the palace, but seeing an opportunity to make a few rupees. He agreed a price with the wealthy man to let him take the dog away to his home.
Now neither the dog nor the elephant, nor indeed the dog’s rightful owner, was happy about this occurrence. The elephant keeper made up a story that the dog had run away. The elephant did not believe such a thin tale, and pined for his friend. He refused to eat his rice, no matter how tasty the chef made it. The Maharaja noticed how the prized elephant was growing thin, and sent his personal doctor to find out the cause. The doctor examined the elephant very carefully before reporting back to his master:
“Oh Great One,” he said, “I can find no physical cause for the honoured elephant’s distress, and I must conclude that his ailment is psychological. My conjecture is that he is pining for a lost loved one, or a much valued friend, who has died or otherwise gone away out of his life.”
The Maharaja called for the elephant keeper and related to him the words of the wise doctor. “Can you think who this prized loved one or dear friend might be?” he asked.
The elephant keeper knew right away that the dearest friend of the elephant was the dog. He told this to his master, and said that somebody had taken him away.
The Maharaja, when he heard this, put out a proclamation that whoever had taken the dog from the Royal Elephant Stables must return him or face severe punishment. The wealthy man heard this news, and hastily returned the dog to the elephant keeper. And the elephant keeper, who had spent most of the money he had received for the dog, returned a few rupees to the man. And in this way the two great friends, the dog and the elephant, were once again united, and both of them ate Royal Rice and thrived in each other's company. More importantly than food, they had love and friendship.
And Bertie says that this story is from a series of traditional Indian stories called The Jataka.
For now, from me Richard, Goodbye.
Leave a reply
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I love this story!!!!
Heidi — August 22, 2017
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good story
Ahmed — August 22, 2017
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i love this story good details
isaiah — August 22, 2017
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yes it was really fun and i loved it but why would he lie to his boss but i love this book and this app you guys rock
THINK YOU SO MUCH
sierra — August 22, 2017
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great story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fireghost — August 22, 2017
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Bertie where is elizabeth
i miss her style
Natasha and Richard are good but Elizabeth has not shown up in a long time
p.s
i am an indianmithal — August 22, 2017
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Dear Mithal, I know – we need to think up a nice series for Elizabeth to read, but she did do a few poems for us at the start of the summer including the wind and the moon
Jana Elizabeth — August 22, 2017
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Its ok
Tyler — August 22, 2017
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Who wrote this story??????????👦👦👦
Emmanuel — August 22, 2017
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can you make more stores from India please? I love this story
unicorn — August 22, 2017
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I haven’t even finished this story yet and i already love it!!!!! well, i’ve finshed it now! p.s, friendship is awesome!
sophia — August 22, 2017
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Wow, awesome story, is there a song that goes along to it?
Jemima — August 22, 2017
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Hello Jemima, yes there will be a song to it, abit later. Stay tuned 😊
Jana Elizabeth — August 22, 2017
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Love this story
GreteGrete — August 23, 2017
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This book was good
Malik — August 23, 2017
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Love it
Anton — August 23, 2017
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Bad😡
Bad — August 23, 2017
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I loved it it the best fable ever 🙂
Elsren — August 23, 2017
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nice story which is presenting Indian culture…..
radha — August 23, 2017
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THIS IS A GRATE STORY OF THE ELEPHANT AND THE DOG IT IS A FUNNY STORY LOL
Anonymous — August 23, 2017
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Yo-yo😝😝😝😝😝
Emmanuel — August 23, 2017
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I like the dog because he sounds like Astropup.
Joe — August 23, 2017
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My first time here and i love it!!
Aline — August 23, 2017
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Welcome to Storynory, Aline.
Jana Elizabeth — August 24, 2017
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this story is awesome I learned a lot of words from it and I thought it was fun
andro — August 23, 2017
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I like your story
karthik — August 24, 2017
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What was going on? I didn’t get it
Chameleon — August 24, 2017
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This is an awsame book It is touching
CHRISTIAN — August 24, 2017
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It is a good book 🙂
Anonymous — August 24, 2017
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My whole family loves the stories. We all listen on road trips and bed time. Thank you so much.
Monica — August 24, 2017
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good story
Anonymous — August 24, 2017
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Good story
Ksi — August 25, 2017
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Good one!
*spoiler*I hate the corrupt elephant keeper. How humble is the Rajah’s elephant! I liked the information about Jataaka, by the way.
Anonymous — August 25, 2017
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Hello Bertie,
I liked this story a lot.
Can you please narrate some more Jataka stories??Please reply,
Vallaree.
Vallaree — August 25, 2017
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Hello Valleree, We most certainly will be recording more Indian stories and songs. Many thanks.
Jana Elizabeth — August 25, 2017
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i have a dog
kaitlin — August 25, 2017
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this is a great story would read it again
Jordan — August 25, 2017
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luvly story
tasha — August 26, 2017
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It’s sweet, I like it.
Edith — August 26, 2017
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thank you i am happy to be here
yasser — August 26, 2017
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I LOVED THE STORY ❤
KHADIJAH — August 26, 2017
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Nice story
Anonymous — August 27, 2017
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Cute story
T — August 27, 2017
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The beautiful story!
Nastya — August 27, 2017
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We were looking for some good websites for stories and fables, my younger sister Abbie loves Aesop’s fables (I personally do too!) and we found StoryNory! Great job everyone
Caitlin — August 27, 2017
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I love it
Finn — August 28, 2017
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I love your story
Finn — August 28, 2017
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This is great. But tip. It was all too sudden. Maybe expand the story more. Instead of the wealthy man INSTANTLY returning the dog how about he hesitantly returned the dog. And same with the elephant. He just gave him the rice. Maybe he was like ” Hmm why? ” or something. You really need to expand the story. Because it was like so sudden. You never really got to know the personality of the characters and if you expanded it more people can relate to the characters which will make them more interested in the story. Sorry it’s long but it’s just some feedback from me personally. I like stories I can more relate to and aren’t so sudden. I know you guys aren’t completely professional and I defiantly ain’t. But I thought I would just help you out 🙂 Cheers
Unknown :) — August 28, 2017
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I agree with Unknown 🙂 it was just all to sudden I love reading and really relating to the story so yeah it’s a tip
Cheers 🙂Unknown #2 :) — August 28, 2017
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dear unknown thanks for interesting comment. We have lots of stories where we expand the characters but we try to vary things and make some short and sweet. In this story we decided to pick out a few aspects of Indian culture such as the food and greetings and highlight them for interest.
Bertie — August 28, 2017
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Wooooooooowww its so good, were is Elizabeth??
Kini — August 28, 2017
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Good book try and make a sport one next
Bryce — August 28, 2017
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great book i love it and its my first time and i want to read and listen to them all
Austin — August 28, 2017
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Thanks good story👍🏻😂😜
Janie — August 29, 2017
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omg i love this story it has so much righting
nicholas — August 30, 2017
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I love your stories Bertie could you do one about waffle please reply
Waffle — August 30, 2017
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I love it😍 Rice is yummy by the way
Waffle — August 30, 2017
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This story is fun and valuable. Love and Friendship are more important in my life than any others I think.
Lilac — August 30, 2017
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Thankyou Lilac, yes I ageee.
Jana Elizabeth — August 30, 2017
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not bad
samah — August 30, 2017
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I love it.good details i like it
heidi — August 30, 2017
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i tink its asowm
Anonymous — August 30, 2017
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I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SO COOL
isabela — August 30, 2017
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Cool story
Nicholas — August 31, 2017
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Cool 😎I love it
Chloe — August 31, 2017
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WHERE’S ASTROPUP
Dedicated Listener — August 31, 2017
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do not like itself one part
Brianna — August 31, 2017
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thank you : )
Lenah — August 31, 2017
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Such a good friendship 😍
Someone — August 31, 2017
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I like it
Shae — September 1, 2017
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i am indian
Isha — September 1, 2017
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Enjoyed story.
Marion — September 1, 2017
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I like this story alot!!!
Jake — September 1, 2017
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The story was good and very interesting .I have no complaints in the story.thank you.
Good story and well done.
Mrithini Muthuramalingam — September 2, 2017
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yes, I like it
Anonymous — September 3, 2017
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This story was really fun and I loved it! 😊
Lexi — September 3, 2017
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Oh, and thanks for teaching me some Hindi words!
Lexi — September 3, 2017
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You’re welcome, Lexi. I’m glad you enjoyed learning Hindi words from this story. We’ll be coming up with more Indian stories and songs.
Jana Elizabeth — September 4, 2017
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i liked how the Elephant was kind respectful and the dog was kind and brave xxx
Elena — September 4, 2017
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Thankyou El, yes exactly.. well done 😊
Jana Elizabeth — September 4, 2017
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Ok
Tyler — September 5, 2017
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I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Willow — September 5, 2017
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how to make it
sophie — September 6, 2017
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Very interesting!
Jun Heng — September 6, 2017
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This book is AAAAmaaazzziiinnnggg!!!!!!
Susana — September 8, 2017
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love it
raymond — September 8, 2017
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it was a good book and interesting book and i am looking forward to reading this again the animals were cute.
Anonymous — September 8, 2017
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Love this storyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
princess — September 8, 2017
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ITS HORRIBLE AND BORRING
EGYA — September 11, 2017
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give us more plase
braylen — September 11, 2017
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It is very boring plus I did not get what the story was saying.
Esha — September 11, 2017
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i loved it and egay is in my class tho it was good tho make more
braylen JR — September 11, 2017
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bad story 😒
poop — September 12, 2017
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really good story
kaylee — September 12, 2017
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It was Ok !!!
Dixie — September 12, 2017
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I love this story
lucas — September 12, 2017
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I HATE IT
JA JA — September 12, 2017
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BAD STORY
JA JA — September 12, 2017
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the morel is teach children the power of friendship.
the plot is how the dog was bought and the elephant didn’t eat her food and the dog came back.Brooklyn, Estelle — September 12, 2017
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awesome story
Ben bisops bigest fan!!! — September 12, 2017
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no it is so boring and not fun at all
Bobb Jeff Jose — September 12, 2017
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so good
Anonymous — September 13, 2017
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it was a short story but fascinating the child it till the end. Indian kings had such elephant to show off.
sunita — September 14, 2017
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Its good
kesava — September 14, 2017
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cool
Anonymous — September 14, 2017
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good story😁
nima — September 15, 2017
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I very like this story
lily — September 15, 2017
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I have to say that this story is fantastic.
Evita — September 15, 2017
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l love this storyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
ryan — September 18, 2017
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The story was really good but I would’ve liked it if I found out more about what happened to the elephant keeper because he didn’t tell anyone about the dog being sold.😃😃😃
Tahlia — September 18, 2017
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I think you did a good job but just try to make it a little interesting the next time you do an audio book alright but other wise you did good thanks for writing audio books
Kami — September 18, 2017
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I LOVE THIS STORY!!
John — September 18, 2017
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good story guys
manuel — September 18, 2017
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Its about dogs and elephant. elephant Maharaja’s.
Akhi — September 19, 2017
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I LOVE YOU STORYNORY!!!!!!!!!!
