Archery Skills: The Ransom of Red Chief
Give a little boy a bow and arrow and no telling what could happen. Here is a story about one such boy and how he developed his archery skills.
Apparently, he never was taught the rules involved with owning a bow and arrow–especially the thing about safety!
Johnny Develops Archery Skills
So Johnny, the 10-year-old red-haired son of an important citizen named Ebenezer Dorset, was kidnapped and held for ransom. Calling himself “Red Chief”, the boy proceeds to drive his captors to distraction with his unrelenting chatter, malicious pranks, and demands that they play wearying games with him. Many involving his extra special talents with his toy bow and arrow set.
It did not take long before his captors, the two small-time criminals, Bill and Sam, realized tha
t their plan was falling apart.
Bill is “the brains” behind the plan and decided to lower the ransom demand from two thousand dollars to fifteen hundred. They were hoping to use this money to pull off an even bigger scam.
While trying to negotiate with Red Chief’s father about getting the money, the little boy just played more pranks and made his captors extremely weary.
Meanwhile, the father Ebenezer fully knew the behavior of his son and worked out a deal of his own.
He offered the kidnappers a deal that he would take the boy off their hands if they pay him. Red Chief got dragged on home with his bow and arrow, his father was paid off and he threatened to turn his son loose on them if they ever came back around!
A Hostage Crisis
More generally, the concept of a hostage becoming too much for their captors to bear has become a familiar presence used in movies such as:
Television series, especially for children, may include an episode based on this idea:
Perfuma on She-Ra: Princess of Power
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode “A Dog and Pony Show.”
Of course “our” moral of the story is that if you give your child a bow and arrow spend some quality time teaching him or her some good ole Archery skills that will keep him out of trouble!!
Archery in Schools
Are you interested in starting an archery program at your school? Check this out!
