The Hundredth Dove

How would you feel if you had to kill 100 of your favorite animal, but it is something you love to do? Would you feel in distress, excited, or maybe hatred? This is Hugh’s dilemma in the story The Hundredth Dove by Jane Yolen. Hugh was sent by the king to kill 100 doves for his wedding dinner, of course Hugh the fowler accepted. Even if this story is fiction it shows a lot of dedication and I can relate to it in a way that some people can’t.
Dedication is when you are committed to something very strongly. In the story The Hundredth Dove Hugh, the fowler is very dedicated to his job. As I said before the king sent Hugh out to go kill 100 doves. When Hugh left to go out and kill the birds, one bird kept escaping. Once he finally caught the only white dove, the bird turned its head and tried to bribe him by talking to him. Hugh would not accept any bribe he was dedicated to his job and would not let a bird change that. Dedication is not just needed at work but at school and also in sports. In school you need to be dedicated to get good grades and to study. Once you start studying you are going to get better grades. In sports if you practice at home, come to all the practices, and come to the games you are dedicated. If you are in a sport you need to be dedicated and work hard. Hard work is related to dedication because dedication involves a lot of hard work. Always be dedicated to everything you do and most likely you will be successful.

As I said before hard work and dedication is needed in everything you do, even hunting. My brother, Mason is one of the most dedicated hunters I know. He feels sad whenever he kills a mom animal just because he knows that it might have babies or cubs somewhere. He loves animals but he also loves the feeling of hunting. The feeling of just being in the woods and sitting there surrounded by wildlife and the soft breeze of a fall or winter morning brings him enjoyment. My mom’s sides of the family are all hunters so Mason and I both know a lot about it. They hunt for pretty much everything they can see up north in the Wausau area. How this relates to the story The Hundredth Dove is that Hugh the fowler is a dedicated hunter and even when a bird tried to bribe him, he had to get a job done and he killed the bird. Turning down wealth, being famous, and love from the queen was hard but he ended up being able to turn them down. Hugh knew he had to kill 100 doves and without this last dove he would have 99, so he had to catch it. All he had to do was just kill the white, beautiful dove, it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. This relates to my brother because he is a hunter and he feels bad when he kills a mom animal and Hugh felt bad when he killed the final dove.

You can see Hugh and Mason are both dedicated hunters and love hunting, but they both know it comes with some unhappiness or sadness. Dedication is needed to be successful, not everything will be perfect and with no regret but almost always it comes out well. I can relate to this story even though it is fiction, it shows me dedication and reminded me of my brother. Overall I feel many kids and adults should read this story because it really tells you that dedication is the key for success. Not everyone is dedicated to their job but I feel I am dedicated to a lot of things I do, such as school work and sports. Hugh should be very proud of himself; he turned down great things just to get a job done, now that’s dedication.