Week 2 Story: Can't have everything
Once upon a time, there was a poor woodcutter who lived with his mother. One day, he helped a wounded deer escape from hunters. As a show of gratitude, the deer told the woodcutter of a nearby pond where beautiful fairies came down from the heavens to visit and bathe in the pond every month. The deer pointed out that the woodcutter would be able to marry one of the fairies by hiding the fairy’s winged clothing which is her only means of flying back to heaven. He could then come to the rescue of the stranded fairy. The only condition he had to meet: everything was to be kept secret from his fairy wife until they had at least three children. With these instructions, the woodcutter was successful in taking a fairy as his wife, and they had two children together. Content and happy, the woodcutter now felt comfortable enough to prematurely come clean. He showed his wife the winged clothing. Upon seeing her wings again, the fairy wife could not help but be homesick all over again. She the decides to return to the heavens, taking the children with her.
Upon this happening, the woodcutter was extremely distraught and once again turned to the help of the deer. This time, the deer gave the woodcutter with magic beans that would allow him to reach the heavens by growing large vines that he could climb. The excited woodcutter reunited with his wife and she let him stay after she saw his persistence and love and he completed a few tests for mortals to stay in heaven. As time went by, the woodcutter began to worry about his mother, whom he had left behind on earth. The fairy wife, who understood the woodcutter’s feelings, provided him with a winged horse that would safely take him down to earth and back. The fairy wife also warned the woodcutter never to get off the horse at any point as it would disconnect him from the horse and his ability to get back to heaven.
During the trip, however, the woodcutter accidentally spilt hot soup in which his mom made for him to take back to his fairy wife on to the horse’s back. The horse freaked out and the woodcutter was dropped from the winged horse after a moment of struggle. From then, the woodcutter looked up at the moon every night crying in despair.
Hi Taeam!
ReplyDeleteI also did my story based off of "The Man in the Moon," so I could instantly tell what your story was based off from the first sentence! I like how you changed the story to have the main character be a woodcutter and how unpredictable you made it with all the twists!
Hi Taeam! It is good to see someone I know is also in this class!
ReplyDeleteI did not base my story off of "The Man in the Moon", so it was interesting to read your version of the story and I think it's very nice that it reminded you of a book your mom used to read to you. I thought that it was very interesting that the woodcutter was able to hide the fairy's winged clothing without her fighting back. I was surprised to see that the fairy went with the woodcutter so easily and asked no questions about why she must be with him. I wonder what would have happened in your story if you would have made the fairy fight back and disagree to go with the woodcutter. Or what if the fairy did not want to go back to heaven and instead she wanted to stay with her children and woodcutter husband? Overall, I liked your story, good job!
Hey Taeam!
ReplyDeleteI like your incorporation of many different part of other folklores like fairies and winged horse. I'm a little confused on the part that the horse said to never reveal the truth unless he has three children but he told his fairy wife when they have two children. I laughed at the part where he spilt soup onto the horse's back and fell down to Earth.
Hi Taeam!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your story! I did not personally read The Man in the Moon, so it was nice to read your story based off of it. The faerie having to stay and be married to the woodcutter because the woodcutter took the faerie’s wings reminds me of the way that selkies are trapped in our world if someone steals their seal skins. Great story!