Week 2 Story: Beauty and the Dragon
The updated version of this story is here on my portfolio!
The youngest daughter, however, kept quiet as her voice could not be heard over her two older sisters. When the daughters left, the mother asked the youngest. "Rose, what shall I bring you from the market?"
"Could you bring me three roses, please? It's okay if you can't find them."
Being quite surprised at her small request, the mother was motivated to bring her not three but many roses for her daughter.
Once the mother made her shopping list and put on her walking shoes on, she left quickly. As the market was a long journey, she left in the afternoon. Slowly, the mother was able to accumulate the items on her list one by one. She carried the items in a sac on her back in the torching summer heat. The sun had already set, and it was dark out. The mother, frantic to reach home in a timely manner, lost her way. She was distressed, exhausted, and thirsty, but she kept going. She saw a forest, which she passes every time to reach the market. Now that she knew she was close to home, she sat down on a rock to catch her breath and drank some water. While the mother rested, she looked up and saw a palace; she had never seen this palace before.
The mother noticed a garden full of roses and realized that she forgot to buy her youngest daughter three roses. This was partly due to her old age. The roses were certainly not like other roses. They were mesmerizing as they swayed in the wind and had a radiant deep red color. Irritated by the thought of going to the market again, a thought came to her mind. She could simply pick the roses here!
So, the mother picked three beautiful roses for her daughter. As soon as she finished picking the roses, she heard a demanding voice.
"Stop," yelled a dragon. "Now that you have taken my roses, you must give me something in return: your daughter."
The mother worried as can ever be, wanted to run and hide from the dragon. However, the dragon threatened to torture her and her family. The mother and dragon made the deal seeing that there was nothing else she could do. The mother guaranteed her daughter in exchange. Once she had given him her word, she hurriedly left.
When she reached home, she explained what happened to her youngest daughter. She cried: "I am sorry, my love. To pay for these roses, you are the payment. You must go to the palace of the dragon, and you may never return home."
The obedient daughter did not mind going to the palace. They went there, and the daughter fell in love with the palace. It was everything she ever imagined.
The dragon noticed they arrived and quickly flew to them. "You must take care of me every day of the week. There is no way out. This is your payment."
For two days, the daughter took care of him. A few days later, the dragon came with the sword asking Rose to cut his head off. Terrified at his demand, she would not cut his head off. The dragon became violent and yelled at her with uncontrollable anger. Because of this, Rose cut his head off.
The head fell down. From the dragon, a snake emerged. The snake, like the dragon, was full of rage and commanded Rose to cut his head off. At once, Rose cut off the snake's head. As she pondered what she just experienced, a young, handsome man emerged from the snake.
As the snake had the keys to the palace, the young man now had the keys. He said lovingly: "Since the castle is mine and you helped me, I will marry you." Rose agreed.
The lovers had a magical wedding full of love, friends, and family. Rose was at peace knowing she did not have to cut anymore heads.
Author's Note: In my version of the story, I only altered some things. As I have done creative writing a few times, I choose to do a basic retelling of the story. Instead of having a basilisk, I choose a dragon. From there, the dragon changed two times (snake and human). I thought the basilisk was an extraordinary creature, but I wanted to simplify the character. In addition, I changed the youngest daughter's name to Rose instead of Mary, making it ironic. The plot, setting, and theme for the most part remained the same. I also attempted to add more dialogue into the story. I hope that made it fun to read!
Bibliography:
The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922).
Image Information:
Rose Hybrid Tea by Laitche (2013). Wikimedia Commons.
All these details you added to the story make it seem to real, Avani... not realistic, but real in the sense that each of the characters came to life, especially Rose (name as destiny!) and her mother. I also like the idea that the roses somehow cast a spell on the mother, mesmerizing her, kind of like a trap that she walked right into. Very eerie and cool! And the series of beheadings was my favorite twist: now I am imagining a version of the story that would have 3 beheadings, or maybe the magical number 7, with one weird creature after another after another! And the final sentence is great: not having to cut off any more heads is much more vivid than any formulaic "happily ever after." So, thank you for this first story of the semester in Myth-Folklore; having such a good story to get us started is a good omen for the whole semester. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteAvani, the dialogue in this story made for such an easy and exciting read! I enjoyed the fact that the dragon changed twice; it was a nice plot twist. The irony of the name change from Mary to Rose was also a very nice addition to the story. You also did a great job at making sure the dialogue was simple and clear, instead of long, drawn-out conversations where the meaning of what needs to be said gets lost.
ReplyDeleteHey Avani,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story that you wrote about. I definitely did not see that ending coming at all. I was wondering why a dragon would be so protective of roses. I like what you changed about the story because to me it gave it more depth. I understood that the young man had probably been cursed until he found a woman, he could truly love that would be able to lift the curse which she did. This retelling was excellent and I cannot wait to read, and I also like how you simplified the story.