One day Gerald was wandering the streets of a neighboring kingdom and he saw a beautiful princess standing on the balcony of her castle. Then the princess began dancing, the most perfect dance that Gerald had ever seen. He knew at once that he must marry her. So he ran into the castle, found the king and asked for the lovely princess' hand in marriage. The king agreed to give his daughter Maria's hand in marriage.
Once Gerald and Maria were married they were set to have an amazing life. Gerald and Maria would stay out late at night singing and dancing for all the citizens of their kingdom. But one day a wizard came to the kingdom and watched Gerald and Maria's performance. He was incredibly jealous of their talent. So, as the moon rose, the wizard snuck into the castle by casting a sleep spell on all the guards. Then he went upstairs and stole Gerald's voice and hid it in a magic necklace. Whenever the wizard wore the necklace he could sing like Gerald.
Gerald awoke the next morning and was shocked to find that he couldn't speak. He knew someone had stolen his voice. The security cameras in the castle proved that it was a wizard. Gerald began to pack his bags to journey into the forest to retrieve his voice. When Maria arose from her slumber she found her husband in distress. She knew she had to go with him into the forest. He no longer had his song to protect himself, he only had his good looks, which are never enough. At least Maria could dance and keep them safe. So they embarked on their journey together. They also took a magic song bird with them for company.
One day in the forest Gerald went to retrieve water. As he approached the river he noticed a beautiful maiden. This woman was nearly as beautiful as his own wife. When the woman caught a glimpse of Gerald she instantly fell in love. The woman introduced herself as Jasmine, but her real name was Becky the Sorcerer. She was the most wicked and hideous of all the sorcerers in the world.
Witch Head
She had seen Gerald the day before walking in the woods and knew she must have him. Becky tried to convince Gerald to begin life with her, but Gerald knew after a few moments that Becky (at this time Gerald was still under the impression that she was Jasmine) was nothing more than a beautiful woman. She had no special talents to make her truly worthy of him.
Maria began to worry about Gerald and came down to the river to find him. When Maria saw he was alright she began to dance toward him gracefully. Becky had never seen anyone dance so beautifully. Becky did not know that Maria was Gerald's wife, so she said "My love turn away, this woman is an ugly sorcerer who has merely disguised herself as a beautiful woman. Flee now before she captures you." Instead, Gerald ran to Maria and embraced her. Becky was furious and stormed off.
The next morning while Gerald was away, Becky came to the tent where Maria and Gerald were staying. Becky came to give a poisoned apple to Maria, so that she could have Gerald all to herself. But the magical song bird that had been traveling with Maria and Gerald saw everything and before Becky could give the poisoned apple to Maria, the bird gauged out the eyes of Becky. Then the bird let out a powerful scream and Becky's ears exploded. Becky was so ashamed that she ran back to her home, never to leave it again.
Gerald ended up finding the wizard and getting his voice back. Maria and Gerald lived happily ever after.
Author's Note:
For this story I was inspired by Rama's encounter with Shurpanakha in The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan. I really enjoyed reading this story and wanted to experiment with it. The ending to my story is abrupt, but I wanted to focus on the story of Shurpanakha with Rama. Essentially, I wanted to stay fairly true to the original story, but I wanted it to have a new influence. I was inspired by the stories of Disney Princesses. I named Gerald's wife after Jasmine in Aladdin. The stolen voice was took it's inspiration from The Little Mermaid and the poisoned apple took it's inspiration from Snow White. Stories of Disney Princesses are some of my favorite, so I wanted to recreate this story in this style. I also wanted to add humor to the story, because it is rather gruesome. An example of humor I added is the reference to security cameras, obviously security cameras wouldn't exist during the time that this story would have taken place. I like the picture of the witch for this story because it is the stereotypical witch that comes to mind when people think of of witches. Overall, this story was fun to write and I hope you enjoy it.
Bibliography:
"The Ramayana" by R. K. Narayan (2006)
This was a very unique and entertaining twist on the classical story of Shurpanakha in the Ramayana, where the rakshasi disguises herself as a beautiful woman and ultimately ends up getting her nose and ears cut off while trying to kill the wife of Rama, with whom she is in love with. I loved the idea of Gerald using his power of singing to win battles because singing is generally known as a more feminine power and winning battles is generally connected with being strong and fierce, so the idea of using this power to slay enemies is very unique to me. I also thought the idea of the wizard stealing Gerald's voice and putting it into a necklace to wear was very clever, and reminded me of influences from non-Indian myths and stories. The story was very good overall, but it would have been more interesting to the reader if a little more background information on this mysterious wizard was conveyed.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you had these comedic elements in your story, because I really, really loved the juxtaposition in your story. When I read that Gerald sings to his enemies, I expected that his enemies would make peace, or be so relaxed they wouldn't have to fight. After reading that they were then slaughtered while mesmerized by his song, I was really pulled into the story. The magical singing bird also made me laugh after attacking Becky. Comedy works best when it's not expected, and your story had me laughing more than once! Great read!
ReplyDeleteI was so surprised by the outcome. Glad that the bird came in for the win. That was interesting the twist and magical powers that were seen in dancing and singing. Gerald was a bit crazy with his signing and then slaughtering. I thought he would convince them to join his side but nope he swiped them all down. I am glad Gerald didn't go after the attractive girl and cheat on his wife.
ReplyDelete