Week 2 Story: The Woman in the Sky
There once was a laundress who was growing tired of her labor and complained " This life is too dirty; I want something better. I wish to be an apple tree, where life is easy and the sun shines on me."
A witch heard this plea and said: " You wish to be a tree; then be a tree." The once laundress then became a tree. Unfortunately, she realized that the life of a tree was of giving to the creatures around her. People would come to pick her apples which hurt so much and animals would use her as a home which was a disturbance to her. One day an unfortunate fire started and she was burning and wailed in pain " Ouch this hurts, please! I no longer wish to be a tree I want to be fire. Fire is strong and fearless!"
The witch heard this clamor and said: " If you wish to be fire; then be fire." The laundress opened her eyes and she was the fire. She then realized being fire is too hot and consumes everything with no care. She no longer wanted to be fire and said "Please! I no longer want to be fire! I want to be snow; it is cool and beautiful."
The witch heard her desire and said: " If you want to be snow; then be snow." Then she opened her eyes and she was snow. The days grew warm and she started melting and pleaded, " Help please I am melting, soon I will melt into the water! I wish to be the sky, the sky lasts forever and is everywhere at once. That would be a nice life."
The witch then said, " If you wish to be the sky, then be the sky." The laundress then became the sky. She then realized that being the sky was painful and tiresome. She had to hold the weight of the sun which also burned. She also held the weight of the moon, stars and all that the planets in the sky. She couldn't handle the responsibility of the sky and all that the sky held. She then exclaimed "Help please, I no longer want to be the sky! I want to be a laundress again, for that life was truly agreeable."
The witch said " I can no longer help you. I am tired of your constant desire to change. You wished to be the sky and you will remain like the sky."
Till this day she remained as the sky holding the weight of the sun, moon, stars, planets and all the creatures that inhabit them."
Authors Note: I was inspired by one of the origins stories we were assigned to read called, The Man and the Moon. I changed a lot of aspects of the story but left the plot very similar to the original. I really liked this story because of the moral of it. The moral is that what may seem better may not always be better. We should all appreciate what we have because it could always be worse.
Bibliography: " The Man in the Moon" from Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson (1899)
A witch heard this plea and said: " You wish to be a tree; then be a tree." The once laundress then became a tree. Unfortunately, she realized that the life of a tree was of giving to the creatures around her. People would come to pick her apples which hurt so much and animals would use her as a home which was a disturbance to her. One day an unfortunate fire started and she was burning and wailed in pain " Ouch this hurts, please! I no longer wish to be a tree I want to be fire. Fire is strong and fearless!"
The witch heard this clamor and said: " If you wish to be fire; then be fire." The laundress opened her eyes and she was the fire. She then realized being fire is too hot and consumes everything with no care. She no longer wanted to be fire and said "Please! I no longer want to be fire! I want to be snow; it is cool and beautiful."
The witch heard her desire and said: " If you want to be snow; then be snow." Then she opened her eyes and she was snow. The days grew warm and she started melting and pleaded, " Help please I am melting, soon I will melt into the water! I wish to be the sky, the sky lasts forever and is everywhere at once. That would be a nice life."
The witch then said, " If you wish to be the sky, then be the sky." The laundress then became the sky. She then realized that being the sky was painful and tiresome. She had to hold the weight of the sun which also burned. She also held the weight of the moon, stars and all that the planets in the sky. She couldn't handle the responsibility of the sky and all that the sky held. She then exclaimed "Help please, I no longer want to be the sky! I want to be a laundress again, for that life was truly agreeable."
The witch said " I can no longer help you. I am tired of your constant desire to change. You wished to be the sky and you will remain like the sky."
Till this day she remained as the sky holding the weight of the sun, moon, stars, planets and all the creatures that inhabit them."
Authors Note: I was inspired by one of the origins stories we were assigned to read called, The Man and the Moon. I changed a lot of aspects of the story but left the plot very similar to the original. I really liked this story because of the moral of it. The moral is that what may seem better may not always be better. We should all appreciate what we have because it could always be worse.
Bibliography: " The Man in the Moon" from Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson (1899)
Hi Emily!
ReplyDeleteI too enjoyed the moral of this story. It was nice to see that you kept the plot very similar because it was really easy to understand and therefore a quick read. I kept the plot mainly the same in my Week 2 story as well, I just told the story from a different perspective. Here, I think it would have been interesting to see the story told from the witch's perceptive. I think there is a lot of room for comedy from that point of view. There are also many twists you could throw in if the witch were to get annoyed or desire to mess with the laundress.
Hi Emily!
ReplyDeleteI remember reading the original story, but I like yours better. The consequences are well-described and creative. I, too, would not want to be the tree, fire, snow, or sky. I actually feel bad for the woman because it seems like the sky has the worst conditions of them all! I do agree with the moral: I always try to be grateful for what I have because I know there are so many people in the world who are less fortunate than me.
Hi Emily!
ReplyDeleteI like you kept the story similar to the original, but gave it your own unique taste and flavor. I really appreciated the witch and how she was just like, "If you wish to be that, then be that". I think it was a more modern way to say it then, "Go thou, be a stone". No one uses "thou" anymore!
Out of curiosity why did you choose a laundress? I guess I understand that you were probably going with a female character that was similar in social stature to a blacksmith. But did you consider maybe something more modern? Maybe she could have been a waitress? A cashier? Anything to do with food service maybe? I feel like these are jobs today people tend to complain about, but in reality they probably are not really as bad as they think in hindsight.
One suggestion I would have is to maybe add some spacing between the paragraphs with dialogue. This would make the story easier to read and understand. Overall, I thought it was written very well.
Hey Emily!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the changes that you made to this story. The creativity to keep the general plot the same but find ways to alter the objects that the laundress desires to be is great! Also using a witch instead of just a wise man with powers makes this story seem easier to grasp the concept on because everyone simply knows that witches have magical powers. Keep up the good work!