Week 5 Story: Emergency

It was a typical day for Lottie. Wake up and get ready for work. Avoid the wandering eyes and hands on the subway. Decide between the potentially empty stairwell or the crowded elevator. Either way, there could be danger, but that is just life for Lottie. 

Finally, make it to the office, dodge the nosy person from accounting. Avoid the water cooler at all costs. Everyone congregates there - talk and touch become unavoidable. By timing it just right, Lottie can slide into her office and have the door shut before her assistant is back from gathering the morning's mail. 

No open door policy at this office. That could lead to small talk, and then people would touch things in her office, and they wouldn't leave. Better if they just emailed. When lunch rolled around, Lottie was afraid she forgot her thermos of tomato soup. If she had to leave the office during the day, she'd run into to someone. Then she'd have to talk, maybe go out to eat. Other people would touch her plate, her silverware. What if they wanted to go somewhere with salads? She might choke on a raisin or a piece of lettuce. Thankfully the soup turned up. She was able to drink her lunch—no choking or dropping food on herself today. 

The rest of the workday passed. Lottie stayed in her office well past five. The timing was just as important as in the morning - leave too early, and someone may still be working. Leave too late, and she'd run into housekeeping and be on the night trains with the talkative bar crowd. 

Disaster. The accounting team was meeting late with another office. So many greetings and handshakes and offers of lunch to turn down. What an awful end to the day. Lottie walks quickly to the elevator before the accountants can gather their things. Blessed silence on the way down. Lottie closes her eyes and just breathes for a moment. She tries to calm her racing heart, slow her breathing.

Wait. It's very silent. Lottie opens her eyes. It's dark. Why is it so dark? The emergency lights come on. The elevator is dimly lit, the panel dark, the doors closed tight. Trapped, just dangling in the elevator shaft. 

Of all the luck. She picks up the emergency phone. Of course, there is no text option. She takes a shuddering breath and prepares herself to speak to another person. A voice comes over the line, "We are experiencing heavy call volume, please leave a message." Lottie sighs in relief and speaks calmly and clearly, "Hello, I am alone. The panel says this is elevator number 3 in the west shaft. I was coming down from the 42nd floor. Thank you so much!"

 

 

Lottie sits back and smiles as she is utterly alone for the first time since she left her house that morning. Empty elevators are actually quite serene. The distant shouting of the accounting team does disturb the peace just a bit. Perhaps she'll luck out, and they'll rescue that elevator first. A woman can dream.

 

 

(Image information: "Emergency Phone" by haven't the slightest is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0)

Author's Note: This story was inspired by Fear from the Turkish Fairy Tales unit. In the original story a young man doesn't know fear and sets out to find it. He is faced with a variety of unusual situations - fighting a sea monster, hands rising from a grave, almost being strangled. None of these cause him fear. He is finally startled and briefly experiences fear when a bird flies out of a soup pot. I felt like turning the story around and having a character who was afraid or felt anxiety about just about everything in their day. People in the subway, crowded elevator, choking on a raisin, small talk at work. Only to be headed home, end up in what most people would consider a situation to actually fear and just be like "Actually, this is fantastic."

Story source: Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).

Reading Notes: Turkish Fairy Tales Part A

The story Fear stuck with me the most from this reading. 

The main character in this story seems to be stuck in a horror movie. Progressively more strange, shocking and some just outright scary things keep occurring.  And this guy is walking around going "But where is fear?" I can only imagine his everyday life is so wild that these occurrences are actually not at all unusual. 

(Image information: "Fear of the Dark" by stuant63 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

 He is sent to cook in a cemetary and a hand rises from a grave. No big deal. 

He then goes to a house, is almost strangled but again - that's fine, happens all the time!

At that house, he gets a bracelet, is accused of thievery, but that's fine too. Then he gets on a boat and beats up a sea monster. That's just your normal Tuesday night, right? 

 After that he wants to have a bit of a rest. So he's going to try to nap in this garden but instead there are pigeons turning into women. And those women are the strangler, the sea monster and maybe the owner of the hand in the grave. And they want him to move in! This is not at all shocking and totally what he expected to happen at this point in his life. But alas - he still hasn't found fear so he can't move in. Sorry ladies. 

Logically he goes to town - birds land on him so now he is king. Except the king usually ends up dead in the morning. Obviously if you just burn the coffin you won't be dead. That problem solved, he finally gets a good nap. His new wife the queen is like dang, I did not expected to be married this morning, let's have soup. 

What finally scares this guy? A bird coming out of the soup was so surprising he was startled. But it's good, he moved his mom into the palace and lived happily ever after. And maybe smashed all the soup pot lids. 

Story source: Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).

Turkish fairytales unit

 

 

Famous Last Words: The Week with ALL the Practicum

This was the week I felt like I spent every waking moment at my practicum site or doing something related to practicum. I ended up with half the reading done, again, and haven't found the time to finish off part B as extra credit. But I read The Iliad, which I first read decades ago, so do I have some idea of what I missed.

From now on I need to try to stack all the reading on Mondays again. I am not sure how that will work this week with my afternoon class having a group paper due next week, but we'll see. Maybe I can run through it all after class is over around 7pm.

Practicum looks like it is going to continue to be a little wild, maybe through October. In the words of Dory - Just Keep Swimming. Hopefully by that point some things will have settled back out, hours won't be quite as wonky (I hope) and everyone will be back at the agency. 

This is not Dory. Maybe Dory's cousin?

This week I feel like I wrote SO MANY THINGS, but many of those things were in social work speak. For my writing in this class I did try to use the first-person perspective in my story. I am not sure how I feel about the outcome. I don't think the story would have worked well in another perspective, but I also don't know if I was committed to that style as I was writing.

My social work writing seemed to come out pretty well, but so far, everything this year has been relatively short. In previous semesters we were going through so many pages that these small one to two-page papers feel like practice. While that is good, it also leads to putting things off longer than I should. Plus the whole haven't been to campus since March thing really just throws everything out of whack.

(Image information: "Palette Surgeon Fish" by Stefan David, CamperCo.de is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Storybook Plan

The main theme of my story book is going to be the end of the world - as someone knows it. This means my stories will not necessarily be about the end of the entire planet or universe. It could be the end of a civilization, community or even just way of life. Most of what I find and am interested in seems to be the destruction of some sort of island community. But even if an island is almost completely removed from the map, stories about the island or the people live on. I'm reminded of a quote and a whole idea from Terry Pratchett's book Going Postal:  "Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?" (web source here)

This page is information about earthquakes/eruptions in New Zealand and Māori tradition. Also of interest is the mythology of Whakaari.

Another story to potentially use is the eruption of Laki in Iceland in 1783. For Iceland, this eruption was a bit like the comet that killed off the dinosaurs - plants died. The animals that ate the plants died. Then the people that ate those plants and animals started to die. This more than decimated the population.

The 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee is another one that was basically world ending for the folks on that island. This took place on Martinique and while the deadliest portions of the eruption took place over a few days, this eruption actually last for about 3 and a half years. 

 A third item of interest is Krakatoa. This is another one that is on an island, and really ended things in the surrounding area but, not everywhere. And volcanoes rebuild themselves.  

There is also Pompeii and Herculaneum. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and buried them in ash. They're now living history and many thousands of people still live in the shadow of Vesuvius. Naples is far bigger than Pompeii could ever imagine. 

Finally there is the Minoan Eruption on Thera, now Santorini and the possible basis for the Atlantis myths. I again have people on an island, but here I have an entire culture that is buried by this eruption. 

Story telling styles I am most likely to use are 3rd person, with dialogue. I write that way a lot already when writing a story. I am interested to maybe try and do at least one story as a sort of diary entry/first person sort of thing - I find it harder to do that unless I really have an idea I can run with.  I can't imagine having a central story teller at this time, I feel this would be an anthology of stories that are connected because they are about volcanoes. I could change my mind and have some sort of narrator type character but I'm not sure what would look like for me yet. 

 

Ruins on Santorini

(Image information: Archaeological site in Akrotiri, Santorini (ancient Thera), by F. Eveleens, September 1991)

Comment Wall

This will be the comment wall for my Storybook - The End of the World

"Kamokuna lava flow" by AdeRussell is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Week 4 Story: I, Agamemnon

I listened to this prophet tell me to send the girl back to her father. Then he had the gall to say I should also send back the money and the animals I had won as well? Who did this fool think he was talking to - philosophers drunk on wine? If there really was a curse on the girl, then we should get rid of her, but the money, the coins, and jewels, those are mine. 

"You expect me to return what I have gained? Who are any of you to tell me, Agamemnon, what to do? I rule over all Greeks. I have earned these things by my name and status. None of you are above me."

The assembled Greeks looked at me, most in fear of my rage. They were right to be afraid. Others looked on in awe at my might. Everyone seemed appropriately cowed, except for Achilles. He spent too much time fighting to use his brain and know his place.

 

Achilles spoke, "Why do you always claim so much? You sit here, cozy in your tent while we fight and die. You don't risk yourself, you don't lead from the front. Why should we even listen to you anymore if you won't risk what others do and won't share with those who take the risks?"

This Achilles brought men to fight, it's true. But he is far too outspoken. People are listening and watching. I cannot let this stand. 

"You are not king here, Achilles. Since I cannot keep this cursed girl, I'll just take the one you have. It is my right as king to take what I like when I like. If you don't like that, I'll come take her, your life and your money."

Achilles stormed out of my tent after that. But everyone else seemed impressed with how I handled him. I'll send someone to collect that woman of his a little later. I hope he fights me about it. It will give me a great excuse to end him and take his gold and take over his ships. This turned out to be a pretty good day after all. 

 

 

 

 

Image information: "Mosaic depicting Achilles confronting Agamemnon from the House of Apollo in Pompeii Roman 1st century BCE-1st century CE" by mharrsch is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Reading Notes - Homer's Iliad Part A

 http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-homers-iliad-retold.html

Notes on The Quarrel.

 Agamemnon was head of Greek kings. Achilles had many warriors. 

Agamemnon didn't go out and fight like other people did - he waited for fighting to happen and then claimed victory and prizes because he was in charge. Money, land, people. One of his captives was the daughter of a priest of Apollo. He wanted his kid back, Agamemnon said no. Apollo cursed everyone it was a bad scene. 

The Greeks knew the kid needed to go back, Agamemnon was a stubborn fool. Achilles argued with him and said forget this, I'm out. You all can keep dying while he sits up in his tent with his head in the sand. Obviously that went over like a lead balloon. Everyone is mad, no one knows how to share or talk or compromise. (Presumably because all the ladies were left at home or held captive or only showing up as visions/goddesses to talk a bit of sense into people.)

Anyway. Everyone is mad, Achilles went back to his camp to be mad, Agamemnon stayed mad in his tent. Then Aga. sent messengers to take back Achilles captured woman. Achilles did not shoot the messengers and let her go, although the text notes she wasn't happy about it. Meanwhile the priest's daughter is being taken back home so Apollo let up on the cursing. 

But Achilles called up his mom, who was Thetis a water goddess/sea nymph. And so the cursing will resume in another fashion once she can convince Zeus to do her a favor. 

Achilles' surrender of Briseis to Agamemnon, from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, fresco, 1st century AD, now in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Story source: The Iliad retold by Alfred J. Church (1907)

 

Extra Credit Reading Notes - Aesop (Winter) Part B

Aesop (Winter) Part B - continuation of short fables with illustrations. 

This fable collection seemed to have a cluster of stories about not taking appearances at face value, which I found interesting!

 The Fox and The Leopard - Don't judge by appearances and use your head. This also reminded me a bit of the movie Bambi when Thumper says "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all."

 The Cat The Cock and the Young Mouse - Also about judging by appearances. In this story a mouse who has never seen a rooster or a cat before thinks the the wrong animal looks nice and friendly. Cats are fluffy and more similar to a mouse than a rooster. But the cat would be the one to eat the mouse.

The Peacock and the Crane - being useful is better than being pretty - so more about appearances. The peacock was very proud of his fancy feathers, while the crane is much less decorative. However, the peacock cannot fly.

 

 

"peacock" by Mathias Appel is marked with CC0 1.0 

 

Bibliography - The Aesop for Children, translator unknown. Illustrations by Milo Winter

Topic Research: The End (Of the World as we know it? - Maybe it's fine...)

 

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice. 

- Robert Frost, 1920. Online source

 

"Fire on Ice.. or snow" by . : : v i S H a l : : . is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0  

  

 

The Norse thought the end of the world would be a wild battle, gods, giants, creatures and people all included.  Ragnarok would be the end of everything. The stars would even go out but because there is hope - a couple of survivors remain. Those very lucky few would get to live on a newly created world. One of the signs that Ragnarok is on the way seems to be the arrival of multiple winters, but no summer. Apparently if winter is actually coming, Ragnarok may be coming too. A modern or even futuristic Ragnarok would be interesting. Does nuclear winter count for skipping summers?

 

(There was a very round about research stream that lead to this, but apparently the original Night of the Living Dead film from 1968 is in the public domain. Is this a book? Well, no, but I can't guarantee that the living dead won't creep into my stories. Ishtar was keen to have the dead eat the living too.)

Atlantis! It was destroyed in myth. So it was the end of that world and depending on what you read it might be pretty dramatic. Fire and water and everyone really needed like some sort of advanced volcano warning system. This one could be a lot of fun either by giving people technology or having a character like the Doctor passing through to carry folks off. Also you could completely leave it as something that happened a long, long time ago and work forward with why everyone still talks about it. 

And then there is Pompeii & Herculaneum. It was destroyed in reality in 79 AD. It's been the subject of several shows or movies but the old stories are basically limited to what we know from Pliny the Younger. It is enough to start with though and volcanoes are such interesting science. It's tempting to play with time here as well - the surrounding area is not exactly deserted now. I wonder how evacuating so many people would work out. It's not an easy thing to do as we've seen with things like hurricanes in the US.

 

Feedback Strategies

The first article I read was "Try Feed Forward Instead of Feedback" by Marshall Goldsmith. I don't know if this would work in this class since we are digital, but the strategy is interesting! I like the idea of looking forward and seeing what changes can be made in the future rather than focusing on past issues. While there are times that past issues would need to be addressed and corrected, I can see how in many aspects of life and business looking forward would work better. 

Feedback is like sushi. Fabulous when fresh and useless if not harmful when old.

"Feedback" by Stephen Ransom Photography is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The second article I read was "How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk" by Adam Grant. I will admit this is my biggest fear! Anytime I can't just say 150% positive things about something I automatically feel like I'm a jerk, even if the assignment is to give feedback, or someone has asked for feedback. This article was helpful because it said it was actually more useful most of the time to just be direct and say what you mean, in a helpful fashion of course. 

In general feedback freaks me out. I do not mind receiving feedback, my entire major and most of my current courses are all about receiving feedback, but I do worry about giving it! I don't want to give out useless feedback, but I don't want to be harsh either. I feel like it can be hard to find a really good balance.

 

Wikipedia Trail - From Boethius to Mark Whitacre

While I was reading the instructions for Wikipedia trails, I clicked over and scrolled through the Twitter stream. I saw a post there about Boethius and the Consolation of Astronomy. I was not familiar with Boethius, or what he may have had to do with astronomy so off to Wikipedia I went! According to the Wikipedia page, his most notable work was the Consolation of Philosophy, which lead me to my next page. 

Boethius' most notable work apparently had a lot to do with the novel A Confederacy of Dunces, which I would not have known without clicking through these two Wikipedia pages. Not only that, Boethius' work becomes a plot point in the novel. But despite this novel becoming quite well liked after it was published, it has yet to be made into a film.

One of the many people who wanted to make that novel into a film was Steven Soderbergh. He is a writer, director and producer who worked on movies you may have heard of like Ocean's 11, 12 and 13. He was also involved in Magic Mike and a movie called The Informant! which I had not heard of, so helped decide my last page.

The Informant! is a movie based on the true story of Mark Whitacre. Whitacre was a whistle blower who worked with the FBI regarding price fixing complaints at the company he worked for in the 1990s. Unfortunately he was also doing some illegal activities of his own on the side and got caught. Because of that he ended up in federal prison. Ultimately, the FBI still thought he was a pretty decent guy in the end since he helped them with other things. Go figure. 

A film strip because some of this Wikipedia trail was high drama

"film" by popturfdotcom is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Week 3 Story: Grasshoppers in Winter

Once there was an owl who lived high in an old oak tree. Over the years, the owl had seen many other animals and insects come and go, for owls live longer than squirrels or crickets. This owl had seen many summers. He just wanted to sleep during the day and hunt when night came. Being perched so high in the tree, this usually wasn't a problem. 

Towards the end of summer, a grasshopper began visiting the bottom of the owl's oak tree. Every afternoon the grasshopper would make his music for hours and hours. He'd hop from one place to another and generally just enjoy himself quite loudly, which disturbed the owl's sleep. 

After a few days of this, the owl was incredibly irritated. He was tired, his hunting was off, and he was just having a bad day. He called down to the grasshopper, "Excuse me! Some of us are trying to sleep. Please keep it down!"

The grasshopper was shocked! He didn't even know anyone lived in the oak tree. "Hello up there! I'm sorry my music is bothering you, but why are you asleep on this lovely day? Don't you know the summer is ending?"

"What do I care about the summer?" cried the owl. "I just want to sleep, so I can find something to eat tonight. Go make your music somewhere else and leave me alone!"

The grasshopper was not unreasonable and hoped the owl would talk things over with him. "Perhaps I could make music at different times? I'll only be here a short time longer. I'm sure we can make something work until summer is done!"

The owl wanted to hear no more of this talk from the grasshopper. "I am the owl, this is my tree, and I told you to leave! I don't want to make something work, and I don't care that you're only planning to stay by my tree for a little while, I want you to go now!" 

"Oh no, Mr. Owl, you misunderstand me. The summer is ending, and it's getting colder. Soon I won't be anywhere. I make my music to remember happier days. Grasshoppers don't live through the winter. That's why I care so much about the summer."

The owl was briefly shocked into silence. He knew the other creatures in the forest came and went with the seasons, but he had never stopped to think that some of the animals only knew one season. "Make your music then," said the owl. "Just try to keep it down in the middle of the day."

The weeks went by, and the grasshopper made his music. The owl learned to sleep through the noise, just as he learned to sleep through all the other noises from the forest. The days grew shorter, and the nights grew colder, but it didn't bother the owl. The grasshopper's song grew shorter and quieter, but the owl didn't notice. 

One day the owl woke up, and it was cold. There was snow on the ground. The forest was quiet. As the owl left his oak tree to hunt, he noticed grasshopper in the snow, silent and still. He called out to grasshopper, "Hello down there! Are you enjoying your first winter?"

 

 

Owl in winter

"Great Gray Owl Morning" by Leslie Abram is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 

 

The grasshopper made no reply for grasshoppers do not live in the winter. The owl remembered this talk with the grasshopper at the end of summer. Not one to let food go to waste, the owl picked up the grasshopper and started off the night with a quick snack. Perhaps next summer, a new grasshopper come to would share the space around the oak tree. 

If you consider things from a different perspective, you may find it easier to compromise.

 

 

 

Reading Notes - Aesop (Winter) Part A

Part A of Aesop with illustrations by Winters - multiple short fables per page with illustrations. Some stories were shorter than others.

One story that I really took note of is The Owl and the Grasshopper. This story caught my attention because yes the owl was cranky but neither party thought to try to compromise. Instead you end up with a crunchy grasshopper snack but at least the owl can enjoy the quiet again.

I also took note of The Ass and the Load of Salt. It reminded me a lot of when my kid was younger. Things can become a battle and become more difficult or take longer than if you'd just done the task!

The Tortoise and the Ducks also caught my eye while I was reading through these fables. I was reminded of Terry Pratchett's book Small Gods. The turtle in that book was much luckier than this one - he managed to land somewhere soft. 

Illustration from The Tortoise and the Ducks

From The Aesop for Children - Illustration by Milo Winter

 

Bibliography - The Aesop for Children, translator unknown, Illustrated by Milo Winter

 

Feedback Thoughts - Week 2

The first article I read was How to Mentor a Perfectionist. I had to laugh at some of the advice given in the article because I recognized things I've been doing to myself over the years. The article specifically mentioned using humor, the example was humor to a catastrophic level. I've had to do that with myself several times when I start to panic about doing something new, not getting something quite right or panicking during a presentation. I will stop and tell myself that literally the worst thing that could happen is I could walk in, forget everything I've ever learned and drop dead on the spot. But that's really not likely so calm down, everything will be fine. Worrying about perfection really does cause anxiety!

The second article I read was How to Tame Your Inner Critic: A Simple Habit to Rewire Your Brain. This article actually really spoke to me. In social work while we are in practice to help clients and communities, we are supposed to focus on what strengths our clients bring with them. It may be something as simple as they came in and filled out a form to ask for help, but that's a strength. As students we can be presented with what looks like a really challenging potential client with a lot of needs. Yet we will go through and find strengths and positive things that this other person has going for us. But ask us to list our own personal strengths? Silence! I think using REBS is a great way to get into building yourself up, allowing mistakes, moving on and getting used to it. It can be a really hard thing to do.

Feedback survey in an airport bathroom. Nothing to do directly with my articles but was very, very amusing to me as a photo that came up while looking for images related to feedback. I hope you get a kick out of it as well. 

"Instant feedback" by 4nitsirk is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Topic Brainstorm

Maybe it is because of COVID, but I was feeling a little doom and gloom when I started researching. My first topic was flood myths. Many areas have a flood myth, from the famous Gilgamesh and Noah to the less well known stories passed down in indigenous cultures. I know about some of the flood myths and am interested in several of the indigenous stories I have not heard. It might be interesting to tell a flood story from the perspective of someone in an area that did not flood. What would that person think about these people showing up telling all these crazy sounding stories of deep water and homes washed away?

My second topic idea was literally the end of the world. (Thanks, COVID.) As far as mythology about this is concerned, I do have some knowledge. Many of my ideas and thoughts are may be influenced by popular media. I probably have a lot of ideas on how to retell stories under this topic because there are just so many ways a civilization could end. And I haven't even pulled in thoughts from basically modern myth/legend/stories like the 2012 apocalypse that didn't happen. Also in writing this type of story you would have to consider whether or not to update the timeline. If you push things into the modern era, it would be easy for folks somewhere like Pompeii or Atlantis (Santorini?) to pull out their cell phones and call a relative and say they need a place to stay. Technology could change so many things!

The end times by mail - USPS delivers? 

"End Times at Canal Street Subway station" by Dan Nguyen @ New York City is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

The third idea I came up with after getting stuck on Wikipedia was resurrection. A lot of the western world, myself included, will be familiar with this type of story from the Bible and Jesus's resurrection. This story is also present in other mythologies to some extent with gods like Osiris and Dumuzid/Tammuz. I've noticed a lot of these stories have male gods dying. Then women, often wives or followers, have to go find them, go on a quest or weep for them so they'll come back. What would happen if the women just didn't bother? Or what would happen if it was the women who died and the men forgot to go through the proper procedures to resurrect everyone?

Finally I started researching werewolves and vampires. This is really big, branching topic and if I go this route I will probably need to pick one or the other instead of both. Or concentrate only folklore from a specific area. I know a fair bit about some of the folklore but it is also really varied depending on what region and time frame you are looking at. Despite having a lot to work with, I may actually have the fewest ideas on how to rewrite or retell anything here. It may be because it seems like there are so many of these stories that have already been told! It seems like you could switch some things around still, perhaps have a setting in which vampires and werewolves are the majority population and scared of 'normal humans' who are usually in hiding. That's something I'll have to think about and this may not be a topic I end up picking because of my lack of ideas

Week 2 Story: Farmer, fruit, fae

One day a farmer planned to head to market to sell their crops. Most of the farmer's children requested many trinkets, toys, and ribbons. However, the farmer's youngest child, used to being left out by their older siblings and unheard by their parents, asked only for a pear.

After the farmer finished business for the day and purchased toys for the children, it was already getting dark. The horse and cart were quickly packed up, and they headed for home. The farmer had been up before dawn and was tired. In the dark forest, it was easy to lose your way. It was not long until the farmer was lost.

As the night wore on, the farmer became more confused and finally decided to find somewhere to stop for the night. Better to stay in one place until sunup than risk the horse on an uncertain path. After finding a clearing in what seemed to be an abandoned orchard, the farmer set up a makeshift camp. The fruit on the trees made a passable supper, and what luck! There were pears to fulfill the request of the youngest child. 

Just before the farmer went to sleep, there was a cracking and creaking in the trees nearby. Out came a bear, angry, growling, and ready to attack. The farmer was shocked to see a bear in this part of the forest but quickly took up a log from the woodpile. To the farmer's surprise, the bear did not immediately rush and attack, but instead spoke.

"Why are you in my orchard, stealing my fruit and burning my wood?" huffed the bear. The farmer sensing an opportunity for a bargain, overcame their shock and replied, "Well, you see, I lost the path in the darkness. I stopped here for the night and ate enough fruit to sustain myself. I gathered enough wood to keep me warm through the night."

The bear considered the farmer's response. "What you say about the wood you gathered is true. But about the fruit, you have lied. You have pears you have not eaten, those you have stolen from me, and for that, you will die!"

Before the bear could leap at the farmer, using teeth and claws to bite and rend, the farmer cried out, "Wait! The pears I forgot again! They are for my youngest child, a daughter, Marie. My elder children ask for trinkets, toys, and many other gifts every time I go to town. Marie only asks for small things, fruit or flowers, perhaps. They're things I can gather even in the forest because she is kind and knows I sometimes forget in town."

"If your daughter is so kind, then leave the pears." the bear demanded. "Send her back for them herself, and we will see how kind she really is - will she return to save your life?"

The farmer did not feel as if this was a fair burden to put on Marie but also felt this was not a decision to be made without involving family. "I will agree to this," said the farmer. "But if Marie does not want to come back, I will, and that's the end of it."

The bear agreed, the farmer returned the pears and headed for home while it was still dark. The ribbons and trinkets the eldest children asked for were used to mark the path so someone could find their way back to the bear's orchard. It was just after dawn when the farmer turned the cart into the yard. Marie was pacing outside, clearly worried something had happened.

"Mama!" Marie shouted. "You've been gone all night. What happened? Are you okay? Is the horse okay?"

"I lost the path. I stopped and thought to bring back pears, but the trees belonged to someone. They want you to return for the fruit yourself, in exchange for my life. It is not my choice to make, and I will go back myself. The path is marked with the ribbons your brother and sister asked for - it will be easy for either of us to find our way back to the orchard."

Marie thought it over for just a moment. "No. No, I asked for the fruit, even knowing everything else my siblings had asked for. I'll go. I cannot deal with them without you. Better to take my chances with an angry orchard owner than stay here."

Marie and her mother talked and embraced. Then Marie left to follow the trail back to the orchard. Without a horse, it was again dark before she arrived back at the fruit trees. Her mother's trail markers ended, and she found the remains of the fire. Marie coaxed the fire back to life and waited. Soon there came a cracking and creaking in the trees nearby.

"Are you the farmer's daughter who only wanted pears?" came the mumble from the shadows.

"Yes, I'm Marie, and the farmer is my mother."

"I am going to step into the light. Please do not scream." And the bear stepped closer to the fire.

Marie only nodded. "Yes, mother told me the being who owned the orchard was a bear, perhaps under an enchantment. What do you need from me?"

"Actually, I am enchanted; I've tried to break it many times over the years, but it was done by a fairy. As a bear, I've just found that older humans are stringy, and younger humans are far more delicious. Please don't run, it will only make us both very tired in the end." And the bear stalked towards Marie, ready to eat.

"I see," Marie said very calmly. "Mother said it may come to this. She was the one who enchanted you after all. She's sent me with the family sword and staff. Please don't run, my aim isn't very good, and I would hate to enchant any of your lovely trees."

And with that, the beast was no more.

Image information:

"Hutton in the Forest - pears" by kimhollingshead is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
"the dark forest" by danoxster is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 

 

 

Author's Note: So I started with Beauty and the Basilisk and just kind of went off from there. I really didn't like that at the end the basilisk was just more and more demanding, then basically got to say oh, I'm human now we are getting married. So in my version the beast (basilisk) just doesn't get very far at all.

Bibliography: "The Three Roses" from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922) Web Source.