Oh, I have never been happier! After running away from my tribe and marrying Evergreen, I truly am overjoyed. I could not follow through with the wedding that my parents had arranged for me. There was no way that I was going to spend my entire life with a killer, someone who has no regard for animals and all of the love and life that they have for us. I decided the morning of my wedding that I would run away and finally find the happy land that I had always dreamt of. I knew that the fairies would accept me, not only because I looked like them, but because I would fit in perfectly. And I was right.
As soon as I walked along the shore and saw their homeland, I knew this was the perfect place where I was meant to be. One of the fairies saw me and instead of running, he came towards me. He introduced himself and I immediately told him my situation, so that he would not be frightened and so that he would know I wanted to stay with them and become one of them. I spent the next few days getting to know this fairy (Evergreen), and it was clear to everyone around us that it was love at first sight. I went through their initiation ceremony to finally be accepted as a fairy, and it was the most special thing. They gave me a new name, Willow, and I was given a job in their community. I was in charge of caring for the trees with Evergreen. This allowed us to have even more time together and fall deeper in love. We eventually got married and started a family. Each of our children we named after trees: Oak, Cedar, Pine. They were wonderful, and our family was so happy. We worked and took care of the trees throughout the weeks, and then on the weekends, we would go explore as a family. Because I had grown up as apart of the tribe, I knew my way around the lands and I knew the areas to avoid. I never again saw my original family, but that did not sadden me. I knew that my real family was that of the fairies, and it was better this way.
Now my story has become a distant memory and is a long-ago tale that I share with my children and the other children in our community. I hope that they will continue to pass the story of how I left the tribe and joined the fairies down for generations, as it teaches about bravery and courage. I am thankful for the new family that I have in the fairies.
Author's Note: The original Fairy Bride story is about a Native American girl who loves the fairies that live near her home. She is the daughter of the chief and is expected to marry a hunter from their tribe. The girl does not love this hunter and does not want to marry him, and so she ran away on the day of her wedding. The hunter was looking for her and he saw her run away and marry one of the fairies, and that was the end of the story. I wanted to create a story that was like a sequel to this so that people could see what the girl's life was like after running away and marrying a fairy.
Bibliography: American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae (1921).
As soon as I walked along the shore and saw their homeland, I knew this was the perfect place where I was meant to be. One of the fairies saw me and instead of running, he came towards me. He introduced himself and I immediately told him my situation, so that he would not be frightened and so that he would know I wanted to stay with them and become one of them. I spent the next few days getting to know this fairy (Evergreen), and it was clear to everyone around us that it was love at first sight. I went through their initiation ceremony to finally be accepted as a fairy, and it was the most special thing. They gave me a new name, Willow, and I was given a job in their community. I was in charge of caring for the trees with Evergreen. This allowed us to have even more time together and fall deeper in love. We eventually got married and started a family. Each of our children we named after trees: Oak, Cedar, Pine. They were wonderful, and our family was so happy. We worked and took care of the trees throughout the weeks, and then on the weekends, we would go explore as a family. Because I had grown up as apart of the tribe, I knew my way around the lands and I knew the areas to avoid. I never again saw my original family, but that did not sadden me. I knew that my real family was that of the fairies, and it was better this way.
Now my story has become a distant memory and is a long-ago tale that I share with my children and the other children in our community. I hope that they will continue to pass the story of how I left the tribe and joined the fairies down for generations, as it teaches about bravery and courage. I am thankful for the new family that I have in the fairies.
The Forest where I imagine they spent time
Bibliography: American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae (1921).
Hey Piper! I really enjoyed reading this story. I think it was a good idea not to mention your protagonist's name until she adopted her fairy name. By doing that, I think you're able to emphasize that moment as a defining one in shaping her identity. I think one way you could make your story even better is by including some details about Willow's journey in search of her homeland. That way, you could help your reader empathize with her even more, which draws them in for your happy ending. Great stuff overall!
ReplyDeleteHi Piper!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really fun story, nice job. Your start to the story was particularly effective and grabbed my attention. Writing in the first person can be difficult, but I think you did a great job here. Creating a sequel to an older folktale is a neat and original concept, that's such a great idea! I was a little confused at the beginning, but I understood it more as I kept reading and found the author's note. Nicely done!
Hi Piper,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your story. I love these types of stories (ones that expand on the existing stories). It was short and sweet and was a really cute ending to the original story. I would love to read a bit more about Willow's journey, maybe some info on her romance with Evergreen. I didn't quite understand the story at first but your author's note was a lot of help. Overall, it was really great and I can't wait to read more of your work.
Hi Piper,
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice story, and you give it a nice feeling of Nature and whimsy with the nature words, and so on. It might be a very uniformly happy and bright picture — I do wonder that the girl doesn’t miss her old family at all or have any second thoughts, however brief.
(Just a technical note: if you start your paragraphs with a tab or two line breaks, it’ll be much easier to read by setting off the division visually.)
Best,
A.M.