My name is Crescent, I am the first of three wives to the
king of the greatest kingdom in all the land, Ujjain. One day I was sitting
with my husband in our beautiful palace garden. It was a beautiful spring day
and the weather was divine. The flowers were in bloom and the bees were buzzing
all around us. My king and I were having a great time together, talking and
laughing. He reached to push my hair behind my ear, like he always does when he
doesn’t know what to say. Just as he did that I saw the most beautiful lotus
blossom fall into my lap. When it finally hit my lap a wave of excruciating
pain radiated through-out my entire body. All I could do was scream before the
pain overtook my body and caused me to faint. I was in and out of consciousness
for several hours. The pain would go away long enough for me to open my eyes
and see my king sitting across from me, making sure I was being taken care of.
It wasn’t until after nightfall that the pain was subdued. I finally was able to
let out a sigh of relief and get some rest. My king kissed my forehead before I
fell asleep and promised me that everything would be alright.
My name is Star, I am the second of three wives to the king
of the greatest kingdom in all the land, Ujjain. After Crescent had been healed
and put to sleep, my king came to my chambers to seek comfort and relaxation
from the stressful day that occurred before. We were sitting on the balcony enjoying
each other’s company while the moonlight shone upon us. I was rested upon my
king’s chest and could hear his rhythmic heartbeat. That soothing sound, and
the soft breezed that flowed across the balcony soon put me into a gentle
sleep. It wasn’t long before I was awoken to a painful sensation that spread
across my face and hands. It felt as if my flesh had been burned by a great
fire. I wept as I looked upon the great blisters that covered my body. The moon
that shone down upon me was the source of my great pain. As I wept in agony, my
king made sure the physicians bandaged me up and laid me upon a soft bed of moist
lotus-leaves. My king kissed my forehead before I fell asleep and promised me
that everything would be alright.
My name is Moon, I am the third of three wives to the king
of the greatest kingdom in all the land, Ujjain. I had heard of the events that
had transpired earlier and decided to seek out my king to comfort him. As I was
walking alone in the dark quiet halls, I heard to sound of pestles grinding
grain in the distance. As the noise raged on I noticed giant bruises forming on
my arms and hands. Just as I thought my time was coming to an end, I see my
servants running towards me from the end of the hall. When they see that I am
in distress they lead me back to my room and inquired what is wrong. I show
them the bruises that I now have and the quickly informed my king of my
condition. As soon as he arrived to my chambers he had physicians working on
soothing my pains. After they were done bandaging me up, I was laid in bed to
rest. My king kissed my forehead before I fell asleep and promised me that
everything would be alright.
Author's Note:
The original story that I based this weeks retelling on was actually one story out of twenty-two. This is one of the riddles presented to a wise king by a goblin. The king must successfully answer the riddle, or get his head cut in two. I wanted to expand the story a bit and give it more depth and story line. In this riddle the goblin wants to know which of the three wives is the most delicate. The one who was in pain from a lotus leaf, the one who was blistered by a moonbeam, or the one who was bruised by the sound of a pestle. What do you think?
Bibliography:
Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).
I love how each wife has their own section in the story (and they have cool names). It was a deeper way to get to know each character. I’m curious on why the king had three wives? Also why were all of them so delicate? I have so many questions haha. This was a really interesting story to read!
ReplyDeleteMorgan, great story! I really liked how you wrote the story in the perspective of the three different wives. It really allowed the reader to see how each of the wives were like. As in terms of your riddle, I think that the second wife that was hurt by the moonbeam was the most delicate. This is because I feel that it is easy to avoid a lotus leaf or the sound of pestle but it is hard to avoid the moon. I am not sure but that is what I would go with! Overall, great story. Hope to read more of your riddle stories!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the presentation of the story here, especially that each wife was given her own section, almost like her very own individual story. Did you have any specific reasoning for choosing their names? I noticed the three wives all had names centered around astronomy and it drew my attention in. I did not read the story you created this from so it was nice to be exposed to some new material.
ReplyDeleteHey Morgan!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading two of your stories, I have a better Idea for the more abstract style of your writing and I really enjoy it. Like I said in earlier posts, I think it could benefit from some more descriptive detail and dialogue, but if you're into the abstractness of your writing go for it, you do it well. Also love the images!