Week 13 Storytelling: Looks Can Be Deceiving

A young princess lived within an immaculate castle in a kingdom deep within the woods. Because she was around the age of 16, she began to feel confined and decided to explore outside the walls of the kingdom. After begging her father, the king, he allowed her to go outside the kingdom but he made her promise him to not talk to any strangers. The princess promised and then set off on her journey.  

The first thing the princess came upon as she walked outside the kingdom walls was a path that led into a forest. The further she went on the path, the darker the forest seemed to get. After walking for about ten minutes, the princesses came across a handsome boy who sat beside a pond with his legs in the water. There was something drawing the princess into wanting to talk to the boy but she remembered her father’s order and she held her tongue as she walked past the boy. As she walked by, the boy called for her to sit with him but the princesses refused because she was unable to talk to him due to her fathers orders. He stayed calm with his feet still in the murky pond water, patting down beside him again to motion for the princess to sit next to him. Nervous and confused, the princess apologized, for all she wanted was to sit next to the handsome boy but she was conflicted by her and her fathers’ promise.

As she walked away, she heard the boy take his feet out from the water and stand up. Right after hearing the sound, the princess’s turned around to see all the commotion and her jaw dropped in shock. From the knee up, the boy’s legs looked human but from the calf down they were green and looked like legs of a frog with webbed toes. She tried to ask why his legs were messed up but as he tried to explain, he began to croak. It seemed like he struggled to speak because all he could do was croak.

Confused and nervous, the princess turned around and ran towards the castle. As she ran, she could hear the webbed feet running behind her as well as the croaking noises. Before she could make it to the doors of the kingdom, the frog boy tackled the princess and kissed her. The princess pushed the frog boy off of her and stood up. She was about to start yelling at him when she noticed his legs began to turn back into normal human legs and his croaking ceased. The boy began to explain to the princess that he was a prince but some time ago a spiteful fairy turned him into a frog. If he kissed princesses, some of his frog attributes would subside but the only way to completely break the spell is receiving true loves kiss.

 Since the princess broke the curse fully, the prince asked her hand in marriage. Since the boy was so handsome and he said that he was a prince, the princess agreed and they lived happily ever after.

The Frog Prince by Paul Mayerheim (1842-1915).

Author's Note: I used the story of The Frog Prince in the Brothers Grimm (LibriVox) unit. The story was about a young princess who walked outside of the castle and went to a pond. She was tossing a ball up in the air to herself and she accidentally dropped it in the pond. A frog said he would get the ball for her but only if she would let him eat off of her plate and sleep in her bed. She 'agreed' and the frog got her the ball. But when she got the ball, the princess ran off to her castle with the ball and without the frog. The frog showed up later that night at the kings door begging to come in. After the princesses reluctantly let the frog in, she let him eat off her plate and sleep next to her in bed. The next morning, the princess woke up to a handsome prince beside her. The prince explained that a spiteful fairy turned him into the frog and the only way to brake the spell was if a princess would let him eat off of her plate and sleep in the same bed as her. They then got married and lived happily ever after. Because I had always thought that the only way to brake the spell was true loves first kiss, I decided to incorporate that into my story, along with her young curiosity of wanting to leave the kingdom. I also added her father telling her not to talk to strangers because I wanted the princess to try and avoid the prince. 

Week 12 Storytelling: The Haunting

I thought I chose a safe place to live. The advertisements in the paper said the neighborhood was safe, safe enough to raise a family. But they were wrong.

            My two children and I moved into a new neighborhood about a month ago. My oldest child is 10 and her name is Beth and Derek is only 6. We decided to move because I was able to afford an actual house and I wanted my children to experience the luxuries of living in a place where they could call home since, in the past, we would constantly move around to different small apartments. Because the house came at a cheep price, I asked the relator for the reasoning behind the low price on the house and all she said was that people never staid long. I wish I had asked more because if I did, I wouldn't have risked my children's life or my own. 

            The first few days, everything went so smoothly. Beth and Derek started their new school and immediately made friends and were happy with their teachers. I started to work at my new job as a college advisor for high school students. The students and coworkers were very nice and friendly. Because everyone was so nice in school and work, it seemed like everyone in town was nice, except the neighbors.  I tried introducing my children and myself but they would rudely shut the door. Sometimes I would see them looking at our house when they passed by and they looked frightened, like something had happened or that they knew something that we didn’t about our property.

            After the course of a few weeks, I began to come across peculiar things missing in the house as well as things being moved. Like chairs would be on top of tables, my sheets were found on the floor when no one was home and it seemed like all of the silverware in the kitchen began to disappear. More weeks go by and my children and I started to hear things like voices. Not just any voices either, they were distorted and sometimes it sounded like someone was yelling. Both Beth and Derek said they would randomly see someone wearing a black hooded cloak standing at the end of the hallway staring at them with dark black eyes but when they blinked it would disappear. All of those occurrences were bearable until one day something so terrifying happened that I took my children and ran.

Once I put the kids to bed and picked up around the house, I finally lay down for bed before midnight. I slept easy until a disturbance woke me up around 3:30 in the morning. What woke me up were my sheets slowly tugging at the foot of my bed. I called out for my children, thinking one of them was pulling the sheets in need for my attention but all I got in a response was a low growl. My heart jumped into my throat, I had no idea who or what was at the end of my bed. As slow as I possibly could to prevent myself from making any noise, I began to crawl to the foot of the bed and looked over the edge and onto the ground. All I saw was darkness until I saw piercing red eyes. The next thing I knew I was forced onto my back with the cloaked woman pinning me down as she screamed in my face. As I struggled to break free, I noticed there was a large horn growing on the side of her head. Frantically, I broke one arm free from the woman and grabbed onto the horn pulling roughly in different directions until I broke it off. Immediately after it broke, the woman screamed and released my other arm, which allowed me to run away and grab my children and get into the car without looking back.

I called the police once I got a safe distance from the house to report the situation and even mentioned that things have been missing in my house. After they searched the house and found no one there but what was weird was when the they told me that for the past few years they have had calls from the same house about things going missing, possible burglary and a woman in a cloak with a horn. That scared me even more.

My children and I moved and we never went back to the house. I moved because I knew it wasn't a burglary. That woman was not human, she was a spirit that haunted the area. 

Haunted House by Shane Gorski (2008).

Author's Note: I used the story called The Horned Woman from the unit Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892). The story was about a woman who lived alone and, one at a time, witches came into her house. 12 witches came into the door and they all had horns but they ranged from the first witch that walked in had one horn and the 12th witch that walked in had 12 horns. The woman let the witches in because she thought someone in the village was calling for them and they just got mixed up with the house. The witches casted a spell on the woman to do their bidding and ordered her to make them cake. The woman went to well to fetch water and the well spirit broke the spell and helped the woman get the witches out of her house and helped keep them out. When I read the story, it made me thing of a home invasion but I wrote it about an invasion of a spirit because witches make me think of supernatural things. I used the idea of the spirit having a horn just to have more relatable to the original story. 

Week 11 Storytelling: Lost in Wonderland

Alice and Courtney were the closest of friends and did everything together especially going on adventures. The two girls always loved to venture from others and find their own fun. One day, there was an adventure that they would never forget because it was so weird

A few weeks ago, the girls walked along the desired path in their favorite forest while they talked about their days and other small talk until they came across a new path that was branched off from their own. It caught their attention and decided to follow it down into the deeper part of the woods.

They noticed something peculiar when they saw a white rabbit in the distance because it was running toward them form the opposite end of the path. The two continued to walk forward, towards it. It puzzled both the girls because they had never seen a rabbit attract to humans. Once the rabbit was in site, the two could see that the rabbit not only started to run on it's two hind legs but also was wearing a suit and carried a pocket watch in his front right paw.

During the time the rabbit passed between the two girls, he said, “I’m late, I’m late!” After he spoke his final word, the two girls looked at one another and everything around them turned black and they began to fall into a hole in the ground. Once they landed, they noticed they landed on a bed of red playing cards that were the same size as the girls.

 Once they got up from the ground of cards, they looked around to see that they were in a different place. The flowers began to move as well as the trees and it even looked like they had faces on them. Terrified, the girls ran the opposite direction and ran into a caterpillar that sat on top a mushroom in the middle of the forest.

 The mushroom and the caterpillar were bigger than both of the girls. Something really strange, thought the girls, was the fact that the caterpillar was smoking a hooka. After he was aware of the girls, he slowly raised himself up from lying down to face the two. As he spoke, his words would spell out in the air by the smoke that escaped his mouth.

“Who are you?” He waited for their reply but they were too stunned by the talking and smoking caterpillar that they found themselves speechless. The caterpillar sighed, for he grew impatient. “You shouldn’t be here,” he continued, “you need to leave. Quickly, leave behind the mushroom.”

Without hesitation, the girls followed the caterpillar’s suggestion and went around the mushroom. Once behind the mushroom, they found a hole in the ground that looked like it was slowly closing up so they decided to jump in as fast as they could.

The two then popped out of a hole in the ground and found themselves on their normal path in the woods. Ever since that day, they two girls refrain from going into the forest.

Down the Rabbit Hole by John Tenniel (1865).

Author's Note: I used a story from Alice in Wonderland called Advice from a Caterpillar to form my own story. I used the same character name, Alice, and the life size caterpillar smoking hooka on a big mushroom. I also used a phrase the caterpillar said in the original story, "who are you", and the rabbit's phrase "I'm late, I'm late" since I thought it fit in that part of my story. The rest of the story I made up keeping in mind the theme of the original story. 

Week 10 Storytelling: Nightmare

            In the nightmare, lived in a village with a husband and his whole family. This man was very handsome and seemed extremely nice but his family gave me a weird feeling like something bad was going to happen at any moment. We all lived in a small cottage within the forest and we all seemed happy from what I can remember.

            But all of a sudden the bad feeling made itself present when I over heard the family wanting to eat me. I was so shocked I froze in my tracks thinking about what to do. My innate instincts kicked in and I ran for it. I didn’t tell my husband nor anyone. I just opened the front door and ran. But as I ran, one of the family members was outside and when he saw me, he yelled inside the house that I had ran away.

When I turned around after he finished speaking, I noticed that the entire family started to run towards me with a full sprint. All of a sudden my legs grew a few inches that caused me to have bigger strides so I was able to outrun them.

I then explored inside the forest admiring the huge trees. But as I continued to walk deeper into the forest, the trees got bigger and tighter together to where I felt claustrophobia. Scared, I started to run until I came upon a wooden cabin. The wood was rotten on some parts of the house and there was grass growing in the cracks of the house so I assumed it was abandon. Without knocking, I opened the door, which caused a loud scream. The scream was so loud I had to cover my ears until it stopped. I looked around frantically and saw a thin man standing inside the house. I don’t remember what he said but I know he wanted me to stay the night. Since it was late, I agreed and fell asleep on the couch.

            I woke up to a loud stabbing noise next to my right ear in the middle of the night. When my eyes opened, I saw the man trying to strike my head with a spear. I pushed him off and began to run into the forest again.

            After running a couple of minutes, I came upon a small house with a line of dwarfs waking in and out of the house. Squeezing behind one of the dwarfs to get in line, I walked into the house.  As the line moved inside, I saw a black figure coming from the horizon. When the line walked outside, I could see the figure getting closer and closer. The dwarfs prepared to fight the darkness with a dog. When the dog barked a huge wave crashed onto the darkness and drowned it. Then I woke up.

Nightmare by Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (1743-1809)

Author’s Note: I used the story from Eskimo Folk-Tales called Makíte by Knud Rasmussen (1921). I used the outline of the story like the family chasing the main character out of the house, running into the creepy house and being chased by him, the dwarfs walking in a line into the house and the dwarfs dog barked a wave that killed the darkness. The only things I  added were the family man eaters, my legs growing and the small details of the forest. I created the story as a nightmare because as I read the story, I felt like the situations were so random and weird that it was some sort of dream.

Storytelling: The White Butterflies

Once there were newlyweds that lived deep in a forest in Connecticut. They lived in a secluded house that was covered by high trees. The most peaceful part of the area was that there were always signs of woodland creatures: prancing deer, singing birds, hopping rabbits and hooting owls. After they were settled in their new home, they thought it would be the perfect place to raise a child.

            A year later, their baby Ashley was born. She was perfection in her parent’s eyes and they cherished every moment they could with her. Ashley’s childhood was full of adventure and laughter with her amazing parents. They would take her hiking around their house to animal watch and at night the family would get together for bonding time and play instruments or board games to connect with one another. But one day, it all changed.

            When Ashley turned twelve, she became a free spirited child.  It seemed like nothing could bring her down, until things turned for the worst. Ashley was in the middle of her English class when her grandmother released her from school. In a hurry, she took Ashley to a hospital in town and told her that her parents got into a severe car accident. Ashley’s heart dropped because she was so terrified. She had no idea if her parents were all right, if they had a few cuts or worse.

            Once they got into the hospital, they ran to the emergency wing and were told to wait. In tears, Ashley begged her grandmother and nurses to let her into the room but all they could tell her was to calm down and to wait until the two get out of surgery.

            Seconds turned into minutes, which then turned to hours until a nurse would update Ashley and her grandmother on her parents. With a hollow look, the nurse gave her condolences because Ashley’s parents passed away from blood loss. Ashley’s heart dropped and her blood turned cold. All she could do was stand there, staring at the nurse in disbelief. She then fell into her grandmother’s arms, crying hysterically.

            The entire week leading up to the funeral was terrible for Ashley. Due to the unfortunate events, she had to stay in her grandmother’s care. Because Ashley was so numb by the whole situation, she staid secluded in the guest room and rarely came out. The only incentive she had for leaving the room was to eat. Her grandmother tried to get her to get out and do something but Ashley would only refuse and lock the door.

Her whole life felt like it was over as she stood over her parent’s grave at the funeral. All she could do was cry and began to pray, “if you are here, parents, show yourself”. Suddenly, two white butterflies flew around her head and onto the coffin causing a swarm of emotions came over Ashley. She took a deep breath and smiled softly knowing that this was a sign of her parents telling her they were at peace and they wanted her to be happy. 

Cabbage white butterfly by Vera Buhl (2010).

Author's note: I used the story of The Jealous Father from the Native American Hero Tales Unit by Stith Thompson (1929). The story was about an old man who had two wives. The man was jealous of the son from one of the two wives and decided to rid of him by leaving him on a random island. His mother conjured up a walrus to save him by swimming him back to his island. But the father conjured up a storm and after the boy got dropped off at his island, the walrus was struck by the lightening. I liked the idea of the parents summoning upon creatures or weather to connect with their child so I decided to use that concept for my story.

Week 7 Storytelling: Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

Andrew had always been a shy individual. When he was younger, he was bullied because of his small size compared to the rest of the boys on the playground and he also had a speech impediment. As he grew older, his height grew to only 5’4 while the other boys grew to be around six feet, which caused him to get bullied in high school as well. The only thing keeping his sanity was his love for art. Since his youth, Andrew would paint large paintings and work with clay. After years of making art, he realized that art was something he could turn to when he was hurt.

During his years at college, he met a woman who would change his life forever. Annabelle was a blonde female that radiated wherever she went. She had this sort of innocence about her, which was the reason Andrew was so interested in her. He saw her as the bright ray of light on a cloudy day.

The two got married once they graduated but once they settled down in a small house things turned for the worse because Annabelle began to act like she was a different person. She grew very demanding of Andrew as well as selfish. Annabelle would ask to borrow money from Andrew, claiming she is having trouble with money. But in reality, she had enough money from her job but just wanted to get extra cash. 

Andrew was aware that Annabelle was using him for his money but he was such an introvert that he couldn’t stand up for himself. Also, the fact that he was alone most of his life and he finally found someone that ‘presumably’ wanted to spend the rest of their life with made it hard for him to say no. Even though he was scared to speak up, his subconscious thought otherwise.

One afternoon Andrew was painting in his art studio in the basement. Like usual, the environment was still and quiet so he was able to focus on his painting. But the sound of frustrated footsteps pounding down on the stairs that led into the basement caused Andrews eyes to gaze off the canvas as he gripped his paintbrush tightly. Once Annabelle came down the basement stairs, she stood between Andrew and the canvas and placed her hands on her hip with her brow raised.

“Did you forget what day it is?” Annabelle said with a stern look.

Andrew sighed, “Are you going out with the girls again?” He said in a monotone voice. Not only was his voice monotone, but his face was still. With a cold stair, his eyes fixed into hers, he waited for her reply.

            “Yes!” She exclaimed then sighed in annoyance, “sometimes I wonder why I am with you.”

With those last words, something snapped in Andrew. The memories of being hurt swarmed in his head, causing him to suppress his consciousness and let his subconscious become in control. He stood up quickly and grabbed a large empty can with a firm grip and hit Annabelle on her forehead, which knocked her unconscious on the ground. Andrew would not have noticed his wife was already unconscious because he didn’t stop hitting her after the first hit. Wack, wack, wack. Then silence.

Once he became conscious from the rage, he fell to his knees. “W-what…have I done,” he spoke softly as he scooted his knees to get closer to her. Looking down at her grotesque face filled indents, gashes and blood, he picked up her head and ran his fingers threw her long blonde hair as he cried harder than he had ever cried in his whole life.

Then the real worry came about, what would he do with the body? He decided to cut up her body into small pieces and bury them in different places around the area he lived in like the forest, parks, other peoples gardens and he would even throw some of the random pieces in the city dumpster.

The following week, Andrew reported Annabelle as missing after she went to the store. To this day, no one knows who killed Annabelle. As for Andrew, he had never felt so free in his life.

Multiple Boy by Stefan Tosheff

Author's Note: My inspiration for this story was from The Wicked Husband in the Stories From Congo unit. The story was about a man and husband who got into an argument. The husband was so mad at her, for such a minuscule reason, that he took her to the woods and cut off her arms and legs then left her. When he returned to town, he told everyone that she went out of town. The wife would sing loudly in the woods that a man from the town heard than told his wife. Once word got around that there was a woman in the woods with no limbs, the Prince ordered his men to retrieve her. Before they could bring her to the village, however, she died. After they discovered who she was, the Prince assumed the husband was the murderer so they burnt him alive along with his dead wife. Reading this story reminded me of a band called Alasana. They had an album called The Emptiness that was about an artist who murdered his wife, Annabelle, but he could not recall his actions. Once he woke up and found her dead body, a voice started to talk to him (in his head) telling him he had killed his own wife. This voice was a separate personality from the main character (he never had a name). Once he remembered he killed his wife, he cut up her body and put it in the floorboard of the basement. So I used the argument from the wife and husband in the story, to the multiple personalty in