Once upon a time, there was a maiden whose beauty was beyond compare. Her eyes were as blue as a summer sky with hints of emerald green. Her beauty was pure inside and out. The gods looked upon her with favor. The townsmen adored her and many suitors called upon her, but she refused them all. Some began to think she thought herself to good for any one of them but that was not the case. The young maiden was simply so pure of heart that she could not chose but one, only to hurt the others. Each night before she took to sleep, she prayed to the gods to help her chose.
The next day when the maiden's decision was due the suitors, she stood before them faint of heart. Each of the three suitors were handsome, hardworking, and would be an honorable husband. As her heart raced she became dizzy and fell to the ground. The men gasped and fell to her side to pray the gods would heal her and bless their union, but the gods did not reply. The suitors watched with tearful eyes as she faded from this life.
In their grief the suitors each went their separate ways. The first suitor traveled far from the place where the maiden fell. He tried to keep his mind busy so it would not entertain thoughts of joining his sweet maiden in the afterlife. The second suitor stayed near the maidens memorial and made sure it was allows covered in fresh flowers. The third suitor spent day and night praying to the gods to show the beautiful maiden favor once more. If she cannot yet again walk among men , let her walk among the gods, he prayed.
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The Beautiful Maiden Favored By The gods
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The air that was once filled by the suitor's disagreement now stood silence as the goddess of love shined bright before them. The goddess told the first suitor that he mourned the beautiful maiden as a father would mourn his only daughter. She went on to tell the second suitor that he mourned the beautiful maiden the way a son mourns his mother. Then she turned to third suitor and spoke of his selfless prayers to see the maiden restored to life in this world or the next. She told him that he was the only suitor to mourn the beautiful maiden as a wife and therefore the gods would favor their union.
The beautiful maiden was pleased to find someone who would lover her so much that he wished for her life and happiness above his own. They joined hands and walked as husband and wife, and they lived happily ever after.......the end.
Author's Notes: My story was inspired by the Goblins: The Three Lovers, but I changed the story to include the gods, specifically the goddess of love. She would chose the maidens true love. "Goblins: The Three Lovers" is a paradox of a beautiful young women who cannot decide which of three suitors to marry. The young women becomes ill and dies before the three men's eyes. Each one mourns her death differently, but one of the men found a spell that could return her to life. Once the beautiful girl was among the living once again the men argued as to whose wife she should be. The man who found the spell acted as a father, the man who set her bones in the river acted as a son, but the man who slept with her ashes acted as a lover. He would be the young women's husband and she is wife.
Bibliography:
"Goblins: The Three Lovers" translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).
""Goblins: The Three Lovers"
I have never heard this story before. I was instantly grabbed by the way the story was written. It was very elegant and flowed smoothly from one line to the next. The way it was written made it sound like it should belong in an old English fairy tale book. The detail was beautiful. I could see the maiden clearly in my mind. The story itself was just beautiful. I was hooked from the very beginning. Like I said before, I’ve never heard the original story, but your version was great. I could see it being read to a little kid before bed time. The way you broke up the story into paragraphs made it very easy to read as well. I also enjoyed the picture placement. It didn’t interrupt the story at all, instead it fit seamlessly into the story. I can’t think of anything I would change or add, but I will definitely go and read the original so that I can better compare yours to it. Overall it was very well done!
ReplyDeleteThis story is new to me as well. You do an amazing job of transitions within the story and making sure the story makes sense. Again great job at descriptions, the characters felt so true and I could picture each situation and their reactions. I have never done the picture to the side before, but I thought that contributed to the story and gave a good illustration for the reading. Great story, look forward to reading more of your stories.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t read the original story, so I can’t be sure, but your title here feels like it’s from the source story or like it easily could be—I love how it complements your tale really well once the reader realizes what it’s about, but is also an intriguing hook before that. Also, it was really interesting to read your author’s note and see that you added the goddess of love to the story; that’s a nice touch that does a lot of work in little space in terms of world-building, and it felt like a really natural element. The way you tweaked the men’s reactions was really clever, too, because they were subtle enough to be believable, grounding the story, but also clearly aligned with each of their intended roles (father/son/lover). I really enjoyed this one because of the way you blended the original story with your own additions in such a seamless way. Thanks for the read!
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