Story: Stories from the Congo

The Vanishing Subscribers

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(Youtube official Red Play Button Logo)

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Two youtubers made videos everyday. They were called BekahBeauty and SamanthaSwatches.

SamanthaSwatches was a famous youtuber with over 1.2 million subscribers, but BekahBeauty has only 50K subscribers and was not growing. As BekahBeauty had no real interest in her channel, she had to pay for all her makeup and had no sponsors. Regardless, BekahBeauty kept on and looked up to SamanthaSwatches for inspiration and guidance. 

Yet SamanthaSwatches always looked down upon smaller channels, assuming they had no real talent with a lack of drive. Upon realizing SamanthaSwatches had no respect for her or her work, BekahBeauty flew out to California for Youtube's annual convention, Vidcon, determined to gain more followers to prove SamanthaSwatches wrong. Even though, BekahBeauty was not a big enough youtuber to be officially invited, she got a room in a near by hotel and hoped some her subscribers might recognize her on the convention floor. 

Exhausted from the walking all day long with no luck, BekahBeauty had plans to skip the parties going on that night and fall asleep. But right before she made her way out of the convention center, BekahBeauty was stopped by an even more famous beauty youtuber named DreamMUA. After spending nearly all night talking over different strategies to gain more interest, BekahBeauty finally felt as though she had a friend in the industry. Seeing DreamMUA set up a meet and greet with all her subscribers and do giveaways made BekahBeauty get a new spark of love for her work. BekahBeauty and DreamMUA spent the rest of the night imagining a huge crowd following BekahBeauty, while finally getting recognition for her videos. 

 The next morning remembering all the tips and tricks she had learned from DreamMUA, BekahBeauty sent out a tweet, instagram post, and snapchat story announcing her upcoming meet and greet set for that day. Also adding in a 100$ giveaway, per DreamMUA's must-do instructions. 

Finally when the time came to arrive at agreed place for the meet and greet, BekahBeauty found herself, not walking aimlessly around, but being greeted by over thousands of fans that wanted to take a picture with her. Amazed by all the love she was receiving, BekahBeauty reveled in the attention and new found fame.

Thus everyday of the two week long convention, BekahBeauty woke up early, sent out her posts with a time and place for a meet and greet, and went to find a 100$ gift to giveaway. With such a small youtuber making such a big scene, subscribers of other youtube channels found themselves hoping in line to get a glimpse of the up and comer. Eventually, word travelled and baffled at the attention an irrelevant small youtuber was getting, SamanthaSwatches made her mind up to stop by one of these meet and greets. 

But day in and day out, BekahBeauty's funds started to deplete with all the 100$ gifts she was giving away. Soon enough, BekahBeauty found herself letting the subscribers know there would be no giveaway at each meet and greet. And every time she would find herself feeling guilty as soon as she heard her followers felt as though she had lied to them. So she would run after one of her subscribers at the end of each meeting to hand them the gift after all. 

On the second to last day of Vidcon, BekahBeauty once again found herself at a crossroads, not wanting to give up anymore money but also wanting to keep her subscribers. After much back and forth in her head, BekahBeauty was down to the last subscriber in the queue when she burst under the pressure of having to give away so much. The young subscriber, freaked out by BekahBeauty's tone of voice, all but ran away from BekahBeauty. BekahBeauty, being reminded of the must do attitude DreamMUA had had, ran after the young girl determined to catch up to her. 

Yet after losing the subscriber in the crowd, BekahBeauty ran back to her newly-minted booth expecting to see another subscriber waiting to be handed a gift. Low and behold, the new booth, merch table, and most importantly the subscribers had all disappeared. Whispers of a low-life youtuber being too greedy held at hum around her. Alas BekahBeauty had nothing to look to until she laid her eyes upon SamanthaSwatches standing exactly where the new booth had been, casting a look of "told you so" upon her. 

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Author's Note:

This retelling is based off of a folktale from the Congo that tells of two brothers, ranked in different classes, suddenly become equally well off because of a foretelling dream; only for the younger brother to lose his newly gained wealth due to his stubbornness. Originally, this story proved to be really difficult to retell because I could not find a good framework to retell it in. Nonetheless, this piece continued to stick out to me so I set off on trying to change the structure of the story but retain the dynamics. The changes I made were to switch the brothers to rival youtubers and then once that was chosen the rest was a matter of finding parallels within both the original and my retelling. For example, in the original, the idea to "create a meet and greet and do a giveaway" (in actually, it was to go to a river and catch a fish, only to cut its head off to then eat) was given in a dream but I decided to make the dream into a side character instead. Many of the changes followed quickly once the main change of the framework was decided and I hope it made the folktale of the Congo a little more relatable. Hope you enjoyed my piece! 

. . .

This story is based off of the story of "The Vanishing Wife" from Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).

Story: West African Folktales

A Great Big Pot

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(Anansi and the Pot of Wisdom Book Cover by Mark Magnaye)

. . .

Anansi was the father's name
For he was a man of great fame
He held all the wisdom in the land
People always asked him for a helping hand

One day country men offended him
And Anansi set out to punish them
Knowing he must teach these men a lesson
He promptly took away all the world's wisdom

Placing it all in one great big pot
Off he went to finish his cunning plot
Searching for a place no human could reach
He looked high and low for a spot no could breech

Alas, dear Anansi had an intelligent son
Who knew his father was always the mischievous one
Mind set on finding out what his father was up to
He followed his father, always keeping him in view

Anansi, with the pot of wisdom tied to his neck
Found a tree to climb, thus began his trek
Up the tree to where no human could go
Yet he found his pot always swinging to and fro

Frustrated with the pot getting in the way
Anansi kept climbing up, with the goal still at bay
Down in the forest, Anansi's son watched on
Looking at his father as he became his own pawn

"Father!", Kweku Tsin screamed aloud
"Tie the pot to your back and the pot will not crowd!"
"Once tied correctly, your ascent will be easy!"
Said Kweku Tsin, "A feat that will make you not quite as wheezy."

Astonished by his son's great thought
Anansi realized at once he had been caught
"I thought I had all the world's wisdom in my hand,"
"Alas it is my son who has slipped through the sand."

"Now I know your wisdom is much greater."
"I spent 20 attempts, not knowing how to do better."
In his fuming anger, Anansi threw the pot down
Pouting and huffing with a great frown

Smashed against a large rock
The pot itself turned into chalk
Thus all the wisdom poured out
Spreading throughout the world's routes

. . .

Author's Note:

This short story out of all the folklores concerning Anansi, the trickster god of Ghana, is the one that I found most interesting. While others might think the others that contained far more clever plots might be best, I thought the simplicity and loss in this one was compelling. Most trickster gods get away with their plots and do not have anyone who can one up them. Anansi, in this story and others, is bested by his son, Kweku Tsin. To me, this brings humanity and groundedness into what can commonly be lofty folklore tales. As for my retelling, I have decided to do every other retelling I write in poem format because it is the one I have most difficulty with. By challenging myself every two weeks I hope to gain a better sense of what creates a good poem and learn how to be more concise with all my writings. I hope you enjoyed this read and if you've read one of my poems before you can see some improvements! 

. . .

This retelling is based off of stories from West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).

Story: The Journey of Isis

New York's Finest 

. . .

(God of the Ennead: Isis by Desert-Of-Seth) 

. . .

      Rafael was like a god amongst men in most powerful law firm on wall street. He had many names, names which were twisted and turned by the elite of New York's financial district. But their was one name, unknown to the masses that gave him such prowess in and out of court. 

      Unbeknownst to Rafael, there was a woman by the name of Isabelle. A powerhouse in her own right, who worked as a paralegal in the same firm. Isabelle, far too smart to be just a paralegal, yearned to play with the big boys and become a senior partner much like Rafael. She wanted to have the power that Rafael had in the courtroom. Somehow he had a 100% win rate through his years at the firm and everyone knew it had something to do with the secret nickname he had garnered. A nickname that had never once been spoken.

      Everyday Rafael walked through the courthouse with throws of interns, associates and judges alike who believed in his gospel of law that followed his footsteps. In every case, he would stand and argue and win. But Rafael was not getting any smarter and with every case the 100% win statistic was harder to uphold. Yet in his rush to run from case to case, he dropped a slip of paper from his files.

      With Isabelle following his every move, hiding amongst the crowd of "believers", she snatched the piece of paper from the ground. Quickly, scanning the contents of the document, she slowly smirked realizing her chance had come. Slipping inside the Honorable judge Oswald D. Iris' chambers, Isabelle presented the paper knowing she had turned a simple piece of paper into a stinging serpent. 

      On the following Friday in the New York Supreme Courthouse, Rafael walked the same path with the same interns, associates and judges. He walked with purpose and pride up until Judge Iris kindly handed him a booklet of papers, only to walk away right after. Disbarment papers. Those words struck a chord, a great chill to the bones of Rafael, one so hard he fainted upon reading the first page. 

      The interns and associates and judges all gathered around their golden star. Asking for an ambulance to be called and for Rafael to respond to their panicked voices.

       Rafael, shaken with panic and dread, became unable to speak and only started to hyperventilate as a panic attack started to set in. Going through his breathing techniques, he began to calm down realizing what he needed to do. 

       "Judges, my loyal associates and interns, please come closer so I do not have to shout so loud. I am afraid I have been served with disbarment papers the symbol of death to any great lawyer's dream. I am not surprised by these papers, for I have kept within my skills a nickname that comes with a reputation that can shake any opponent. A nickname I have held so close to my heart that only I truly know its origins; origins that now betray me as being the cause of my pending disbarment. Please if any of you know of a way to get me out of this, speak now!"

      All of his fans of legal minds started speaking at various volumes, trying to come up with a counterargument to the disbarment of their cherished lawyer. Through the crowd of people, Isabelle weaved her way into the inner circle coming up beside Rafael. 

      "Rafael, take deep breaths and let me know what's wrong? I am sure if you just let that nickname that is haunting you so much out, you'll feel much better," said Isabelle.

      "You don't understand, I am the best at my job because of that name. People cannot beat me because I have that power of a simple name," a worried Rafael spoke. 

      Isabelle, still desperate for power with no actual worry for Rafael's sanity, continued to urge him to tell her the powerful but secret name. Finally after much coaxing, Rafael leaned closer to Isabelle and whispered in her ear. 

     "Ransom. That's the name that holds so much power. I know every secret of every judge, lawyer, clerk and legal aide in New York. Secrets are a currency unlike any other in this town. Once you know a few, you can leverage them as Ransom. That's where the power comes from, its just a nickname but it tells the loser all he needs to know." said Rafael, finally losing the weight of his secret and calming down fully. 

     "Well that was all I needed to know," Isabelle said while smirking, "you see, Rafael, now I can use that information as I please and we both know you won't be the reigning lawyer at our firm anymore."

      With that Isabelle rose from the ground, leaving Rafael to sputter with confusion as he stared at his disbarment papers with no hope for his 100% win rate keeping its claim. 

      

. . .

This retelling is based of off Egyptian Myth and Legend's The Secret Name of Ra by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

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Author's Note:

For this retelling of "The Secret Name of Ra", I decided to mix the story with a show I have been re-watching lately, Suits. The original story of the god and goddess, Ra and Isis respectively, is one of cunning tricks and a strive for power; its a theme that also occurs in the show Suits. With Suits being a show about high pressure cases and war-like grounds concerning lawyers in New York, I thought it would blend well with the goddess Isis' lust for Ra's divine power. The original plot line of "The Secret Name of Ra" is almost fully preserved throughout my rendition, with the some of smaller changes being the setting and the more modern names. But my biggest change was the ending going from a peaceful one with Ra gaining full health again to my version with Rafael still gaining full health but losing to Isabelle (Isis in the original). As I was writing I just felt like a bittersweet ending with my more villain-esque version of Isis winning instead. Hope the story was enjoyable and my author's note explained any differences between the original and my version! 

Story: Twenty-Two Goblins

Fourth Time's a Charm

. . .

(Suitors Vying for a Woman)

. . .

A King, so mighty and high

Fell indebted to a Monk just trying to get by

The Monk, you see, had been giving the king hidden jewels

For this grace, the King granted him a pack of mules

"No, dear King, what I desire is not cattle,"

"But rather, for someone to dissolve this problem I tackle!"

"A problem?" said the King quite clearly

"Yes! A problem with a goblin who robs me so dearly!"

And so the King grateful for the Monk's help

Went off to fulfill the Monk's request with a great yelp

"Off I go into the night,"

"To fetch a goblin from a great tree's height!"

Once he fetched the goblin down from the tree

The goblin awoke with a bright glee

"Oh King let me once tell you a riddle,"

"It tells of a boy stuck in the middle..."

. . .

In a charming kingdom, far far away

Lived a beauty as undeniable as the day

This beauty was a boy named Charm

He was the son of the King and Queen to which none would do any harm

Charm was born out of Shiva's grace

Promising that his charm would put Aphrodite out of place

Once asked "what would be deemed as a suitable match?"

"A woman who knows a science front to back, that I would deem quite a catch!"

Soon word travelled all throughout 

And then came four scientific suitors from the south route

Prepared, was each woman with a science none could doubt

"Let me hear of these sciences, and hope a new love will sprout."

The first woman arrived with a beautifully sewn suit

"None could better fill out this piece than a beauty of such absolute."

The first suitor was indeed a seamstress of such refine

Her stitches almost seemed as if they were made from fine wine

The second woman then piped up to say 

"But I know all the calls of any beasts or prey!"

You see, the second woman knew of all and any animal

The father of Charm then responded, "Ah yes, a skill quite valuable!"

"Valuable? Ha! Yet what will you do when a beast attacks?"

Said the third woman waiting, "You could do nothing but see their tracks!"

"Unlike her, I am quite skilled with a sword!"

The third woman indeed could protect the Prince from any hoard

The fourth suitor, quiet up until that point, said "well what of my skill?"

"I can bring any man back from the dead, my hands, they have the magic to heal!"

Elated but puzzled by the fourth man's becoming power

The father cried,"I will make my decision within the hour!"

. . .

Hunched on the shoulder of King

The goblin asked, "So what of part of the story did you cling?"

"Can you answer the riddle of which suitor the father did choose?"

"Remember answer truthfully or your death shall be the end of this ruse!"

The shadowed King, confidently did he speak 

"Oh goblin, this riddle was indeed quite weak!"

The answer can easily be found in the crafts

To not see the answer, was to be quite daft

"The answer is neither the zoologist or seamstress,"

"For no father has a need for lessons or neatness."

"Neither is the answer the witch who can bring back lives,"

"For messing with such a fate can induced deadly hives."

"Alas, I believe the answer is the woman as fierce a man,"

"To be a swordsman of great caliber, is to be higher than those cavemen."

Rejoiced, the goblin did leap off the King

"Do catch up as I go back to my tree, for the Monk still needs you to bring!"

Off the goblin went to hang from the tree once again

And the King does follow as fast as he can

Thus the cycle does continue on

The King being played as tiny pawn

. . .

This story is based off of "The Four Scientific Suitors. To which should the girl be given?", an excerpt of Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).

. . .

Author's Note

The tale of "The Four Scientific Suitors. To which should the girl be given?" is one of the many riddles a goblin gives to a king. This king, who is indebted to a monk, is forced to give an answer to each of the goblin's riddles. For if he does not know the answer, he is allowed to keep on his journey to deliver the goblin to the monk. Yet if he knows the answer but does not say, his head will explode. But even worse, if he correctly guesses the answer the goblin leaps out of his reach and returns to the tree, forcing the king to trek all the back to get the goblin again. The reason I chose this riddle in particular is the fun challenge I might have retelling this one more than the others. 

For this story I challenged myself to retell the tale using two different techniques, a poem and gender-swapping.  While already familiar with the poem writing style, I wanted to try my hand at it again to see if I could do better at getting the point across with a shorter story. Yet I also wanted to try out an element I am thinking of using for my project: gender-swapping. Only changing the genders of the main girl and her four suitors, I tried to focus in on what were the consequences of doing such. For instance, if the first suitor is a tailor, does that make the female mirror a seamstress? Working out the kinks of what each gender change meant for the characters was an fun task to take on. Hopefully you enjoyed the piece! 

Story: Ovid's Metamorphoses III (Daedalus and Icarus)

A Columnist on Crete

 . . .

(Roman Ladies Conversing, Painter Unknown)

. . .

[Pan in on Aeliana, the island of Crete's resident gossip news anchor.]

Hello, Hello, Hello my fellow residents of Crete! Its your favorite columnist who has got all the scoops of what is happening in our lovely island of Crete, Aeliana. 

Today is a day for the books because over the weekend we had a love-filled update to all the happenings in King's castle as of late. Let's run down what we know so far, shall we?

This whole scandal started a long time ago when our seemingly ever faithful Queen Pasiphae fell in love with Taurus, the owner of Crete's biggest cattle range, and promptly cheated on King Minos. Granted this was all unknown up until the point Queen Pasiphae gave birth to an heir, only for the son to look nothing alike King Minos and too much like the not so handsome Taurus. Can we say gasp?!

Now we all know that King Minos immediately banished his wife's bastard son, Minotaur, to live in the family's vacation castle, fondly called the Labyrinth for its maze like architecture. But as any great scandal would have it, the story doesn't stop there. 

Instead we throw in the mix of a heroic man and the King and Queen's daughter, Ariadne cast as the pair of young lovers! Fast forward to last year when our young princess, desperate to flee the island and her parents' hovering selves, turned to a young handsome man by the name of Theseus. Knowing he could only escape the island with Ariadne if she didn't have to deal with her half-brother, Minotaur, Theseus hatched a plan to sneak into the Labyrinth and kill the black sheep son of the royal family. And with the help of young and naive Ariadne, Theseus did just that. 

After leaving the nation of Crete in shock at the death of worst kept royal secret, Minotaur, Theseus and Ariadne, blinded by puppy love, left the island in a rush. Yet being the bad boy we know and hate, Theseus, after escaping our lovely island of Crete abandoned our princess on of the neighboring islands. Only to be meet with fandom backlash when he returned to Crete without Ariadne and with no information on her whereabouts. 

That is until this past weekend when the entire island of Crete received wedding invitations in the mail for none other than Princess Ariadne and the god of all things: wine, theatre and ecstasy, Bacchus. Now there is a twist, us here at Crete's Column, did not see coming! 

We learned by talking to sources close to the royal family that Bacchus and Ariadne could not be happier as they reach final preparations for the wedding. Apparently, the couple got together after Bacchus, while vacationing on the very same island Theseus abandoned Ariadne on, saved Ariadne from an untimely death. Could we ever even ask for more in our soon-to-be Prince? Okay, well it looks like we are all caught up with the latest in the day to day lives of our royalty! See you next time, fellow residents of Crete! 

[Camera fades out on Aeliana waving.]

. . .

Based off of Ovid's Metamorphoses III, Daedalus and Icarus as translated by Tony Kline (2000). 

. . .

Author's Note

For this week's story, I decided to retell Daedalus and Icarus as if there was a TV personality 

relaying the story for a gossip segment on a show. This story has all the makings for modern scandal: a cheating wife, a bastard child, young lovers and a prince charming. While all of the major details are consistent with the original piece of literature, I did decide to focus only on the Minotaur, Theseus and Ariadne part of the story. Giving this classical tale a modern twist came with a challenge of reigning in the more outlandish pieces of the story. Nonetheless, hopefully the original concepts and lessons came through the modern framework. Hope you enjoyed my retelling!  

Story: Cupid and Psyche

A Lovers' Poem

. . . 

(Venus Assigns a Task, by Giordano)

. . .

A young maiden kidnapped, afraid

Taken one cold night in a thieves' raid

Scared, she was of a fatal nightmare

An old woman said in comfort, "there, there"

And so begins the telling of a tale

Of a maiden, so innocent and pale

Of her undying love to an unknown god

Despite understanding that the love would be flawed

Psyche was the name of girl with a beauty so rare

Worshipped she was, for a man would never dare

To touch or marry a maiden of such grace

Sad, her parents were for the marriage that disappeared without a trace 

Up, her parents went to pray to for their girl 

The response that came made their stomachs curl

Cursed, Psyche was, doomed to marry a creature

All for the reason of being a beauty worthy of a feature

The curse, you see, was commanded by Venus

Betrayed by her worshippers, she hatched a plan of genius

Down, she sent Cupid, her beloved son

To kill poor Psyche, only then has Venus won

Yet once married off to a creature with great fear

Psyche came upon a place that she found so dear

All the riches and beauty she could think of

She thought "Oh my, this could be a place of love!"

Late a night after invisible helpers tend to her bath

She found walking to her bed on a laid out path

Almost fast asleep she was 

But then fast awoken by an unlikely cause

Hands, she felt caress her fair skin

"Aha!" she thought, "this is him"

The man she was supposed to marry 

Yet with the lights off, her thoughts were still wary

"Worry not, my dear love," he said

"I will visit you every night in this bed."

"But do not ever seek out my face,"

"Or this love will have fear take its place."

Faithful as ever, Psyche did listen

And on her days went while the sun glisten

Then news of her sisters' search for their supposedly dead sister 

Had Psyche begging for time away from her mister

With great feeling did the man warn her

Her sisters would turn on her and call her by a slur

Nonetheless after much begging from his lovely wife

The man granted Psyche's wishes despite his great strife

Welcomed were Psyche's sisters into the great oasis

Feasts. gold paved roads and beautiful garden were the basis

Yet once the sisters started questioning the man's looks

Psyche lead them out fast, with gold, dressed and books

Offended, were the sisters of the youngest's cockiness

And thus they devised a plan, one quite obvious

They were to make her drunk with wine

Then ask again of her husband to catch her in a bind

Back the sisters came with the plan in motion

Yet once again Psyche's husband warned her of her sisters' veiled emotions

"Remember, tell them nothing of my face or qualities,"

"Or else you face a punishment that cannot be compared to any quantity."

Despite her husband's warnings Psyche drank the night away

And when asked of her man's features, Psyche did not remember the warning of the day

So off she went describing a man she had never seen

Leaving clues that the sister picked up because they were so keen

Once again the sisters hatched a plan

To convince poor Psyche that her husband was damned

"You see my dear sister, the only way to know,"

"Is for you to shine a light on him, even though he said to not do so."

Convinced, Psyche waited until nighttime to shed light on her man

Her first reaction, a gasp, upon his face she did scan

The husband she thought unknown was a god indeed

The son of Venus, Cupid, a man of great creed

Suddenly awaken by the candle's wax,

Appalled did Cupid seem by his wife's betraying acts

"How dare you fail the one command I gave,"

"And what, for you, I almost lead myself to an early grave?"

You see, Cupid had shot himself with an arrow

To mask his love with Psyche from Venus' vengeful sorrow 

"Now that my dear love has betrayed me,"

"Off I leave, for you I never again see."

Wings aflutter, Cupid leapt into the air

Psyche, distraught and ridden with despair

Found herself lying on the ground, her heart broken

Only to realize it was by the Pan, she was awoken

Pan, the god of the wild, told her of what to do

"Seek his worship once again and your love will pursue."

Out into the world did Psyche go

Hatching a plan for her evil sisters that only true vengeance could know

Disguising herself with great pity and despair

Psyche looked upon both sisters and said,

"My god, Cupid, only wants you both,"

"All you must do is go to the mountain and say an oath."

Eagerly both the sisters did flee 

Up to the mountain they went to plea

Unmet, were the sisters with great love the wanted

And to their deaths did they fall, always to be haunted

Meanwhile, Cupid was being punished by Venus

Betrayed, she felt by Cupid's keenness

To shoot himself instead of Psyche's heart 

Meant he valued her love as just a start

Enraged, Venus sought out Psyche for her head

Psyche actually came to her instead

"Please let me be a part of my love's life."

"Of course you can be love," Venus said, "but not without strife." 

Venus sent Psyche on a number of tasks

Only with great struggle and fight would Psyche pass

The first to separate seeds, the second to find the golden fleece

The third to fill a flask with a river's water, the fourth to bring her beauty from her niece

Furious was Venus when Psyche completed each chore

Despite Psyche's victory, "Never will you marry Cupid," Venus swore

In strife, Cupid begged of Zeus 

To let him and Psyche marry, laying out a truce

Thus Zeus promised Cupid his wife

Only on the condition they had a feast to celebrate life

During the feast did Cupid and Psyche marry 

Happy and Lovely did they look, their love as beautiful as fairies

To the end did the Old woman reach

The end of a story the kidnapped girl longed to reteach 

Calmed down she was after a nightmare that seemed true 

Yet thanks to this tale, no longer she felt blue

. . .

Based off of Apuleius' Cupid and Psyche as translated in English by Tony Kline (2013).

. . .

Author's Note

For my first retelling of a story, I decided to challenge myself by making a stylistic change in the writing rather than flip the story on its head. Even though the latter might be more interesting, the latter also comes easier to me because I am allowed to do whatever with the story. By changing the story into a rhyming poem, it forced me to take better care of the material while writing it in my own way. Additionally, I definitely was not planning on writing this much but I could not help but want to leave in as many details as possible in this stylistic change of the story. I had to compress and mold some more intricate parts of the story to shorten the length of the poem, which was an interesting obstacle. Nonetheless, since it was stylistic change rather than a complete revamp the story of Cupid and Psyche still comes across well with all the plot points being clear and concise (well as much as they can be in a rhyming poem). Hopefully, the poem was an easy but entertaining read despite its length. 

Story: Mistress Mary

 Mistress Mary Nursery Rhyme Retelling

Mistress Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With cockle-shells, and silver bells,

And pretty maids all in a row.

(traditional nursery rhyme)

. . .

(Mistress Mary's Castle and Garden)

In a time far from now, there once lived a recluse woman by the name of Mary.

None of neighbours or kids who came to sneak peek had a clue what Mary looked like or did in her long hours inside the castle. All that could be seen was a garden that went on for acres, which grew the prettiest flowers the world has ever seen.

Legends grew just as high and fast as the garden itself as the years went on.

Some posh ladies of high society said Mary was a mistress of an old duke. Once his wife left him on account of his adultery, he locked Mary away in a family castle only allowing her the joy of flowers and nothing else.

Some intelligent men of medical field were convinced Mary was a maiden who contracted a disease so deadly none could touch her. Leaving her to live a life of being locked away, only tending to the plants that were safe from her touch.

Some trouble-making kids of the slums told the tale of Mary the bore, who knew no fun. Silliness was what she hated the most thus hating children who most often used it. So she locked herself away to avoid the sound of children.

All the legends were thought to be fact but only one question truly baffled the town: How does her garden grow if Mary is locked inside?

The answer to such a simple question could be found in the contrary truth to the legends told of Mary.

While Mary was a mistress of a duke, she found no joy in the flowers he left for her to gaze. In fact, Mary hated the flowers more than anything.

As for the disease Mary did indeed have, she could touch people just fine rather it was the plants that gave Mary the most pain.

And even though Mary disliked unnecessary silliness, children were her heart and soul. Just ask her five maiden daughters who lived with her.

The true answer, you see, to the garden, which grows seemingly on its own is knowledge that the garden was made of only poisonous plants.

Mary hated the flowers because of their deceiving looks, which reminded her of the duke.

Mary contracted the disease by playing in the flowers naively one afternoon, causing her the most pain.

Mary did not tend to the flowers but rather her daughters did in the dead of night to relieve their ailing mother of household duties.

So to ask the question of ‘how does Mistress Mary’s garden grow’ would be nothing short of a journey to find the hidden answer.

A journey you have just completed.

. . .

Bibliography

This story is based of the nursery rhyme "Mistress Mary, how does your garden grow?" in 

The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang. 

Author's Note

Although just reading this nursery rhyme alone does not really inspire mystery and intrigue, those were the two words I thought of first after my first glance. And as a fan of thrillers, myths and dark I immediately went the route of something out of a Tim Burton movie. I just imagined walking by a woman's castle not knowing a single thing about her except the fact that she had a beautiful garden could be the source of an urban legend of sorts. 

Another big inspiration for this retelling was knowledge that there is an actual famous garden in Northumberland, England that houses a garden full of only poisonous plants. The poison garden in Alnwick Gardens is a huge attraction that requires protective gear when handling all of the plants. Pairing a poisonous garden with recluse mistress seemed like a fun story to tell especially when the word "contrary" provides such a great setting for a reveal.