Week 2 Story: True Love's Decapitation
Once upon a time there was a mother and daughter. The mother was going to the market in the next town and asked her daughter what she would like her to bring back.
“You don’t have to bring anything for me, Mama,” the daughter told her.
“But trips to the market are so rare, I insist on bringing you something,” the mother said.
“If you must bring me something,” the daughter said, “I would like three roses. No more, no less.”
And with that request in mind, the mother went to the market. Unfortunately, she could not find any roses. Disheartened, the mother bought the rest of what she had gone there to buy and began her journey home. However, night had fallen quickly, and there was no moon to light her path, so she soon became lost. She wandered through the forest, hoping to find something familiar, only to instead stumble upon a castle. She did not recognize it at all, so she started to leave, but stopped when she noticed the bushes of roses growing in the castle’s garden. The roses were all in full bloom, and as plentiful as they were beautiful. Remembering her daughter’s request, she picked three of them.
“After all,” the mother reasoned to herself, “there are so many of them, and roses grow back in time.”
As soon as she finished picking them, a basilisk appeared and demanded that she pay for the roses, but the price he demanded was far too high, and the mother could not afford it.
“If you cannot pay with coin, then you will pay with your life!” the basilisk bellowed.
“Please spare me serpent,” the mother pleaded, “I have a daughter at home who needs me!”
But the basilisk ignored her, and with a terrible glare it turned her to stone, leaving the roses to fall to the ground forgotten.
When her mother does not return from the market, the daughter grows worried, and decides to go out and search for her. She takes a sword with her. She has no formal training with it, but if something happened to her mother, then she would rather have it than not have it. She searches the forest for a fortnight before finding the castle and finding the stone statue of her mother next to the three wilted roses. She gasps in horror at the sight.
The basilisk appears and roars at her, breathing fire. She just barely moves out of the way, the flames singeing her dress. Realizing the basilisk is responsible for turning her mother to stone, the daughter swings the sword at it, shouting in rage. She cuts off its head with one powerful strike. From the basilisk’s body comes a long, hissing serpent. She cuts its head off as well, and a beautiful young man emerges from its body. She raises her sword to cut off his head as well, but he raises his hands to stop her.
“Wait!” he cries, “you have freed me from my cursed form, and in doing so have restored your mother as well!”
She looks behind her and sees that his words are true and that her mother is alive and unharmed. She runs to her mother and hugs her tightly.
“A witch placed a terrible curse on me, binding me to that monstrous form and erasing my memories of my time as a human,” the young man says, “but now that I am free my memories have returned to me. This castle is mine, and I am a prince. Please, both of you, stay and live in the castle as a token of my thanks.”
The mother and daughter accepted the offer, and the daughter and prince soon fell in love. The young couple married in a grand wedding full of dancing and attendants, and they all lived happily ever after.
“You don’t have to bring anything for me, Mama,” the daughter told her.
“But trips to the market are so rare, I insist on bringing you something,” the mother said.
“If you must bring me something,” the daughter said, “I would like three roses. No more, no less.”
And with that request in mind, the mother went to the market. Unfortunately, she could not find any roses. Disheartened, the mother bought the rest of what she had gone there to buy and began her journey home. However, night had fallen quickly, and there was no moon to light her path, so she soon became lost. She wandered through the forest, hoping to find something familiar, only to instead stumble upon a castle. She did not recognize it at all, so she started to leave, but stopped when she noticed the bushes of roses growing in the castle’s garden. The roses were all in full bloom, and as plentiful as they were beautiful. Remembering her daughter’s request, she picked three of them.
“After all,” the mother reasoned to herself, “there are so many of them, and roses grow back in time.”
As soon as she finished picking them, a basilisk appeared and demanded that she pay for the roses, but the price he demanded was far too high, and the mother could not afford it.
“If you cannot pay with coin, then you will pay with your life!” the basilisk bellowed.
“Please spare me serpent,” the mother pleaded, “I have a daughter at home who needs me!”
But the basilisk ignored her, and with a terrible glare it turned her to stone, leaving the roses to fall to the ground forgotten.
When her mother does not return from the market, the daughter grows worried, and decides to go out and search for her. She takes a sword with her. She has no formal training with it, but if something happened to her mother, then she would rather have it than not have it. She searches the forest for a fortnight before finding the castle and finding the stone statue of her mother next to the three wilted roses. She gasps in horror at the sight.
The basilisk appears and roars at her, breathing fire. She just barely moves out of the way, the flames singeing her dress. Realizing the basilisk is responsible for turning her mother to stone, the daughter swings the sword at it, shouting in rage. She cuts off its head with one powerful strike. From the basilisk’s body comes a long, hissing serpent. She cuts its head off as well, and a beautiful young man emerges from its body. She raises her sword to cut off his head as well, but he raises his hands to stop her.
“Wait!” he cries, “you have freed me from my cursed form, and in doing so have restored your mother as well!”
She looks behind her and sees that his words are true and that her mother is alive and unharmed. She runs to her mother and hugs her tightly.
“A witch placed a terrible curse on me, binding me to that monstrous form and erasing my memories of my time as a human,” the young man says, “but now that I am free my memories have returned to me. This castle is mine, and I am a prince. Please, both of you, stay and live in the castle as a token of my thanks.”
The mother and daughter accepted the offer, and the daughter and prince soon fell in love. The young couple married in a grand wedding full of dancing and attendants, and they all lived happily ever after.
Author's Note:
The changes I made to the story were mostly ones made to give the daughter a sense of agency. In the original it felt like she just did whatever the mother and basilisk told her, so I made her actually find the castle herself and decide to cut off the basilisk's head. I also added changes to the basilisk to make the choice of creature more meaningful. I did however, change the stare to be more like Medusa's stare because a stone body is more whimsical than a decaying one. I also changed the wedding to be later because even though it is a fairytale, instant weddings have always felt immersion breaking in their lack of realism to me. I also did not include the nursing scene because I find it disturbingly Freudian and I take a particular enjoyment in defying Sigmund Freud in any way I can.
-A.
Bibliography:
"The Three Roses" from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis. (1922). Web Source.
Image Information:
Three wilted roses: Pixabay.
The take you did the Three Roses story was so good and surprising. When starting to read it I knew exactly the story you choose to make your own. I was expecting it to follow the same thing with bringing her daughter to him but when you made the basilisk turn the mother to stone it was shocking. It made me want to keep reading it to see what happened and I honestly love your take on the story more than the original!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you took out the nursing bit, that disturbed me. You add such great detail in your writing, and I found this story more enjoyable to read than the original. I was a bit annoyed in the original that they didn't take much about the basilisk, so I appreciated that detail! The daughter definitely had more of a spotlight, and I felt like I was able to know the characters better through your story!
ReplyDeleteBrooklin
Hi Arthur!
ReplyDeleteI have read a couple interpretations of this story and this is certainty among the top. The writing style is clear and concise which is nice as a reader to not drag out what is a simpler story. I really liked how you changed the daughter from a helpless child, to more of an adult that has an urgency to save her mother.