Week 7 Story: A Woman Who's Shape Was Stolen
The woman, who had picked all the delicious herbs and food, over heard the other women talking about her. They made her throw away her wonderful herbs which really saddened her. She decided that she wasn't going to listen to them and ran into the woods where she came upon a hare.
"Give me some water that I may drink", she requested of the hare. The hare responded that he had borrowed the cup from his uncle lion and she could not drink from it.
Once again she asked only to be met with the same reply. At this point she was pretty frustrated and thought what kind of hare has an uncle lion. Therefore, she snatched the cup away and teased the little rabbit claiming how she would not be scared of a lion.
Soon enough Uncle Lion appeared and once again asked the woman not to be drinking out of his cup. She then laughed and spat on the ground yelling, "if you can catch me first". They played, running around this shrub. The longer they played the more the lion began licking his lips, for her was becoming hungry. The woman noticed how much more aggressive he had became for wanting to pin her down. Little did she know that would be the last moment she remembered. The lion ate her insides put on the woman's skin over his body saying, "that's what she deserved". However one thing he missed in the feast was her heart. Every time he tried to do something bad her heart would play a role and deter him from his old hunting ways.
Author's Note:
I took this story from the original version of Lion Who Took a Woman's Shape. I felt inspired to take the first part of the story and rewrite in the woman's perspective due to wanting to see/show how she may have felt about the situation. My inclusion of the woman's heart still having feelings is an extra thing. I felt would make the story more understandable for reading later on about why her heart was prized.
Bibliography:
South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910)
I did not read the original story so I was experiencing it through the woman's eyes the first time I read it, I must say that it was very interesting but I wish you would maybe have elaborated on why the woman's heart always beats when the lion does something wrong. Especially since the woman seemed to not be the best person when she teased the lion?
ReplyDelete- Anna Margret
Hi Crystel!
ReplyDeleteI was definitely not expecting that ending. I haven’t read the original story, so it was quite a shock for the lion to put on the woman’s skin at the end. I was wondering why the woman was afraid of the lion, and instead chose to antagonize him? Also, at the beginning of the story, why did the woman’s herbs grow so much better than the other women’s?
Hi, Crystel!
ReplyDeleteI had never read the original story, so I will admit I was a little confused. I did like how you decided to change up the story by making it from the woman's perspective. I think that is a creative way of making really the story different. I was confused how the parts about the women picking herbs connected to the woman and the lion. It seemed a little random, so maybe there is a better way to connect the two!
Hey Crystel!
ReplyDeleteLike many others who have commented before, this is my first time experiencing this story. I think you did a good job of adding details to make it your own and a paint a slightly different picture of the woman. I think this story might benefit from some extra dialogue between the women that could give the reader an idea of how she picked better herbs or perhaps why they despised her for it instead of being grateful for providing them good herbs for their village. I think it would also be really interesting to read about one of the situations the woman's heart intervenes to change the lion's mind. Thank you for a good story!
Hi Crystel! I have not read the original story, but I like how you decided to change it to the perspective of the woman. In your first sentence, I’m pretty sure that the correct grammar is “who” instead of “whom”. If I’m not correct, just totally ignore me, hah. In the second sentence, I think you meant to say “one day” instead of “on day”. Great job changing the perspective!
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