The children gathered around their Grandmother to receive their
bedtime story. She told the best stories of heroes, princes, and princesses so
the children didn’t mind so much that they had to go to bed right after.
“Alright my little doves, who is ready for tonight’s story?”
which was followed by the squeals of delight from her grandchildren. “Tonight I
am going to tell you the story of the Prince and the Giant.” And so began the
old woman’s story…
Once upon a time in a land far from here there was a great
prince who had left his home. He had been on many adventures but none more
daunting than his time spent on the Island of the Giants. He and his crew
beached their large ship on the island, although they didn’t know who inhabited
it at the time. They left their ship and began walking in land in search of
food and water for it had been a very long journey and they had run out of
food! After wandering they stumbled upon a cave so large they stood in awe at
its magnificent size. However, what was within the cave was far more amazing to
the hungry men. The men were so ravenous that they begin to devour the food
that belonged to the owner of the cave. One of the men suggested taking their
fill and leaving before the owner returned. “Nonsense!” the Prince spat. “We
shall wait and meet our host and he shall receive us with open arms”. And so
the men waited.
Night fell before the owner returned to his cave, although
he was no man as they had suspected. Instead he was a terrible giant!
The children gasped! “Now now my darlings I haven’t even
gotten to the good part yet” and she continued.
He stood a good 30 feet tall and was so overweight his legs
bowed beneath him. The Giant ushered in his sheep that he had been grazing then
slid a massive boulder in front of the mouth of the cave. He noticed something
was not right and bellowed, “Who is there lurking behind the shadows?” The
brave Prince stepped forward, “my men and I my good sir. We shipwrecked and
sought refuge here” the Prince lied. “Won’t you be so kind as to welcome us in
your home and break bread with us?”
“Break bread with thieves?” the Giant questioned. His anger
was boiling up within him that these tiny humans had the nerve to come into his
home and eat his food without his permission. In a bout of rage he grabbed two men
in one hand and bit their heads off with ease!
Screams escaped the children! “I don’t like this story
Grandma,” cried the youngest. “Stop being a baby!” his older siblings insisted.
“It has been to long since I have been able to eat human
flesh! I forgot how delicious it tasted!” Trying to save the lives of the rest
of his men the Prince was quick on his feet and devised a plan. “Oh mighty
Giant. Might I offer you some of our wine to wash down your meal? It is all
that we have to offer.”
“Bring it here human!” And so the Prince filled a great bowl
with all of their wine and the Giant drunk his fill. “This wine is wondrous! I shall
give you a gift for your kindness little man, what is your name?” the Giant
questioned. Being cunning the Prince replied with, “Nobody, my name is Nobody”.
“Well Nobody, my gift to you is that I shall eat you last!”
With that, the mighty giant fell to the floor laughing and quickly succumbed to
a drunken slumber. The men quickly got to work plotting their escape while the
Giant slept. Instructed by their prince the men all made sharp spears from
branches throughout the cave floor. They also tied the fluffy sheep together in
groups of threes.
“I don’t understand Grandma” one of the children stated. “You
shall see. Just be patient”, and so she went on with her story.
When everything was set in place the men climbed atop the
face of the Giant. “On the count of three”, the Prince demanded. “One, two,
three!” On the final count the men thrust their spears into the Giant’s eyes to
blind him.
“AHHHH” he screamed in agony. “HELP, HELP!” Soon enough some
of his neighbors came bounding to his cave. They knocked on the massive boulder
blocking the way. “What is going on? Is someone attacking you?” the fellow
giants questioned. “Brothers! Nobody is attacking me! Nobody is attacking me!”
“That fool. Why do you wake us up in the dead of night if no
one is attacking you?” And so just as soon as they came the other giants left.
That following morning the Giant opened the cave to let out
his sheep to graze but he blocked the doorway so the Prince and his men could
not escape. This is when the men hung beneath the sheep they had tied together
the night before. They crawled beneath the middle sheep in each bundle and
clung to its long wool. The Giant had no idea that the men were slipping right
by him! They safely made it out of the cave and returned to the ship taking the
sheep with them. The Prince cursed the Giant as they began to sail away and all
he could do was sit on the beach cursing back.
“And so is the story of the Prince and the Giant. Alright,
off to bed you go.” The grandmother gave each child a kiss on the forehead and
tucked them in.
Authors Note: I
retold the story of Odysseus and the Cyclops from Homer’s Odyssey. I chose to tell it from the point of view of a grandmother
telling a story to her grandchildren. I felt this gave it a bit more depth in
showing others reactions to it.
This is a cool story! I liked the style that you used and the story flowed nicely. Having the grandmother tell the story kind of reminds me of The Princess Bride, where the kid keeps interrupting the telling of the story.
ReplyDeleteIf you write in this style in the future, I would recommend making the interruptions stand out a little more. Either italics or maybe a line separating it would work. It would just make it a little clearer for the reader!
It is always cool to read stories from a different perspective or from the perspective of someone removed from the story entirely. You also wrote the story very well. It was clear and easy to follow. In that same context, however, as much as I love the way your blog looks aesthetically, it is a little difficult to read the text when it is so white on such a vibrant background. Great job on your story though! I look forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteThis was a cool way to tell the story. I instantly knew what story it came from so that parallel was excellent. You kept the story interesting to read and I didn't have trouble reading or understanding it so I think it is a solid storytelling blog.
ReplyDeleteWithin this Author’s Note and some from other stories I have found they are pretty short. I know this is because I make my retelling of the stories to long so I am limited by the maximum word count acceptable for the assignment. I need to do a better job of making my stories short and sweet so that I can actually present a detailed Author’s Note to my readers. Over all I am always able to convey the reasoning behind my storytelling ideas but I feel they could be improved upon with a bit more length. In this particular Author’s Note I would have like to have given some background on the Odyssey and Odysseus’s journey up to the point of his encounter with the cyclops. There really isn’t a need to summarize the original story in this Author’s Note because I did not incorporate new ideas, people, or places in the story. The only thing I really chose was the matter in which the story was told in. Rather than have it told from Odysseus’s point of view it was told from an uninvolved third party who was simply relaying the story onto others. In this case it was a grandmother telling her grandchildren a bedtime story.
ReplyDelete