Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Story: The Enchanted Prince

Long ago, there was a boy named Peter who was destined to be King. In a land full of bad, Peter was the good.  Peter was born to make the world a better place and be the ruler his kingdom so desperately needed. The kingdom was filled with evil and witches, many who wanted to see the kingdom burn. The witches wanted to take over the land so they could rule. The head witch, Martha, thought of a brilliant plan. Since they can’t just swoop in and take the kingdom without an uproar, they would have to take the long way around. Martha would have a daughter and this daughter would catch the eye of Peter. Peter would fall madly in love with her, but would not know she was a witch, of course. Martha’s daughter would get so close to Peter and suddenly destroy him. Not kill him, because that is too evil. But she would turn him into a small animal that no one would think about… how about a monkey! So, Peter would turn into a monkey for five decades. He would only return to his human form if he found true love while as a monkey.

Martha thought her plan was brilliant. Surely enough, everything went according to plan. Martha’s daughter, Anna, tricked the king into falling in love with her. Anna turned Peter into a monkey and the whole kingdom into a witch’s paradise.

During this time, Peter had a lot of thinking to do. Was he going to age? Was his family going to forget about him? He sat at the top of the tallest tree over looking the kingdom. He watched the witches slowly ruin everything he had ever known. Little did they know, he had a secret plan. Seeing as monkeys still have hands, Peter was able to write. He wrote letters to his family warning them of what was happening to the kingdom. He told them that he was safe and not to worry, because they would be reunited one day. Unfortunately, Anna and Martha found these notes. They did not know which monkey was Peter, but they did know how to punish him. Anna and Martha froze Peters entire family and hid them underground so no one would ever see.

Peter was devastated. His only form of help and he had ruined it. So, Peter sulked and sat. He waited for a sign, for someone to help him. One day, a girl bumped into his tree. She was crying and crying, begging someone to hear her. Peter climbed down his tree in an attempt to help. This girl was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Her ice blue eyes looked right at him, and she instantly felt okay. The girl, named Sophie, was grateful for the little monkeys help. She talked to him and suddenly felt at peace. Peter did not want to frighten her by talking, so he simply sat. Sophie kept talking and talking, until the next time she looked at Peter, he was a handsome young man. Sophie was so taken aback and asked what happened to the poor monkey.


Peter explained the situation and informed her of his family. She agreed to help free them. After Peter and Sophie successfully freed the family, they overtook the kingdom once again. They married right away, and lived happily ever after.

Author's Note: Since this story was a little wild, I wanted to keep adding to it. When I first read it, I was so interested to see if he aged when he was a monkey (he did not). I wanted to talk more about who the prince was as a person and not just a one dimensional character. It was really fun being able to give him such a nice and calm demeanor. All he wanted to do was help!

Image: Castle from The Cripple Gate

Bibliography: Filipino Popular Tales by Dean S. Fansler, link to The Enchanted Prince.

5 comments:

  1. Haley,

    First, it's just a small thing, but I don't think this story has a title. If it does, it just must not be showing up for me, and then I'm sorry to bother you about it. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this story. I haven't seen anything related to the Filipino tales yet, so it was a breath of fresh air. Thanks so much for sharing. I'm looking forward to reading more of your work throughout the upcoming semester.

    Andrew

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    1. Andrew, thank you so much! I guess I completely forgot to put a title. I fixed it! Thank you again :)

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  2. Haley, I immediately liked the idea of your story. I had never heard of The Enchanted Prince, but I would have liked a little bit more background information on the original story in your author's note. Although I am unfamiliar with the original, your version is interesting and unique. I have never read a story about a person being turned into an animal and having to find true love. This was new and fresh.

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  3. Haley, I couldn't help but think of the Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz while reading this. I really enjoyed the story! I only wish you might have expanded upon parts such as him changing back or taking back the castle/kingdom.

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  4. Hi Haley! I have already read your introduction so I wanted to read another one of your stories for our blog comment assignment. I have never read the original story so I don't really know how it compares to yours, maybe you could add more detail to your author's note on how it is similar and how it's different, but I did like your version! It was very interesting and I like that instead of asking the girl for help, he just listened to her problems instead in hopes of helping her. I thought that part really spoke about his character!

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