Hundreds of years ago in Japan, a young Prince was wed an intelligent, beautiful and kind Princess. The couple lived a perfect life ruling their country together. Well, almost perfect. For the Princess was unable to bear a child to carry on their legacy.
The couple decided that the best thing they could do was take a trip to the temple of the Goddess Hase. Hase was known for her mercy and grace given to children. While the Prince and Princess were at the temple, they prayed ceaselessly for five days. The Goddess looked favorable upon this couple and granted them a child. To honor the Goddess and never forget what she had done for them, the couple named their baby girl Hase.
Soon after the birth of Hase, the Princess fell ill. Despite all the efforts from the kingdom’s physicians, the Princess passed away. But before she did she called Hase in and told her, “Do not be sad for my passing, for I will always be watching over you. Be a kind and studious girl and make your mother proud. When your father finds a new wife, be kind to her, treat her as your own mother.”
Once the mother had passed away, the Prince married a woman who was born as a Princess in a neighboring country. The marriage was done for the sole purpose of creating an ally. Sadly, this woman was very evil and mean and hated her step daughter fiercely.
No matter what Hase did, the wicked step mother hated her more. Hase was extremely intelligent and excelled in all her studies. Not only was she intelligent, but talented as well. At quite a young age Hase became one of the most well-known harpists in the country. People traveled from all over just to hear the young girl perform. All of these things only made the step mother hate the girl even more.
Shortly after the new marriage, the new Queen gave birth to a son Jakob. Due to Princess Hase being the King’s firstborn child, the new Prince would not be the sole heir to the throne. The Queen knew that in order for her son to one day rule she would have to get Hase out of the picture.
Despite the hatred the step mother had for Hase, her son wanted no part of it. Jakob and Hase became the best of friends. The pair would sneak off every day so that the queen would not know of their friendship.
One day the Queen decided she had come up with the ultimate plan and was going to have Hase poisoned. As the family got ready to sit down for dinner, she quietly snuck into the kitchen and dropped a pill into what she thought was Hase’s wine glass and then retreated back to the dining room. Soon after the butler began to bring in their wine and food. The Queen watched Hases every move waiting to see if the poison would do its job.
To her great surprise Hase was just fine even after she finished her entire glass of wine. The Queen was so confused as to what had happened when all of a sudden Jakob started to vomit and convulse.
The poison had ended up in her own child’s cup.
Luckily, the poison did not kill Jakob, but it left him unable to speak or walk. Of course, the Queen blamed this all on Hase and wanted her to die now more than ever before.
The King was summoned to take a journey to the outskirts of his kingdom and visit the quaint villages there. The Queen knew that this would take quite a while and decided that this was her best chance to get rid of Hase once and for all.
As she began plotting, she made the mistake of ranting to her son Jakob who she thought would never betray her and tell anyone. However, she was very wrong. He was fed up with his mother and her wicked ways and loved his sister endlessly. Due to the inability to speak, he wrote to Hase to warn her and help her come up with a plan. This duo was unstoppable, and they enlisted the help of Marv, their father’s most trusted aid. Marv helped the two kids come up with a plan to trap the evil Queen in her living quarters where they could keep her until the King came home.
Jakob lured his mother in and then Marv darted in to scoop him up and lock the door behind the Queen. No surprise that this infuriated the Queen and she spent the next two weeks pounding on the door begging to be let out.
Finally, the King returned from his journey and was very confused when the Queen did not greet him. And to his surprise when he arrived Hase, Jakob and Marv were awaiting him. As they begin to inform the King of everything that had occurred while he was away, he became furious.
In his anger, he banished the Queen to become a slave in one of the villages he had recently visited. He sent Marv to escort her there immediately. Hase and Jakob were delighted that they could now live and peace and not have to hide their friendship.
Hase never once failed her mother and continually lived up to the standards she left her with. Hase grew up to be the most well-known, gracious and kind Queen that the land ever saw. She left a legacy that her mother would have been forever proud of.
Authors note- When writing this story, I stayed somewhat close to the original story, simply rewriting it in my own words. However, I did choose to expand upon the character in the original story that was the stepmother’s son. In the original story, my character Jakob dies when the mother accidentally puts the poison in the wrong cup. I did not want the innocent boy to die for his mother’s shortcomings. I also made Hase and Jakob best friends because I have a younger brother and felt that by doing so it was a more relatable story and he was able to help his sister. Lastly, instead of Hase having to run away and hide until her father returns, I created Marv who is able to help Hase and Jakob flip the script on the Queen.
(Princess from Creazilla)
Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).
Hi Carlee!
ReplyDeleteI didn't read the original for this story, but you wrote so clearly that I didn't have a problem keeping up! I like the changes that you decided to make in having the brother survive and have a good friendship with his sister. I would just suggest to let us in on that relationship a little more with dialogue. You could maybe portray the scene where they plan to overthrow the wicked mother! Good job!
Hi Carlee,
ReplyDeleteI too did not read the paginal story you wrote about, but you included so much detail that there was no problem keeping up with the translation. I really enjoyed the positive changes you included in the story, it made for a happier tale. I would like to have a little more conversation between the brother who survives and his sister, to allow the reader to understand their relationship.
Carlee, I do remember reading this original story and your versions is much easier to read. You have done a great job of delivering the narrative story of the text while removing and dificult verbiage that might discourage would-be readers. It was also really impressive ot see you create a character all your own. That can be very hard to do in an existing story!
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