Week 4 Story: That's Not Supposed to Happen
NOTE: Portfolio location -- https://sites.google.com/view/crayonandonand/story-one
Once upon a time, in the distant Kingdom of Almost-Humans, two young brothers lived happily together as princes, chasing each other around the castle grounds and racing each other home when their almost-human butler called them to dinner, careful not to trip on their tails. As the brothers grew older, they never concerned themselves with the line of succession--which one of them would become King of the Almost-Humans--until one fateful day when everything changed.
"Hey, brother," the first and older almost-human prince said, "where are the carrots for today's feast? Father is planning to introduce me as his rightful heir to the throne of the Kingdom."
The younger brother, who well knew how valuable carrots were to the succession announcement and ceremonies, had dug them all up the previous night, tied them into a tight bundle, and punted them into the forest. He shrugged. "I do not know, brother. Maybe some squirrels got to them."
"You mean rabbits?"
"No, I'm pretty sure I mean squirrels."
"Hmm. Alright, then. I will deliver the news to father." The older brother said this unaware of his younger brother's treachery and jealousy, wanting the throne for himself.
The older brother departed from the field where they were standing, and after consulting with his father, the older brother agreed to wait another year to assume the throne, so that they would have a plentiful carrot harvest in advance of the proceedings. However, during the interim year, the older brother was called away on a dangerous mission to rid the Kingdom of a band of reported usurpers--Humans. He was gone a long time, and after a while, the royal family began to fear that he had died. The younger brother immediately volunteered to take his place, grinning inwardly, as he had hired the usurpers to lure his brother from the safety of the castle, and he had promised them a hefty sum of money to kill his older brother and dump the body in the Big River. Months later, with the carrot crop nearly ripe and the older brother still missing, the King resolved to begin the proceedings to crown his younger son. But then the older brother returned, and wanting to surprise his younger brother first--for he had missed his brother most of all during his months away--he hid in his brother's chambers while he slept.
Suddenly, the younger brother awoke, and seeing his older brother hiding ineffectually behind his favorite potted plant, said: "You want to know something, brother? I keep having these weird dreams of meeting you in this room, and then in the throne room, where I'll be sitting because I sent you off to your death at the hands of men I hired to kill you. But I don't feel guilty. Power corrupts, am I right?" He yawned, then continued: "Also, it's a good thing that this story takes place in a time before small recording devices were invented. I'd be in a lot of trouble for admitting all of this and not feeling bad at all. Imagine the scandal!"
"But that's not what's supposed to happen," the older brother said, dumbstruck. "You're supposed to unwillingly take the throne because you think I'm still alive."
"You're real?" The younger brother recoiled in shock, but quickly recovered. "No, you fool! I wanted the throne to myself, so I stole the carrots and delayed your ascension, but you somehow escaped the ravenous maw of death. You will not escape so quickly now!"
The older brother cast a fleeting look of helplessness at me, the narrator, who was watching this interaction occur from the comfort of the Royal Couch. "Hey, nothing I can do," I said. "This is your story, I'm just telling it. Nobody guaranteed it would happen just like it did with Sugreeva and Vali. And anyway, you'd still end up dead, unnamed older brother."
"Dead?" he asked, and would have said more had not an arrow pierced his heart at that very moment. He looked down, and then back up again, seeing his still-pajama'd younger brother smiling evilly, holding a bow, its string still quivering. "Ouch," said the older brother. "I think you've killed me."
The younger brother simply cackled as the older brother began to cry. "That was not very honorable, younger brother," said the older brother.
The younger brother sneered. "Ha! I know! Sucks to be you! I will be the King of the Almost-Humans!" And the younger brother stuck his tongue out mockingly and feigned picking his nose.
The older brother opened his mouth to retort, to beg for a reason, to ask forgiveness, to inquire why, why kill me, to remind his brother that they were brothers, they always would be, that he loved him even though he shot him, that he always would love him, and all of this was because of carrots, how silly, but he had no time. The older brother died and defecated on himself--the ultimate embarrassment.
The younger brother walked over to me and clasped my shoulder. "Now, I need to hide the body," he said, "though I don't look forward to handling that messy bit." He hefted his brother's corpse onto his shoulder, careful to keep his hands and shoulder from toughing the brown stain on his dead brother's pants. "You done good, narrator. Good... narrating."
I wasn't sure if I agreed; but I was just the narrator, anyway. Like I said, it's their story, not mine.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I used the story of Sugreeva and Vali and changed the structure a lot, making it a satiric fairy tale. I didn't like how Rama was able to justify the cowardly murder of Vali in the Ramayana, so here I made the intent explicity evil. Also, the meta part was fun to write. Hopefully this wasn't boring; whether it was funny or not is entirely up for debate.
Bibliography: Narayan, R.K. The Ramayana.
Once upon a time, in the distant Kingdom of Almost-Humans, two young brothers lived happily together as princes, chasing each other around the castle grounds and racing each other home when their almost-human butler called them to dinner, careful not to trip on their tails. As the brothers grew older, they never concerned themselves with the line of succession--which one of them would become King of the Almost-Humans--until one fateful day when everything changed.
"Hey, brother," the first and older almost-human prince said, "where are the carrots for today's feast? Father is planning to introduce me as his rightful heir to the throne of the Kingdom."
The younger brother, who well knew how valuable carrots were to the succession announcement and ceremonies, had dug them all up the previous night, tied them into a tight bundle, and punted them into the forest. He shrugged. "I do not know, brother. Maybe some squirrels got to them."
"You mean rabbits?"
"No, I'm pretty sure I mean squirrels."
"Hmm. Alright, then. I will deliver the news to father." The older brother said this unaware of his younger brother's treachery and jealousy, wanting the throne for himself.
The older brother departed from the field where they were standing, and after consulting with his father, the older brother agreed to wait another year to assume the throne, so that they would have a plentiful carrot harvest in advance of the proceedings. However, during the interim year, the older brother was called away on a dangerous mission to rid the Kingdom of a band of reported usurpers--Humans. He was gone a long time, and after a while, the royal family began to fear that he had died. The younger brother immediately volunteered to take his place, grinning inwardly, as he had hired the usurpers to lure his brother from the safety of the castle, and he had promised them a hefty sum of money to kill his older brother and dump the body in the Big River. Months later, with the carrot crop nearly ripe and the older brother still missing, the King resolved to begin the proceedings to crown his younger son. But then the older brother returned, and wanting to surprise his younger brother first--for he had missed his brother most of all during his months away--he hid in his brother's chambers while he slept.
Suddenly, the younger brother awoke, and seeing his older brother hiding ineffectually behind his favorite potted plant, said: "You want to know something, brother? I keep having these weird dreams of meeting you in this room, and then in the throne room, where I'll be sitting because I sent you off to your death at the hands of men I hired to kill you. But I don't feel guilty. Power corrupts, am I right?" He yawned, then continued: "Also, it's a good thing that this story takes place in a time before small recording devices were invented. I'd be in a lot of trouble for admitting all of this and not feeling bad at all. Imagine the scandal!"
"But that's not what's supposed to happen," the older brother said, dumbstruck. "You're supposed to unwillingly take the throne because you think I'm still alive."
"You're real?" The younger brother recoiled in shock, but quickly recovered. "No, you fool! I wanted the throne to myself, so I stole the carrots and delayed your ascension, but you somehow escaped the ravenous maw of death. You will not escape so quickly now!"
The older brother cast a fleeting look of helplessness at me, the narrator, who was watching this interaction occur from the comfort of the Royal Couch. "Hey, nothing I can do," I said. "This is your story, I'm just telling it. Nobody guaranteed it would happen just like it did with Sugreeva and Vali. And anyway, you'd still end up dead, unnamed older brother."
"Dead?" he asked, and would have said more had not an arrow pierced his heart at that very moment. He looked down, and then back up again, seeing his still-pajama'd younger brother smiling evilly, holding a bow, its string still quivering. "Ouch," said the older brother. "I think you've killed me."
The younger brother simply cackled as the older brother began to cry. "That was not very honorable, younger brother," said the older brother.
The younger brother sneered. "Ha! I know! Sucks to be you! I will be the King of the Almost-Humans!" And the younger brother stuck his tongue out mockingly and feigned picking his nose.
The older brother opened his mouth to retort, to beg for a reason, to ask forgiveness, to inquire why, why kill me, to remind his brother that they were brothers, they always would be, that he loved him even though he shot him, that he always would love him, and all of this was because of carrots, how silly, but he had no time. The older brother died and defecated on himself--the ultimate embarrassment.
The younger brother walked over to me and clasped my shoulder. "Now, I need to hide the body," he said, "though I don't look forward to handling that messy bit." He hefted his brother's corpse onto his shoulder, careful to keep his hands and shoulder from toughing the brown stain on his dead brother's pants. "You done good, narrator. Good... narrating."
I wasn't sure if I agreed; but I was just the narrator, anyway. Like I said, it's their story, not mine.
----------
Owie. Source.
----------
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I used the story of Sugreeva and Vali and changed the structure a lot, making it a satiric fairy tale. I didn't like how Rama was able to justify the cowardly murder of Vali in the Ramayana, so here I made the intent explicity evil. Also, the meta part was fun to write. Hopefully this wasn't boring; whether it was funny or not is entirely up for debate.
Bibliography: Narayan, R.K. The Ramayana.
Okay, first off, I loved the way you pulled yourself, as the narrator, into the story. I literally laughed. It's nice to read a story that actually changed the story line, most of them (mine included) stick the the original plots, so I definitely didn't see this coming. I definitely appreciate the twist, but with the story starting with them being so close and not caring it made me wonder, did the younger truly not care at all? I didn't understand how it can be that much of a change of heart. So what if they had a friendly but strained relationship, or something along those lines? So then it would explain why it turned out the way it did.
ReplyDeleteHi, Alex! I really enjoyed your story. I especially liked the humorous aspects of it! Making the narrator an actual character was a genius idea and added a great element to the story! I especially liked at the end where you kind of throw in your mixed feelings about helping the younger brother. It kind of adds in an element of dark humor that I really enjoyed. My one thing was that I could not tell why carrots was the magic food. Was it just random or did it have a reason? I’m just curious. Overall, though, great job!!
ReplyDelete