Often on beautiful days like this, Mittens would go for a walk and soak in the suns rays. It gave the hero time to reflect on the people he’d saved and the savage creatures he’d conquered. While walking through the forest, he heard a whimper-like sound coming from a bush nearby. Confused as to why something could whimper on a day like this, Mittens peered into the bush to see another cat. He was in awe. He did not understand why a cat as beautiful as she was upset, and on such a beautiful day too.
“What is the problem? Why do you whimper on a day so beautiful?”
“I’m sorry,” she replied. “I am afraid for my life; I am the only member of my family left.” She went on, “In the last two weeks, I have lost my mother, father, and my three brothers.”
Shocked and confused, Mittens replied, “What evil has caused this? What can I do to help?”
“Again, I’m sorry but there isn’t a thing you can do that will change my fate.” Dejected, she went on to explain that there was a mighty wolf who had caused the fall of the rest of her family. “But there’s something I haven’t mentioned,” the cat continued, “This wolf who has destroyed my kin and ruined my life, is a wolf from the supernatural. Instead of one head with one mouth, this wolf bears eight heads with eight mouths.”
“Well,” Mittens began, “You’ve come to the right place. I will take great pleasure in seeking out this beast and putting a stop to him.”
“I see that you have no lack of confidence, but that may be your greatest folly.”
Mittens told her of his past and the creatures he had defeated before. Then, he claimed that he was so confident that he would be successful in his quest that when he returned, she would marry him. She agreed, and Mittens got right to work. He had once heard a story of a god, Susa-wo-no, who had defeated an eight-headed serpent using his wits and a sacred sword, so he knew that his task was doable.
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| (Image Information: Mittens searching for the beast; a personal photo from 2014) |
After several days of searching, he heard what sounded like the growling of an entire pack of wolves. He snuck into a nearby bush and peeked through to the other side. There, in a small opening, was the eight-headed wolf preying on three rabbits at once. Mittens decided he would stalk the beast until the sun set, then put his plan into action.
Just after the sun set, Mittens let out a little meow, and the beast turned its sixteen eyes towards him. The eight-headed wolf chased the hero through several bushes until the cat climbed up into the highest tree in the forest. The creature tried to climb, but the cat was up so high that the wolf would try to get up there, only to lose his grip and fall back to the ground. The wolf, knowing Mittens would have to come down at some point, decided to simply wait at the base of the tree. One day passed, then another, and as the sun set on the third day, the beast was growing tired. It had to stay alert while the cat could comfortably nap up in the safety of the trees many branches. So when the beast had dozed off, the cat finished his plan. Using his claws, he had cut a branch almost completely off of the tree. This branch was right above the eight-headed wolf. So that night, with the creature fast asleep, Mittens finished sawing off the branch and it struck the beast on all eight of his heads, knocking it out cold. He then climbed down the tree and plucked out all sixteen of the beast’s eyes, so that it could never again see prey to chase.
Triumphantly, the hero returned to the female and informed her of his success. After relief washed over her, she was enamored with the cunning of her hero. The two spent the rest of their days together, comfortably walking through the forest on beautiful days.
Author’s Note: This story is based on The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi. In this story, Susa-wo-no comes across a maiden with her two parents, and all three of them are visibly upset. Susa-wo-no learns that the family has lost many daughters to an eight-forked serpent, and soon they will lose their last daughter. The maiden is so beautiful that Susa-wo-no says he will slay the monster in he can have her hand in marriage. The father agrees, and Sus-wo-no holds up his end of the deal. In this version I included cats because meow meow.
“The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi” from Romance of Old Japan, Part 1: Mythology and Legend by E.W. Champney and F. Champney (1917)
This story is great. I was worried about the kitten as soon as Mittens found her. He kind of reminds me of Puss in Boots, from Shrek (and other places too ;) ) and I was a little worried about how he was going to best the beast. Your story has a great pace and the word choices are great. Simple and to the point, just the way I like things. The dialog was good and nothing unnecessary was being told or written. I would like to know what Mittens did with those eyes though. I really have nothing else to say, but since I have to have 150 words, I will take a page from your introduction and filibuster! You don't realize how much thought you have to put into a 150 word comment, but it's not that easy, especially when the story was so well written :)
ReplyDeleteI also love the picture of Mittens looking for the beast!
This story was so adorable! It was cute, but still kind of dark which I love. I liked how the beginning seemed somewhat dreamy, like the cat was leisurely exploring and daydreaming about what I assumed was mini triumphs that he'd exaggerated. Then, it became more interesting when he met the beautiful cat maiden and heard her plight. I love his heroism and willingness to assist the damsel in distress. It was a fun story that followed a classic folktale/storybook plot. It was a plot i'd read many times before, but it never felt boring or overdone. You kept the pace up and your flow was on point. I also liked that you used dialogue to break up the story. It's nice to have a break from reading block paragraphs of text.
ReplyDeleteOne last thing, I LOVE that picture and that you used your actual cat for your required image. I am definitely a cat lover and often feature my cat, BooBoo, into my writing and posts for this class. Your kitty has really pretty coloring too. I love the spots!
Great Story. I think you did a good job of putting your own twist on this tale. (Pun Intended) I like that you used a no frills approach to this, because you got right to the point instead of trying to use too much detail which can at times bog a story down. The picture you used was good, it captured the curiosity of a cat on the prowl. Good Job.
ReplyDeleteI sympathized with the wolf. Sorry. I know it's definitely not what you had in mind, but I felt like Mittens was pretentious. It may be because I'm more of a dog person... I like the way you retold the story. You kept the same theme but with different characters. That's my favorite way to recreate a story. Personal photos are also great.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you retold this story using cats! What I liked about it the most was that you didn't just rewrite the original story using different words to say the same thing. You took the main idea from that story and used it to create something new. I especially liked how you mentioned the original story in your retelling, using it as background knowledge the hero utilizes to defeat the eight-headed wolf. Great job!
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