Week 2 Story: A Ghostly Trial
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| Gloomy view of a forest clearing in Alsace, Eastern France. Photo by JovanCormac. Found on Wikimedia. |
"Who will go first? What test should this warrior meet?" said the gnarled woman as she gazed at the young warrior.
"Me," said the singer, "his strength and perseverance needs to be tested."
"His intelligence and courage surely need to be tested first. He is near my grave," said the woman, "So that gives me first claim."
"Fair enough, but I get to test him as he travels deeper into the woods.”
And so it was. The woman approached the sleeping warrior, moaning "My son! My son!" She inched closer and the man still feigned sleep. She grabbed his foot, hoping for a reaction by dropping it. Once. Twice. Three times. And he still remained unmoving. Finally, she pulled out a knife to cut off the foot.
He jolted up, screaming, "what are you doing?" And the woman ran back into the forest. He had passed the first test, moving past her burial place in the next day.
The next night the singer took his turn. He approached the warrior singing, first ignoring the man, then demanding food of him. But the man claimed to have nothing, even though the ghost new this to be untrue. The man, called out for his lie, gave the ghost some food and tobacco. The ghost approached the warrior with his final test, the one that would determine the man's fate.
"Wrestle me. If you can beat me, you will defeat your enemy easily and return with horses."
"Yes," said the warrior. and he threw brush on the fire to ensure it's continued flame.
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| Camp fire by Eric Dufresne. Found on wikimedia. |
As they fought the fire grew dimmer and the ghost gained strength from the darkness. The warrior, realizing this kept up his battle. He there the ghost nearer to the flames and he lost his strength. Taking this to his advantage, the warrior added more brush to the fire unexpectedly. The ghost began to tire, and dawn began to break. They had been fighting the whole night. Surely the warrior passed his final test of strength, determination, and cunning. As the man won the battle, the ghost fell and resolved back into the realm in which he resides.
"I see he has passed," said the woman.
"Yes", said the singer, "He will achieve everything he set out to on this warpath, for he is worthy."
And the warrior did. He slew his enemy and returned with many stolen horses.
Author's Note: This story comes from The Indian Who Wrestles with a Ghost by Katharine Berry Judson. This Teton Lakota ghost story features a warrior moving through the woods at night. He is on a quest, presumable to win honor and favor through the defeat of his enemies. The ghosts that confront him when he is camping. The first encounter with the women sets up the warrior's character, while the second with he singer establishes the inevitability of the warrior's success if he can defeat the ghost. The story is told from the perspective of the warrior, and in this story I have flipped the narrative, giving background and plot to the ghost reasons behind attacking him in the forest.
Hi again Elizabeth! I really liked your retelling of the story the Indian Who Wrestles with a Ghost. I liked how you told the story from the perspective of the ghosts and not the Indian. I also enjoyed the fact that you gave the ghosts purpose by giving them a solid reason to scare the Indian by making them aware of his trials.
ReplyDeleteHi, Elizabeth!
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite interpretations of stories involve exploring the perspective of previously voiceless characters. I love how you have done that with the ghosts here! I would have liked a little more context in the beginning about why the warrior was in the woods, although I understood more after reaching the Author's Note. I also applaud your easy use of dialogue, as it's something I struggle with in my own writing. I'm exciting to read more from you in the future!
Elizabeth, I think you used good details and gave good descriptions throughout the story. The extra dialogue you incorporated made the story much easier to understand and more fun and interesting to read. I thought the beginning of the story was awesome. The part where you added in the dialogue between the ghosts was great because it helped set a creepy, eerie tone for the story. It made me very curious to keep on reading, so that was one part of your story that I thought was excellent. The encounter with the second ghost, "the singer", seemed strange and a little hard to follow. I am wondering, was the ghost angry at the man for lying that he had food with him? Is this what led the ghost to quarrel/wrestle with the man? I am curious about that part because the man eventually gave food to the ghost and despite the man being generous and sharing his food, the man and ghost engaged in a wrestling duel. I just did not understand the reasons that led to that.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth! Your story was very creative. I loved the beginning, where the ghosts are arguing about who will test the warrior first. It really clarified why they were approaching him in the first place so that was really nice. I enjoyed the way you gave the ghosts, although not explicitly mentioned, a bit of background. What I would find even more interesting is if you made a story about the background of the ghosts. Why are they all gathered at that specific place? Is it an Indian burial mound or is there another reason they are all together there? It would be cool and fun if you included the stories of the ghost in order to give them more background and personalities. I love the way you have personalized them now, but it would be so awesome if you gave them more context and purpose. Overall, I really liked your take on this story! Good work!
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