Consumed by Fire: Story Week 10
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| The Darvaza gas crater at night. Found on Wikimedia Commons. |
"Mom, I know how to save us from the fire," he said.
"Sure you do, honey," I said.
"No seriously. This is how we are going to be safe." Then he takes out a bow and shoots arrows in each of the cardinal directions. "This land that I have outlined with arrows, it will be safe from the flames."
"Son, this is absolutely ridiculous. There is no way this will save us when the world is in flames," my husband said.
"No, really, this will work. We will be safe at the end of the world when everyone else is dead," my son said. My husband did not believe him. My husband left that day, and we never saw him again.
"Okay so what's the plan? How will this save us?" I asked.
"Here the earth is safe. It will not burn like the rest of the world."
"Uhuh, sure why not."
And so I let him complete his plan, make him feel safe at the end of the world. Other's did not believe my son that the world would be ending, and to be honest, I didn't either. But I love him, and a little crazy is easy to handle if it makes him feel safe.
But then the animals began to show up. Every animal was on that plot of land he outlined with arrows. And then the world was on fire. The fire burned everything and boiled the water away before ceasing. The world had to start agin from the ashes and the lone plot of land. That my son outlined with arrows. So I guess he wasn't crazy.
Author's Note: This story comes from Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson (1917). It is a Cree tale called The Burning of the World. I followed the story pretty closely, adding in the perspective and the fact the maybe the mother was really just humoring her son, because this is weird. At the end of the story, he man named the animals as he told them what to do and where to go. The son made the animals, named them, and gave them their purposes. The son gave his family names. His mother was Robbin. His sister was Golden-winded Woodpecker. And he was Blackbird.
Hey Elizabeth! I really enjoyed your story. I am curious to how the arrows protected the land from the fire. I like how the mother just let her son be crazy so that he could be happy as he died, not realizing he was going to save them. I also enjoyed how the animals had their animal instinct and came to him because they knew he was going to save them.
ReplyDeleteHey Elizabeth! I really enjoyed reading this story! I think I maybe did a rendition of this story earlier in the semester if I am remembering correctly! I found every detail so intriguing and wanted to know more about it! I like how you added in the perspective because it makes the whole story so interesting from an entirely different angle! Good job!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteGreat story! I like how you kept to the same plot as the original but added your own personal flares. I found all the details great and I couldn't wait to see if the son's plan worked or not. great work!
The change in perspective is an interesting change to the story. While the son is confident in the fact that his plan will work, the idea of arrows keeping out fire does seem ridiculous to anyone else.
ReplyDeleteThere is a small mistake with "Other's," which should be "Others." But other than that, I like the way you changed a story just by changing who the focus of it was!
Hello Elizabeth. What a fun story! I really liked that the mother was humoring her son's "strange" prophecy and it added more comedy to story. The inclusion of the mother's feelings was interesting as well. It gave the story more personality, giving more humanity and comedy to this version. Your author's note has a few typos but otherwise the story was really good.
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