Storytelling for Week 4: Nash the Half-Boy

Once upon a time there was a King with no heir. This made him depressed, and finally one day he made plans to kill himself. He wandered out alone into the desert. On his third day alone, he was near death when he saw a man walking towards him.

(Man Alone In Desert, by Choaib Chikhaoui
Source: Wikipedia Commons)

The strange man approached him and asked, "Why are you all alone my King?"

The King told the man his troubles and lamented that he had no heirs.

"How many wives do you have?"

"Four," the King answered.

The man then pulled four apples from his bag and said, "Give these to your wives to eat. They will surely become pregnant." 

The King was encouraged by the man's words and his strength returned to him. He went back to his castle and gave his wives the fruit. Three of them ate the entire fruit, but the fourth ate only half of hers and sat the rest on her window ledge to eat later, but by the time she returned it was night. The moonlight shown upon the apple and it had become rotten, but she ate it anyway.

As the strange man had said, all of the wives became pregnant. One had a beautiful daughter and the other two had handsome sons. However, the fourth wife was cursed with a half-child. She named him Nash which means wolf, for he was part man, part wolf. The King was disgusted with the half-child and drove him and his mother from his presence.

Years passed and one day a demon set his sights on the King's daughter. She was out in the garden alone when the demon suddenly appeared and carried her off to his cave in the mountains. The King was furious when he heard the news. He gathered his fiercest army and put it under his eldest son's control, who marched them straight for the demon's lair.

The demon saw the army coming and asked the King's daughter, "What do you see?"

She answered:
"I see many men.

All with sword in hand."

"Ah, victory is ours," said the demon, "man's sword has no effect on me."

Then the demon emerged from his cave and attacked the eldest son. The prince was easily overtaken. The demon grabbed him and locked him away in his cave. The army fled with their leader gone and reported the news to the King.

The King gathered a second army and put his second son in charge. He marched towards the demon's lair, just as his brother had done. When the army approached the cave the demon asked the Princess, "What do you see?"

She answered:
"I see many men.

All with sword in hand."

"Ah, victory is ours," said the demon, "man's sword has no effect on me."

He struck the young prince just like his brother and locked him up in the cave. The army fled once again and brought the news to the King.

Now Nash knew his father would never give him an army, so he set out to face the mighty demon alone. As he came near the cave the demon again asked the Princess, "What do you see?"

She answered:

"I see one half-man.
And his swords are his hand."

"Ah, defeat is surely ours," the demon cried, "his claws will tear me to pieces."

Nash came to the mouth of the cave, claws on full display. The demon was forced to defend himself, but Nash did not hesitate and he tore into him like a beast. He cut him with his claws and ripped his throat out with his sharp teeth.

Then he set his siblings free and took them home to the King. Then his father loved him for all he had done, and made Nash heir to the throne.


Author's Note:

I chose Persian Tales for my reading this week. I was particularly interested in the story of Nim Tanak, or Half-Boy, which is what I based my story on. The tale was about a boy who was born with only half of a body. His father loved his other siblings, but was disgusted by him.

If you haven't noticed already, I'm quite interested in werewolves. I thought it would be an interesting dynamic if the "half-boy" was actually half human and half wolf, rather than just half of a boy. I also liked the character of the Div (demon) in the original story.

I chose the desert picture because I thought it would give readers a good mental image while reading the story. It also demonstrates the isolation the King was feeling when he wandered off alone.

I tried to follow the original story telling techniques, which I really liked. I especially like the rule of three, which is when the story is told three times with minor variations. In this case it would be the three different brothers, with the last one succeeding. I also modernized the language and changed some of the terms to make it easier to read.

Persian Tales, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer and illustrated by Hilda Roberts (1919)

Storytelling for Week 2: History of the Supernatural World

In the beginning the god of Life created earth and sky. He set the planets in motion and filled the earth with every kind of animal. However, He wanted to put someone in charge of his creation so he created the Father of Humankind, Adam. God raised man from the dirt and breathed life into him, but after a time, Adam complained of being lonely in his duties. In an effort to please the god of Life, the other gods and goddesses offered up suitable mates for Adam.

(Creation of Eve, Orvieto cathedral)

The Moon goddess was the first to offer her own mate for the man. She offered up the wolf. The wolf was strong, cunning, and fiercely loyal. However, the wolf could not communicate with the man so the goddess allowed the wolf the ability to change into a human. Thus, the first werewolf was created.

Adam lay with the werewolf because she was beautiful and he was lonely, but in the morning she had returned to her wolf form and he was disgusted. Adam sent her away, but there was already a baby boy growing in her stomach.

After the Moon's failed attempt, the goddess of Earth also offered up her own mate to Adam. She created her offering from the trees. Her creation was imaginative, creative, and powerful. Her creation was able to manipulate the elements around her to harness the energy of earth and perform  magic. She is the mother of all fairies.

Adam lay with the fairy because she was exotic and she performed magic that enchanted him. But after a time the fairy grew tired of Adam and she longed to return to the forest. So one night she slipped away and was never seen by Adam again. But like the werewolf, she too was already carrying one of Adam's children.

Lastly the god of Death decided to offer his own creation to life — the vampire. The vampire matched forms with man and they complimented each other perfectly. However, the vampire was only satisfied by blood. She could not give life. She could only take.

But Adam lay with her and was satisfied. In the middle of the night he awoke to a pain in his neck. The vampire was sucking his blood. Adam threw her off and ordered her away. For attempting to kill Adam the god of Life cursed the vampire to be forever barren. That is why to this day vampires cannot give birth to new life.

When all the other gods had failed, the god of Life took it upon himself to prepared a mate for Adam. He put Adam in a deep sleep and removed one of his ribs. From that rib, He created the first woman, Eve. She was made to compliment Adam in every way.

Adam and Eve were fruitful and multiplied many times over. Where their parents were disgusted and wary of the other races (werewolves, fairies, and vampires), their kids were fascinated. Adam and Eve's children fell in love with the other races and they had children of their own. But that is a story for another time.


Author's Note:

I chose the Adam and Eve unit for my reading this week. This unit interested me because in high school I had a class where we studied the different interpretations of the creation story — mainly whether or not it was literal or allegorical. For my story I drew inspiration from the story of Creation in the Bible and the stories of Eve and Lilith from the Legends of the Jews.

Eve appears in the Bible and is the wife of Adam that most people recognize. But in Jewish folklore, Adam had a first wife named Lilith. For various reasons their union didn't work out. Instead of giving Adam two human wives, I decided to throw supernatural creatures into the picture. Also in the original story there is only one god, whereas I decided to involve multiple deities.

I chose to tell the story like someone would tell a story around a campfire because I wanted it to be read like an oral legend. For the novel that I'm writing I have werewolves and fairies and vampires. I think this story would be interesting to add so the readers have a little bit of history/lore for the world they're reading about.

The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909).

King James Bible (1611): Genesis 1-2.

Storytelling Week 1: The Wolf And The Kid

There once was a kid whose mother was very sick. No one could be found to heal her, but finally a witch doctor visited and offered a solution.

"You must get the blood of a werewolf. It cures all sickness," he said.

Although the boy was terrified, he set off into the woods outside of town. The werewolf was rumored to roam the woods and only come out on full moon nights. Luckily for the boy, there was to be a full moon this very night.

After stumbling through the woods for hours the boy finally came upon a clearing. In the middle of the clearing sat a man, posed thoughtfully on a stump.

“Are you the werewolf?” the boy asked cautiously.

“I am. And you are?” asked the wolf.

“I’m just a boy from the village. I need some of your blood to heal my mother.”

The wolf looked intently at the boy. Slowly, a smile spread across his face.

"Why don't you let me turn you into a werewolf? You’ll be faster, stronger, and able to heal quicker. And besides, you’ll have all the werewolf blood you need,” said the wolf.

"You would do that for me?" asked the boy.

"Of course, anything for a friend in need," said the wolf with a smirk.

The wolf quickly bit the boy’s wrist and sent him on his way home. By this time it was dark out and the full moon began to rise.

The boy got home and rushed to his mother.

"I have the best news mother! I have a way to cure you."

The boy cut his wrist and filled a small vial with his blood. He took it over to his mother and told her to drink. Immediately, the color returned to her face and she sat up in bed.

The mother smiled at the boy and said, "Thank you so much, my son. You have truly saved me."

(Moonlit Night by Andréia Bohner on
Flickr) 

But the full moon finally reached its peak and the boy's body began convulsing. In a blur, he changed from human to wolf — completely driven by his new instincts.

When he woke in the morning he was sore and disoriented. Across the room his mother was lying on her bed, covered in blood. He rushed to her and saw that her throat had been slashed. The boy looked down at his hands and realized they were stained red.

The boy cried and cried, wishing he had never become a werewolf. He cursed the wolf that had given him new life, but caused him to take his mother's.

Author's Note:

I drew inspiration for my story from one of Aesop's fables. The title of the fable was "The Wolf and the Kid." The moral of the story was "Do not let anything turn you from your purpose." In the original story a kid (goat) runs away from the herd because he thinks he's invincible, but quickly gets lost and ends up in the hands of the wolf. He convinces the wolf to let him dance for him before the wolf kills him and because of this the herd's dogs have time to find the kid and save him.

I turned the kid into an actual kid and used the wolf character for a werewolf, but the same principle still applies: don't be tempted by other offers that turn you from your purpose.

"The Wolf And The Kid" by Aesop, from Aesop for Children, by (anonymous), illustrated by Milo Winter (1919). Web Source: The Project Gutenberg.