Her husband looked at her unapologetically. "I was seeking a better life for both of us!"
The two were standing in their little hut, which was clean from the princess' presence and her husband's long absence. He had just gotten back from his lengthy trip and expected to be wrapped in his wife's longing arms, with her crying about how much she had missed him and how thankful she was that he was back. Instead, he was met with a terrifying but restrained indignation.
Through gritted teeth she said, "I have been waiting here for you, loyal and enduring the worst of my father's arrogance. Even when he told me repeatedly that I made the wrong decision by choosing to marry and live with a beggar--I stayed loyal to you. Even when I was starving for days and had to live off of scraps, I stayed loyal. And now you come back here, with no apologies and no messages for eighteen years, and you expect me to be okay with that?"
"Well, yes," her husband said, feeling that what he was about to say would make her anger dissipate. "It worked! I did find fortune--I'm an emperor now. We're rich!"
His wife could not take the ignorance but kept her tone even. "You are insufferable. I don't care about riches! I chose you, against my father's wishes. I chose a life with you, not caring that it would mean moving from a castle to a hut. I'm glad you found your fortune, but I hope it was worth losing me."
"You don't mean that," he said, taken aback.
"At least you'll know I'm not coming back," she said, gathering her few belongings from the dirt floor. "Unlike how you left me wondering for eighteen years."
"Wait--" he said as she stepped outside.
She cut him off with a sharp glare, daring him to give her a good reason to stay. He didn't have one. His best reason was that he was now an emperor, but if she didn't care about that then he had nothing. The man sat in astonished silence, watching his wife leave and unable to say or do anything to stop her.
For the first time in her life, she felt happy and free. She didn't go back to the castle or the hut but instead made her way through countrysides and cities and found a better life, far, far away. She made her own good fortune and realized she never needed someone else to make it for her.
~~~
Author's Note: I wrote this story based off of The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck. In the original story, the princess is the "child of ill luck" and chooses to marry a beggar who seems to have good fortune. After being married and moving to his little hut, the man goes to seek better fortune and return with it. He ends up being gone for eighteen years (which I emphasized so heavily in the story because that's insane to me) and the wife just easily accepts him back after that. She even ends up dying only a few weeks into his reign as emperor. I felt that she deserved more credit than that and wanted to show her standing up to him. Even if she would lose her "good luck charm", I felt that he wasn't really one anyways. I know some of the phrases and the general idea is kind of cliche but I just badly wanted recognition for the woman and retribution for the man.
~~~
Bibliography: The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck, from the Chinese Fairy Tales unit. Story source: The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).
Image information: (Bay of Kiau Chau from Wikipedia.) The image isn't really relevant except that I mentioned "countryside" and this is the kind of place I imagined the princess traveling through, but I thought it was a really beautiful art piece and wanted to keep it here!
Hi Brooke!
ReplyDeleteI read this reading as well and loved the way you expanded the ending! When I read the original story, I wondered why the princess suffered so much even though she was hardworking and loyal. Your retelling gave power to the women and showcased that she could still reach her dreams without her "good luck charm," her husband.
Hi Brooke,
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice story, well done!
It was interesting to me to read it and have the moral occur to me as, among others, that choosing to suffer for someone else’s sake without reason is not an imperative to love. Yet it doesn’t sound like this is the original story at all, which just goes to show how far our retellings can take these stories — which isn’t a bad thing!
Best,
A.M.
Hi Brooke! I loved your take on this story! I read this reading as well and I like you also thought she deserved more credit for all of the suffering she went through because of her husband. I really like this alternative ending of yours! This is what I think the princess should've done in the first place. Keep up the good work! Can't wait to read more stories from you!
ReplyDeleteHi Brooke! First off, I loved that initial scathing comment the former princess gave her husband. I loved how you included that the hut from clean from the wife properly maintaining it. I loved how you added that the husband expected the wife to be glad he was back only to find the opposite. I especially loved the wife's dialogue about how she was fine giving up her wealth for him, so of course she was not happy that her husband left on a journey for wealth. I also liked how we don't even hear how the husband became an emperor, as it highlights how the wife is so over it all. One question: How has the wife lived throughout the years? She clearly wasn't going to forgive her husband after a certain point. Did she rebuild a new life for herself outside her empty home?
ReplyDelete