The spider had successfully presented the fire from heaven
to Nzambi, so that he could have Nzambi beautiful daughter in marriage. But the
tortoise, the woodpecker, the rat, and the sandfly angrily disagreed. All of
the animals had helped the spider get the fire and felt that the beautiful princess
should be their wife. When Nzambi heard the animals fighting over her daughter
she came up with a plan to solve the quarrel.
“Since all of you helped retrieve the fire, you all have a
right to marry my daughter. Therefore, the princess will get to pick from the
five of you to decide which of you will become her husband,” Nzambi told the
animals. The princess had each of the
animals come forward and explain to her why they should be her husband.
The spider went first. The spider explained, “My beautiful
princess I will make sure that you will always have the finest clothes made
from my personal silk.”
The tortoise went second. The tortoise explained, “While
fine clothes may seem nice, I can offer you the comfort of a home for travels.
We can venture around the world while I carry our home on my back.”
The woodpecker went third. The woodpecker explained, “Princess,
I can fashion you anything your heart desires from wood. I can make you a home as
big as you would like.”
The rat went fourth. The rat explained, “The other animals
talk about making you possessions but I can retrieve any possession you would
like.”
The sandfly went last. The sandfly explained, “Everyone
talks of things that can give to you princess, but I promise to always love you
and treat you as a queen.”
The princess thanked the animals and told them, “All of you
have been able to promise me things for my hand in marriage but the sandfly
knows what is really important in a marriage. Things can come and go but
knowing you are always loved by is a women true desire for her marriage. Therefore,
I choose to marry the sandfly.”
A spider web in the middle of a barbwire heart. Source: Pixabay by Baerenfein
Author’s Notes: This story comes from the Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort
by R.E. Dennet and the specific tale of HowThe Spider Won and Lost Nzambi’s Daughter. In the tale, a spider wants
to marry the beautiful princess of Nzambi. Nzambi will not let anyone marry her
daughter unless they present her with fire from heaven. So, the spider enlists
the help of the other animals so that he can get the fire. In the original tale,
the animals argue over who should get to marry the princess once they present
the fire to Nzambi. Nzambi then decides that none of the animals will get to
marry the princess and the princess becomes an old maid. I did not like this
ending so I changed it to where the princess gets to choose between the
animals. I liked the idea of each animal saying what they could get the
princess but having one only promise to love the princess. I chose to have the
sandfly as the animal promising love because he is the smallest of the animals
and did not have much to offer. I
hope you have enjoyed my story and would love to hear feedback and ideas!
I love that we get to learn about stories from unites we didn't choose, because this one is lovely and I hadn't seen it before. I really loved how sweet the ending was with the sandfly promising to love the princess and treat her like a queen. I also really like the change you made from the original ending. It's much more fun for her to get to choose a husband than to become an old maid. Great job, I really enjoyed your story!
ReplyDeleteHey Ashley.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting story that had a really great moral at the end of the story. The choice of the animals and what they would be able to provide was also spot on for each. I also liked how you transformed the old story into one that had a happier ending. Great story, I look forward to reading more!
What a great story and the ending was really awesome! I can tell that something sparked your interest in the original story that you read and you did a great job of changing it up in the way that you described in your author's note. Overall, I liked that you made it a happy ending and that you gave the princess her own voice. Great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley, this was really great story to read. In contrast to the last story I read about a family being murdered in a back room, this was a very nice change of pace. It definitely gets me thinking about life and what people really need out of it. Such a great message that just being loved is so much better than any possessions.
ReplyDeleteI thought this story was well written and I liked the direction that you took it. You really shaped the story to have the take home message that you wanted, while still being presentable. Also, I really liked the dialogue that you gave the animals, it was realistic. I look forward to reading more of our stories in the future.
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley!
ReplyDeleteI read this story too and I thought it was so interesting! I like your interpretation of it a lot! I appreciate that the decision came down to the princess instead of her father. And I like that she chose the one who promised to love her instead of promising her material things. You did a great job with this story!
Hi Ashley!
ReplyDeleteI wrote my Week 9 story based of this tale too and I went in a similar direction! I also thought it would be better to let the princess choose her husband, rather than have her father do it. It’s a story about her, so it only makes sense that the decision is hers! Great job with this story!