Week 9: Storytelling

Week 9: Storytelling: The Fairy Bride

 A long time ago, there was a young Indian girl named Nini who lived off of Lake Superior with her loving parents.  Nini was a special girl who was different from all the rest. She was quite small and slender. She never grew much taller than a child, and some would even say she was no bigger than a fairy. She was also a dreamer, she was always daydreaming about one thing or another.

Nini was not always happy with the way things were in her life. Every day Nini would run off to the forest to escape her life and daydream about the things she had always wanted. Nini would daydream about the blooming flowers in the spring, the warm sun waking her up every morning, and swimming in the river. She hated the cold weather and wished that she could find some place where it was summer all year long. This is what she dreamed about. 

The tribe members thought it was very strange that she ran off into the forest every day. What was she doing? Was she talking to fairies? Was she seeing mysterious creatures? She was always a little bit different when she came back home from her visits to the forest. 

They were in fact correct. Nini had an incredible gift of talking to fairies. They trusted her, and they kept each others secrets. She talked to them about her daydreams of a wonderful land, and also about her dream husband for when the time would come and she was ready to marry. She pleaded for them to grant her her dreams and wishes. As she was leaving the forest that night, Nini saw a small and slender shadow in the shape of a young man off in the distance. By the time she investigated, the shadow was gone, but somehow she knew there was something special about him. 

Forest Fairy

Although Nini was at the age when it is time to marry, she always had her head in the clouds and never thought twice about marriage. She was not interested in marrying who her mother thought was best for her, . Her mother wished that she would get her head straight and settle down for marriage. She wanted Nini to marry the tall hunter of the tribe. However, Nini was the least bit interested in this man because he was too tall, she barely came above his waist. He also only cared about killing animals which she hated. She knew that all he thought about and talked about was hunting, killing, and skinning animals. Her mother on the other hand thought that he would make a perfect husband for her because he could take care of her, protect her, and they would never starve.

Ultimately, Nini's parents set a date for her to marry the man she hated so much. On the wedding day, Nini's mother dressed her black hair in red flowers and long curls. She had put on the dress that her mother made specially for her wedding day, and held the bouquet of flowers her grandmother had put together for her. Her one last wish was to go to the forest one more time before she was married.

When she left for the forest, the guests noticed the sky went dark. They were all worried a deathly storm was coming so her parents went looking for Nini. When they got to the forest, they saw Nini in her wedding dress, holding flowers, and walking with a mysterious man. The young man was very close to Nini's size and was slender, just like her. The only thing different about him was that he had wings, he was a fairy. 

The fairies had granted Nini's wish of finding the husband she had always dreamed about. Although they wanted different for their daughter, Nini's  parents could see by the smile on Nini's face that she was truly happy for once in her life. She was in love. They decided that they would be happy for their daughter despite what their wishes for her were. Nini became a bride after all, a fairy bride. 

Author's Note: I did not change very much about "The Fairy Bride." The only part I really changed was the ending, but just a little bit. When she went to the forest before the wedding, she actually disappeared for a whole day. Also, Nini's parents did not find her in the woods, it was a hunter and his dog. They knew the man was a fairy because he was so little, and because the hunters dog, who was not scared of even bears, was tucking his tail when he saw the man. That meant he must be immortal. All other aspects of the story stayed the same, I just reworded most of it or shortened it a bit. I shortened the part about her visits to the forest a little bit just because those parts were a little drawn out. I did not change this story too much because I really liked it. I liked how in the end she got what she always wanted because she deserved it. 

Bibliography:

Book: American Indian Fairy Tales

Author: W.T. Larned

Year Published: 1921

Web Source: Un-Textbook