She ran frantically through the forest. She would have stopped several times and let them take her, but she was running for someone else now. Her swollen belly carried the most important person she had never met.
She had told her husband not to get too deep into court politics, but he hadn't heeded her warning. He was murdered by his enemies, and now they were after her and his unborn child.
No time to worry about the past. She had to keep running.
Her legs were weak, her chest pounding. But suddenly, a more powerful shooting pain struck her.
"No! It can't happen now! No!" But her words couldn't stop her baby's arrival.
She searched everywhere and found a small gathering of trees in the middle of which she might be able to stay hidden. There she tried to stay as quiet as possible as her son broke out into the world.
She stared at her precious bundle, trying to calm the crying baby. She felt overwhelmed by her joy, until the reality of her situation dawned on her.
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| Mother of Yellow River in China Posted by Farm Source: Wikimedia |
She wondered the forest searching for a river, pain in each step. When she arrived at a rushing body of water, she dipped the baby down into the water and whispered a prayer of hope that her child would be strong enough to endure all things. The baby wiggled in her arms, and then went still. Once she had finished her prayer, she brought the baby out of the water.
He wouldn't have looked any different to a stranger, but a mother sees all. She could detect the gold aura that clung to her son. And so she named him Kintaro, The Golden Boy. He grew to be the strongest of all men and the mightiest of warriors!
Author's Note: This is based off of the The Adventures of Kintaro, The Golden Boy. I stayed true to the story except in the original, it is never explained why Kintaro is supernaturally strong, which bothered me as a reader. So I decided to create a reason. Partly inspired by the story of Achilles and the River Styx, I gave him his strength by his mother praying while practically offering her son to the rushing river. Make of that what you will, but I see it as the river blessing the child with its force and energy.
The Adventures of Kintaro, The Golden Boy: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).
Jillian, I also read the Japanese Fairy tales this past week for my reading. I love that you gave a better introduction to the creation of The Golden Boy story. At first, I was not sure which story you might have based yours off of until you mention the baby boy having a golden glow around him. You did a great job of wrong about the birth with getting to graphic. Great storytelling, I cannot wait to read more of your stories in the future.
ReplyDeleteJillian,
ReplyDeleteI love this story, short and sweet! I think you took a good perspective with explaining something that isn't thoroughly discussed in the original story. The line about her son being "the most important person she had never met" was really powerful. I can't even imagine what that relationship must be like, between a mother and a son! For some reason, this scene reminded me of the biblical story where Moses is released into the Nile as an infant, in order to evade the murderous decrees of Pharaoh. That has a very different narrative than this story, however, since Moses is actually left in the river by his mother!!!
Jillian,
ReplyDeleteI love how you rewrote this story to fix something that didn't originally make sense to you! Your explanation of why the baby is so powerful really adds to the story and fills in those gaps. I liked how short and sweet your story was but at the same time it really didn't feel that way. Starting your story out in the middle of the action really helped get me intrigued! Good job!
I am very impressed that you have multiple stories up at this point! Hope you keep up the fabulous work! Anyway, I feel like I wonder the same types of things. I'm glad you took the time to really clear things up. Also, you came up with a really creative reason. Its not everyday that you get to coordinate two great stories and make it work. Most times, I would say that never works. But your story worked really well and I enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDelete