Gobble Girl
Image of turkeys.
Image retrieved from the NWTF.
Once upon a time there was a poor slave girl living in the
hills of Matsaki. She was the girl in charge of herding the turkeys of the
land. Because she spent so much time with the turkeys, they became her family.
She would talk to them, share her hopes and dreams with them, and waste away
all of her days tending to all of their turkey needs. As you can imagine, the
turkeys adored her and were constantly wishing for her to have the best.
One day, word got out about a huge festival called the Dance
of the Sacred Bird that was happening in town. The turkey girl desperately
wished that she could go, however, she knew that due to her status she wouldn’t
even be able to walk through the door. The turkeys caught on to her desire and
devised a plan to give her the night of her life.
The evening of the festival, the turkeys called the girl to
come among them. They then proceeded to rip the rags that she was dressed in,
and replace them with the finest woven clothing, put jewels on her, as well as
powder her face to perfection. After they were done, she was so beautiful that
angels would be jealous.
It was now time for the turkey girl to head to the Dance of
the Sacred Bird. Before she left though, the turkeys told her one very
important thing. “Go and have fun my dear, but do not forget us. For if you
forget about us, we will leave and you will be left with nothing.” The turkey
girl agreed to what they had said. She couldn’t imagine a life without them. She
then thanked the turkeys for everything and headed on her way.
When she got to the Dance of the Sacred Bird, not a single person
could help but stare at her beauty and elegance. The chief soon made his way
over to her and asked her to dance. So she danced with the most impressive man
there, not once but all night. As she was dancing though she let everything
escape her mind, including her beloved turkeys. She got so caught up into the
dance that she lost track of time and before she knew it the sun was raising.
Afraid of what the turkeys had warned her about, she started
home. But when she arrived at her place the turkeys were gone. The only trace
of them to be found was their tracks heading up the hill. She started to go
after them, but she could not catch up. As she was running, her dress turned
back into rags and she was left alone on a mountain. She couldn’t believe that
she stayed too late and forgot about her family of turkeys. She had made them
feel forgotten, so they left and now she had nothing.
The End.
Author’s note: I rewrote the story of The Girl and the Turkeys without changing
anything but the details. The plot is still the same. I chose to rewrite this
story because it was the easiest in the unit to understand, however, I didn’t particularity
like it. The story reminded me of Cinderella except without the happy ending.
Overall, it was a very straightforward story that teaches you not to take
anything for granted.
Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).
What a sad story! I actually thought this was a very clever retelling of Cinderella while I was reading it, so it was funny to see in your author's note that this reminded you of that as well. I didn't read the original story but you did a very good job telling this and it was easy to read and follow. You did good to provide a lot of detail and to get the reader attached to the main character. Good job!
ReplyDeleteKatelynn, this story definitely screamed Cinderella to me too! Just like Cinderella, the turkey girl had little animals to help fix her up and be her only friends. This story did turn out much worse than Cinderella's though. I think you told it very well, and I enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading this, I actually assumed that you took details of the original story and spun it into a Cinderella-type story without the happy ending. But that’s interesting that this a retelling of the original story with all the main details in it. Anyways, I thought you did a really good job! The writing flowed well and the ending was unexpected! When I was reading this, I thought that she would get married and forget about the turkeys, which would make her lose everything. Her turkeys leaving happened within a smaller timeframe than I expected.
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