She had waited in line for hours, and now it was finally her turn! But when she looked at the throne, a man stood beside. No one was seated on the throne, only a pair of sandals.
"Hello, I am Jerald, the king's right-hand man. How can the king help you?"
"Excuse me, but is the king unwell? Where is he?"
"As you come from the such a small town from the south, perhaps you have not heard of the king's traveled. Before he took the crown, he wanted to enjoy life for a bit. So he left to explore the surrounding nations."
"How long has he been gone?"
"Ten years. But as you can see from his pair of sandals which guard his throne and lead his nation night and day, he is still a strong leader."
Perhaps this is how other countries are run? Isabella thought. Maybe I'm crazy for thinking this is weird? I should just tell him my problem and get the help we need.
"You mean to tell me that while my village is starving, the king is ON VACATION?!?"
"Miss, just tell me your problem and I will help. With the guidance of the king, of course."
"What guidance? What king? It's a pair of sandals!" Enraged, Isabella left the chambers.
Leroy,
 |
| Gold Sandals Source: Wikimedia |
I regret to inform you that after ten years of royal bliss, you have lost your kingdom. It appears a woman was not happy to discover your sandals had been symbolically leading the nation all this time. She informed large mobs of your whereabouts and united them to take the castle. If you would like your sandals back, you can find the hanging from the gallows.
All hail Queen Isabella!
Jerald
Author's Note: In the original story, the fact that the king is away while ruling symbolically by his sandals is brushed over as completely acceptable. It never says how the people themselves would have felt about this arrangement. I imagined they would be pretty upset and so here is what I think would actually happen!
Hi again, Jillian! I love your writing style and the way you've changed the names of characters. When I read the original story, I thought it would be interesting to retell but I couldn't think of a creative way to. I think you accomplished this so well. In terms of feedforward, I think it would have helped readers recall better if you had a more detailed summary of the original story. Other than that, it was great and I look forward to reading more of your stories!
ReplyDeleteHi Jillian! Loved your take on this story and on how sandals symbolically ruling would actually probably be problematic for the society that is being ruled. The original story didn't even touch on the subject but I liked that you did!
ReplyDelete