One day, a little girl in a red
coat was walking through the forest in search of beautiful flowers to give to
her sick grandmother. As she was searching, she stumbled upon a deep hole. She looked
down in the hole and saw that there was a witch, an elf, a leprechaun, and a
young woman. When they saw the girl, they began to beg her to help them out of
the hole. The girl stood over the hole and contemplated whether or not she
wanted to help them. She knew that she wanted to help the young women, for she
was warm and beautiful but, the other three were a different story. The witch,
she thought, tried to eat her best friends Hansel and Gretel. The dark elf used
his magic to harm people. The leprechaun was just difficult to deal with. The
little girl saw no use in helping them escape.
The other three captives begged and
begged for their freedom that the girl, being a kind hearted person, she
decided to set them free. Each one of the creatures promised that they would
compensate her kindness-except for the young woman. The young woman told the
girl that she was very poor and could not offer her anything but, the girl
allowed the young woman to stay with her and her grandmother.
A couple of days passed and the elf
came to the girl and offered her a vile of his magic. “Make sure you always
keep it close by,” he said. “You will find it very, very useful. When you want
to use it, make sure you mix it with the blood of a beautiful maiden.” Although the girl was a little frightened to possess
such powerful magic, she thanked the elf and put the vile on a string and wore
it as a necklace. The witch also showed her gratitude by promising to never
harm the girl or any of her friends and always keeping her and her grandmother
well fed.
The leprechaun also came to the
girl and gave her a large pot of gold. “This pot of gold is magic. The gold in
it will never run out and you and your grandmother will be very rich. After
this, the girl and her grandmother lived in comfort and luxury and never went
hungry again. The young woman who lived with the girl and her grandmother
became jealous of the girl and all of her riches and constantly searched for a
way to harm the girl.
The next day, there was an
announcement that someone had robbed the Queen’s castle and stole all of her
valuable jewels. The young woman rushed to the castle and told the Queen’s
guards and told them that it was the girl who stole the Queen’s jewels. The
Queen promised the young woman that she would give half of her jewels to the
young woman for telling her who stole the jewels. The next day, the girl was
thrown in jail and questioned about her newly acquired wealth. The girl
truthfully told the witch, the elf, and the leprechaun but, no one believed
her. The girl was condemned to die the next evening.
The next day before the girl’s execution,
there was news that the Queen’s son was dying. Anyone who could save him was
begged to help. The girl instantly clutched the vile that the elf gave her and
asked if she could use it to save the Queen’s son. The Queen asked the girl if
there was anything she needed and she said, “The blood of a beautiful maiden.”
The Queen immediately pointed to the young woman who betrayed the girl and
said, “There goes a beautiful maiden. She may be beautiful on the outside but
her insides are filled with hate.” The young woman was beheaded and her blood
was mixed with the vile of the elf’s magic.
As soon as it was given to the
prince, he was cured and the Queen awarded the girl with the highest honors of
the kingdom.
Author's Note: I chose to write my retelling in the same style as the original story. I made this decision because I really liked the way the original story flowed. I changed this story by making the characters storybook/fairytale characters and creatures, such as little red riding hood, instead of using animals.
Bibliography: This story was based on the story The Ungrateful Man. This story is part of the book West African Folktales written by William H. Baker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair(1917).
