Storytelling Week 13: Rags to Riches

For sixteen years I've been on this island.
I wasn't born here. I'm actually not certain where I was born. I arrived on this island in a small boat when I was around two years of age, and no one knows where I came from. The woman I who brought me died a few days after we arrived. Convenient I suppose. Since that day, I have never left the island.
The people here despise me, not so much for anything I have done, but more for the fact that I am an outsider. I am the first stranger to come to this island in over a hundred years I am told. They were hoping to continue that record before I came along.
Not everyone here hates me though. Grayson took pity on me all those years ago, and I've been living with him ever since along with his niece Marge. They suffered excommunication because of me, but they've always loved me regardless.
One night, however, my whole life changed. There was a storm outside, which made me restless. The rain pounded on the roof and the walls crackled by the rough wind. Since I could not sleep, I wandered around Grayson's small house. I was in the kitchen when something caught my eye outside through the window. I turned and moved closer to the window to see what it was. My heart stopped.
There was a ship! Grayson lived right next to the beach, away from everyone else, and never had I seen a ship near this island other than the king's, which were never used. I thought no one outside knew we existed here.
Even though I had never seen a ship sailing, I knew this wasn't what it was supposed to look like. The waves were crashing on the ship and it titled back and forth as if it was about to topple over. And it was dangerously close to the shore. I quickly ran outside and as I did, a colossal wave slammed into the ship and it just shattered. I began to run to the water, then hesitated because of the enormous waves. 

Then, as if nature was satisfied with its destruction, the winds dispelled and the waves calmed. I quickly ran into the ocean without a second thought, searching around me to find any survivors. Lightning still cracked across the sky, giving me a little light to see. With every body I came to, my heart sank more and more, and I felt like vomiting. Every man I came across was already dead.
Finally, I came to a woman, holding onto a piece of wood. Please don't be dead. I grabbed her wrist and felt for a pulse. There it was! I took hold of the girl and paddled backwards towards the shore. She didn't move once, unconscious from the impact most likely.
Once we reached the shore, though I was breathing hard, I managed to lift the girl in my arms, even though the water in her dress seemed to make her twice as heavy. I trudged to the house and kicked on the door, hoping Grayson or Marge would hear me. A few moments later, the door opened and Grayson stared at me open-mouthed.
"Edric, what-?"
"Not yet," I interrupted. Grayson opened the door wider and allowed me to come inside. I carried the girl to my room and set her on my bed. My arms felt weak and I sank to the floor beside the bed.
Marge ran in with a candle. "Edric, what happened? Who is this?"
I breathed out. "There was a shipwreck. She was the only one I found. Alive."
They both stared at me. "Well," Grayson finally said, "I suppose there's not much to do until she awakes." Grayson looked at me. "You should get some sleep."
I chuckled. "She's in my bed." 

Grayson laughed and helped me up.

The next morning, the girl woke up. She was alarmed at first, but as soon as I told her what had happened, she looked close to tears. 

"They're all dead?" She whispered. 

"I'm so sorry," I said. "I couldn't find anyone else alive."

The girl held her composure remarkably well. "What is your name?" I asked her after a moment of silence.

"My name is Crystal. And yours?"

"Edric."

"Well, Edric, I am indebted to you for saving my life." Crystal paused. "You seem familiar to me, though I do not know why."

I shrugged and asked, "I don't either. Where are you from?"

"I am from Lore. It is about a week's sail from here." 

I shook my head. "I've never heard of it."

This time Crystal shrugged. "It's a fairly large kingdom. My father is the king of Lore." 

I stared at her. A princess? I rescued a princess? She only nodded as if she could read my thoughts and smiled. "So you have lived here your whole life I am assuming?" 

"Actually, no. I was brought here sixteen years ago, by a strange woman who died a few days later. I am not certain where I am from. But since then I have lived here." 

The princess narrowed her eyebrows and bit her lip. "Strange..." She trailed off. She looked down and muttered to herself, "Yet it could be a coincidence..." She looked back up. "May I ask you a somewhat odd question?" 

I nodded slowly. "Of course." 

"Do you have a birthmark, on your right shoulder?"

I was shocked. How...? I pulled the collar of my shirt to reveal a dark spot on my right shoulder. 

Crystal's eyes got wide, and then she smiled slowly. "I lost my brother sixteen years ago. No one knows where he was taken. My father told me he had a birthmark on his right shoulder. Edric, I think you are my brother." 

Now my eyes widened. "You're serious?" Crystal nodded excitedly. "You're my sister? I have a family?" 

Crystal attacked me with a hug and my heart began to leap. I couldn't help but smile with her. I'm a prince. I have a family. 

I have a home.  

Author's Note: As I was reading the story of Allerleirauh, I began to get an idea for a sort of rags to riches story. Allerleirauh is the story of a princess who runs away from her father who is trying to marry her. She finds work in another kingdom as servant. Eventually she meets the king and dresses in these beautiful dresses to each of his balls, and in the end they get married. I liked the idea of someone who is royal having a kind of rags to riches story, and so I created Edric, who is a prince, but no one knows it because he was abducted as a child. I wanted to show him primarily before he became a prince to show his character as one deserving of a crown. And in the end, he gets a crown, much like Allerleirauh. I sadly ran out of word space, or this story would have been a lot more detailed. 

Bibliography: This was inspired by the story of Allerleirauh from Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Margaret Hunt. From the unit Brothers Grimm (Hunt).

Image information: "Churning Troubled Water" by Brigitte Werner (werner22brigitte), 2014. Web source: Pixabay