Storytelling Week 3: The Prince Competition

"By royal decree of his majesty King Xerxes, every eligible young male must hereby be brought to the palace in order that the princess may chose who is to become her future husband!" 

The whole matter is ridiculous. The king is attempting to build loyalties with his people by choosing one of them to be the heir. The princess has no say in the matter I'm sure. Still, no amount of arguing or complaining could release me from this torment, this "competition."
I look around at the other young men around me. This will be a quick decision; most of these men are dirty, ill-mannered, and not incredibly good-looking. They will be released quickly. As will I.
A man in very expensive looking clothing comes in the room where we are all lined up. He looks each man over and either says simply "yes" or "no." The many "no's" stay where they are, while the fewer "yes's" are escorted out of the room, further into the palace.
He finally reaches me near the end and I prepare myself to look ashamed when he rejects me. I had been here almost an hour, and I was so ready to go back home.
Instead, he looks me up and down, and with no expression says "yes" and moves on.
What?! My eyes get wide. This can't be. He obviously made a mistake. I don't want to continue. When I don't move, a guard behind me grabs my arm and practically drags me away.
We come into a new room, this one much more extravagant than the previous one, with gold and tapestries and marble everywhere. I stand here with about twenty other young men, all much more comely than most of the other men who came to the palace. One more comes in behind me, and after a few moments the doors shut.
"Congratulations," the expensive man says as he moves to the front of us. "You are the finalists who will be attempting to win the princess's heart. Each of you will receive a renovation process during which you will be made to look suitable to be in the presence of the princess. After, you will each spend a day with the princess, and in a month, one of you will be our new prince."
Most of the men look excited, smiling at each other and whispering. A few, like myself, look as though they would rather be any place else. Nonetheless, there is nothing we can do, and so we are all led through the palace to the place I am guessing we will receive this "renovation process."
We reach a hall with doors lined on each wall. We are each led to go into one of the rooms. I open mine to find a room five times the size of my own and a man waiting, it would seem for me. Without introducing himself, he says, "Follow me," and leads me to a door on the right, which apparently leads to a washroom. There, a full bath awaits. The man nods at towards the bathtub and says, "After you are done, put those clothes on," gesturing to some clothes hanging on a rack near tub, and then he leaves, closing the door behind him.
I get into the bathtub and quickly wash my body and hair. I've never had a bath this clean before. After I emerge from the washroom, with a clean body and clean clothes, the man sits me down in a chair in the middle of the room, and begins to cut my hair.
Soon, he is done. He looks me over, grins and nods, and then turns and exits the room. I am left alone, unsure of what to do next.

After almost three weeks of doing nothing besides walk around the courtyard and attempting to have conversations with the other men or the servants, it is finally my turn to meet the princess.
The only thing I am looking forward to is being able to go home in a week. I am tired of having to look presentable and having nothing to do.
Two guards lead me out of my room and through the palace. We enter a large room with a grand table and so many chairs. At the end sits a young woman. The guards lead me to the seat across from her.
She is very beautiful, with dark brown hair and big blue eyes. Wise eyes. The princess' eyes.
I stare too long before I finally realize I should bow. "Greetings, Princess."
The princess smiles. "Please sit. I am Princess Xandra. What is your name?"
"I am Estevan, your highness."
She smiles again. "You two may go," she says, addressing the guards. They turn, and as soon as they leave, the princess stops smiling and closes her eyes.
"Is something wrong?" I ask, though I am not sure if I want to know.
Princess Xandra sighs. "You are number twenty of the men that I have met so far. I suppose I am a little exhausted from meeting so many men."
"If you wish, you can just send me home. It will save you the energy of having to get to know me only to reject me."
She smiles a little, this time one that is not forced. "You already assume I am going to reject you? I could choose you. You are an extremely handsome man. You look like a king."
I didn't know whether I should feel flattered or not. "I am no king, your highness. And I am most likely not the one for you."
She smiled a little wider. "You are the first man to have said that. Even the ones who I could tell did not wish to be here tried to say how worthy they are. I am not looking for such arrogance. I am looking for someone who is honest and humble and honorable, and you are not the one who decides if you are those things or not.
"Please Estevan, tell me about yourself. Tell me about the things you love, the things you are passionate about. Allow me to see who you are, and then I will make my choice of whether you are worthy or not."

Author's note: I have always loved the story of Esther and how she was chosen to be queen of Persia. I decided to take the story of Esther and change it so that Esther is a boy, and the king is a princess. It is a lot like the Bachelorette. I found myself very invested in the story and I quickly ran over the word length. So I decided to leave the ending open. Maybe the princess chose Estevan, maybe she didn't. It's for the reader to decide. 

Bibliography: This is a retelling of the story of Esther from the Bible. From the unit, Bible Women.

Image 1 information: "By Royal Decree" by Cye (cyklus07)), 2008. Web source: DeviantArt

Image 2 information: "Crown" by Jason Train, 2013. Web source: Fickr

Reading Notes: Bible Women Part B

When reading part B of the unit "Bible Women," I found a great deal of inspiration, both for stories and for life. The first story is of the witch of Endor. The witch of Endor is a woman admittedly is not familiar to me. She doesn't really do much here, except deal with witchcraft, which is pretty spoken against in the Bible.
The story of Bathsheba is a tragic one. I can imagine Bathsheba just going about her day, possibly in fear for her husband's life, when the king demands she come to him. She can't say no to the king, but I don't believe that she wanted to be with David. I choose to believe she loved Uriah and felt terribly guilty for this adultery. Perhaps I am wrong. However, I see no reason to condemn Bathsheba, and I do feel bad for her. It could be interesting to write the story from her perspective, perhaps in biblical times, or perhaps in the modern world. I would like to keep her loyal if I did though.
Esther was such an amazing woman, and she deserves the book named after her. She was beautiful, but I think it was her kindness and gentleness which caused people to like her. She could have been beautiful, but a horrid person, like Vashti. However, she was kind and people noticed. I also love how this is basically the origination of the bachelor, except with many, many more candidates. A story about a competition for a man's heart is always a fun one to write, and I could even switch it around and make Esther a man. I also love Esther's compassion. She was in a place where she could have ignored her people and lived her life in luxury. But instead, she chose to use her new status to save her people. It was incredibly brave to do, as she could have been killed along with them. I love that this story is not simply one where a beautiful girl becomes a queen, but also where she uses her power to help people and to do good. 

The story of Susanna is one I have never heard before. I found myself rooting for Susanna, and getting upset when she was pronounced guilty. I admire her piety and her loyalty to God and her husband. It would be hard to accept death, but she does it knowing she is innocent. This is a really beautiful story.
I love the story of Elisabeth and Mary, because it shows two women in very different situations-one very old and one very young-who were both blessed with children. I believe it is because of their faith and obedience in God that caused them to be blessed. I wish we could know more about these women, because they seem so amazing. Perhaps I could write a story about one or both of them.
Herodias was an extremely crazy woman it would seem. I could possibly understand her anger at John the Baptist. However, asking for a man's head seems to be the request of a morbid person. It seems almost ridiculous that her daughter would go along with it and give her mother John's head. This is a very odd story indeed.
Martha and Mary were some interesting women in the Bible. I can understand Martha's irritation that her sister is being very unhelpful. But while she was stressing about, trying to make things perfect, Mary chose to relax and enjoy Jesus' teachings, and I think she found the true reward. Later, when their brother dies, again Martha tries to impress Jesus even in her grief by telling him she has faith, and so she may. However, Mary is much more transparent with Jesus, and in a way blames him. I think this passage shows that while Martha outwardly appeared to be the more godly one, Mary internally understood Jesus more. I love these two sisters and I think it would be cool to write about them, though I am not sure what I would write. Perhaps a story of a brother dying, and the sisters' grief. 

All in all, I have a lot of ideas, and it will be difficult to chose what to write about for tomorrow's story. 

"Bible Women," the Bible. Source link: Part B

Image 1 information: "Queen Esther" by Verena (verrykt), 2009. Web source: DeviantArt
Image 2 information: "Mary Has Chosen What is Better" by Anna (christadaelia), 2013. Web source: DeviantArt

Reading Notes: Bible Women Part A

For this week's unit, I chose to read about women of the Bible. This is something I've actually been wanting to do for quite some time, so I was very excited to find a unit specifically for that. I want to look at the characters of the women, so that is what I will be mostly focusing on. It all begins with Eve, the first woman. Many people blame Eve for bringing sin into the world, but not many stop to think that Adam was standing right with her, watching as the serpent tricked her and willingly eating the fruit with her. Eve was a woman who thought she deserved more than what was given to her, even though she was given the world (and so did Adam). I find Eve fascinating because she was the first woman and because even though she messed up, she was still able to bring so much life to the world. It is always interesting to write about women being deceived. 

The story of Sarah and Isaac is such a sweet story. She's a woman who all her life longed for a child, and abandoned all hope of having one, and then God brings her such joy with Isaac.
The story of Hagar has always had my sympathies. She never asked to be abused and mistreated. Through it all, God still had a plan for her. I love this story because even when Sarah didn't trust God and tried to do things her own way, he was still able to use Hagar and still cared for her. It would be interesting to write about a servant who was mistreated (though there are many stories about that).
In the passage about Rebekah, she is completely chill throughout this whole passage. Perhaps this was the norm in biblical times for a random man to meet a girl and ask him to marry his master. He noticed her because of her compassion for others, which is a truly admirable trait. I could write a story similar to this, maybe the girl is willing, maybe she is not.
The story of Rachel and Leah is such a complicated and fascinating one. I admire so much Jacob's love for Rachel that he would work seven years for her, which is why it is so unjust that he is tricked. On the other hand, my heart hurts for Leah, who even though she was older, always came second to Rachel, especially when it came to the love of her husband. Leah deserved to be loved just as Rachel was. I could perhaps write a story about this, but in my story, Leah finds love.
Potiphar's wife is one of the first examples of an ungodly, seductive woman. She was not even worthy of a name mentioned because she was so deceitful.
The story of Jephthah's daughter is another one of an unnamed woman, except this woman is deserving of one. I cannot completely understand this story, and I very much wish that it ended like the story of Abraham and Isaac. However, Jephthah's daughter was so brave and loyal that she did not fight her father or run away, but she accepted her fate. It is truly a tragic story, and one I would definitely rewrite for a better ending.
Delilah is another example of a deceitful woman. Samson certainly had his faults, however he loved Delilah and she betrayed him (although I must question Samson's judgment for he should have realized her deceit). Delilah is not a strong woman, but one who is easily cohered into doing what others want her to do.
The story of Hannah is very similar to the story of Rachel, however Hannah seems much more devoted to God than Rachel. She is completely faithful and pours out her hear to God and then trusts that he will deliver. I have much sympathy for Hannah and I rejoice in her happiness. This happy story would be a great one to rewrite, perhaps in today's society. 

"Bible Women" Source link: Part A
Image 1 information: Posted on Joe Ortiz' blog, 2014. Web source: Son of Encouragement
Image 2 information: "Woman Praying," Author unknown, 2011. Web source: Wikipedia Commons