The old woman raised a wrinkled hand towards the approaching girl. As the man stared on in horror, a crack sounded from the sky, striking the lane. Where the girl once stood, a giant cloud of dust and smoke rose in tendrils towards the pair.
“No!” the man shouted, staring at the spot where his daughter once stood. He dropped to his knees, his crutch lay forgotten on the ground.
He looked at the woman now, knowing what she was and what she could do. However, his love for his daughter made him abandon caution.
Standing up on his crooked leg, he looked the witch in the eye, “Why did you have to kill my daughter? Your quarrel is with me, not her!”
The witch threw back her head, laughing. She said, “Oh, darling, she’s not dead! See for yourself.”
At this, the man looked back down to where his daughter once stood. As the dust cleared, the outline of a small creature became sharper, until the form became that of a small bird.
He turned back toward the witch, brows furrowed in incredulity, “Why would you do that? I told you I could pay you back once I had the money.”
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| Image of a witch silhouette by inky2010 |
Again, she laughed, eyes twinkling with glee. “I know. The deal still stands. Now you just have more incentive to return my money in a timely fashion.” She looked back at her work before continuing, “Besides, now you have another option: you can either pay me back or you can catch her and bring her back to me.”
The hopelessness the man had been feeling began fading at her words. ‘How hard would it be to catch his own daughter? Even with his leg, his daughter would not run from him,’ he thought.
He looked towards his daughter, now a turkey, on the path. She seemed to be pecking around in the grass, searching for food. Maybe she would run from him, if her mind had become that of an actual bird, but he had to try. This was his best chance of saving his daughter and himself, for a farmer would have to work for years to make the money necessary to pay the witch back.
Without looking behind him, he began hobbling down the hill, toward the faint “Gobble, gobble” coming from the road. As he approached, the turkey that had once been his eldest child began gobbling more insistently, before scurrying down the road.
Hobbling faster, he remembered his abandoned crutch at the top of the hill. He could not turn back and risk losing sight of his daughter. He would not rest until he reached her and brought her home.
Author’s Notes
ORIGINAL NURSERY RHYME
“The girl in the lane, that couldn't speak plain,
Cried, "Gobble, gobble, gobble."
The man on the hill, that couldn't stand still,
Went hobble, hobble, hobble.”
After reading this nursery rhyme, the only thing that I could think of was ‘Why would this girl sound like a turkey?’ so the next logical step was that she was a girl who had been turned into a turkey. The rest of the story just seemed to flow together because now the man cannot stand still until he catches up to his daughter. I just made up the third character because I needed a means for the girl to have been transformed into a turkey. Also, because there is a witch in this story, the title is kind of a play off of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. This rhyme can be found in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897). I had fun with this story and this assignment!
I like how you used the witch to explain why the girl would sound like a turkey and used the fact that the dad owed money as the reason for her to be turned into a turkey. Your story flowed very well and I think it was a great version of the original nursery rhyme. I also really liked how you were able to play off another title to create your own. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThat was great way to give a short nursery rhyme a body. I think your version is better than the original since each character has more to them. Not only your version is way easier to understand. The addition of the money sub plot was pretty cool to. why do you think the man borrowed so much from the witch?
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