Week 2 Story: The beautiful Ugly

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On the Island of Ceylon there existed an island of She-Goblins. This was not always so, the She-Goblins were once the most kindest, beautiful, and giving souls on the earth and were memorable because they gave beautiful gifts, for no reason at all. 

They were mermaids, and they would come to shore to bring gifts and delights and give them to the island’s inhabitants. Creating happiness, and spreading love, fulfilled them.

Once, long ago, those inhabitants were Fairies. The fairies were small, trickster-minded creatures, and never seemed to be satisfied. The Fairies never thought that the mermaids brought enough gifts and delights to give around to all, and always asked for more. Most importantly, the Fairies wanted the mermaids to bring special gifts for their beautiful, magical white horses. 

 However, the Mermaids felt they always gave plenty and so they asked their Queen Mermaid to speak with the King Fairy. “How can you ask for more and more, when we give so much already?” the Queen Mermaid asked plainly. “Because it is simply not enough!” the King Fairy exclaimed. Noticing the King’s irritation, and not wanting to jostle him further, the Queen waited for him to elaborate. “If you mermaids do not give us more gifts and more delights, then we will curse you all to land, and turn your beauty into horror!” The Queen Fairy did not like, nor believe his threats, and so she simply left, and told her mermaids to continue with business as before.

The King Fairy saw her dismissal and was so angry that he sent his magical white horses to turn all the mermaids into land roaming She-Goblins.

                                                                                                                  

Little did he realize though, that the mermaids were able to capture the magical white horses, and keep them for their own. Once they were on land as now the hideous creatures of She-Goblins, they used the horse’s powers to run off all the Fairies. The mermaids tried many, many times to use the horse’s powers to ward off their curse, and return to the sea as beautiful kind, and giving mermaids. But this was not to be.

Until, one day a ship wrecked on their island, and they met human beings for the very first time.

How interesting they were! What odd creatures they seemed! The She-Goblins kept their distance the first day of their ship-wreck and once night fell, they decided they were harmless, and introduced themselves. “What if they run away because of how we look?” many She-Goblins asked? Although they were no longer mermaids and looked horrendously ugly, they still had their kind, giving souls on the inside, and they were worried about causing the humans distress. After a short vote the mermaids decided to show themselves to the humans. To their surprise, the humans were shocked, and stunned to silence when the She-Goblins emerged from the trees. They didn’t scream or runaway at all! Rather, all at once, the human’s faces broke into great, big smiles. They began to speak, and eventually woo the She-Goblins, to the confusion of the women. Many married off into pairs!

Eventually, the Queen She-Goblin asked the Captain of the humans, “what do you see when you look at me, how come you are not distressed?” This question perplexed the Captain, but he answered anyway. “Why, I see long, flowing golden hair, I see big oval-shaped brown eyes, I see a woman that is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen! But most importantly, I see a magnificently kind and selfless heart and soul.” The Queen She-Goblin didn’t know what to say. He had just described her as she looked when she was the Queen Mermaid!

After asking all the men what all the women looked like and hearing similar answers, the She-Goblins had to question whether they were She-Goblins at all. They decided as a unity, that if other creatures saw them as mermaids still, then it must be only themselves that see each other as the ugly She-Goblins.  With this knowledge, they decided not to refer to each other as She-Goblins, and to imagine their outside features were still just as beautiful as their hearts and souls. For they now knew this to be true, instead of allowing their ugliness to create ugly behavior they were able to have a harmonious and lovely relationships with the humans. They were still happy, and satisfied with who they were on the inside. And that was more important to them.

Authors Notes: I liked the idea of turning the villains into the heroines of the story. A course that caused the original story hero to be the villain in my story. I think I chose to do this, because I am often sympathetic towards those who make bad choices. It does not matter how awful the crime, I find myself wondering, "what happened to this person, that they have walked down this path?". I will agree with the justice they meet, but I will still slightly ache for the person they could have been, versus what they turned out to be. So I wanted the She-Goblins to know that they didn't have to be as ugly as they appeared, and they were able to choose to lead their lives as if they were still beautiful creatures.

Bibliography:  The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse. Web Source.

She-Goblins-Sketch Port.

Mermaid - Max Pixel