The little girl was happy.
It was always a fun time when she and her brothers could walk upright on two legs and dance and sing. This was their time, time that belonged only to them.
As the only female, her brothers had demanded that she be the one to look out for their mother. They knew eventually they should probably reveal to their mom that they had human forms, not just dog forms, but for now they wanted to keep this to themselves. It was their secret, only shared with their siblings. Sometimes she could convince one of her brothers to keep watch for a bit so she could dance, but today she was content to just watch.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t noticed that her mother hadn’t moved in several minutes, and so everyone was surprised when their mother came bursting in. She chastised them for never showing that they could change into human form, and insisted that they couldn’t become dogs anymore. The little girl and her siblings were upset for a while, but then got over it. At least in human form they were taller, and if they occasionally changed into their dog form when their mom wasn’t around… Well, what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
The little girl knew their history, that her father was a shapeshifter who lived as a dog by day, then would turn into a man at night. When her mother had gotten pregnant, her parents, out of shame, abandoned her and convinced the village to move away. Her mother had given birth alone, and raised the girl and her brothers alone. Her father was dead, killed by her grandfather before they left.
Now that the girl and her brothers stayed in human form all the time, their mother started to teach them how to hunt, and her brothers proved to be highly successful at this. The girl kept the house while her brothers were out, and helped deconstruct their kills. When they became successful at whale hunting, she would take the fat and treat it for household use.
When they had a visiter, the girl knew who it was. Her mother had told them how Crow had helped her when she was abandoned, leaving a few embers that could be coaxed into a fire. Now Crow had come to investigate what was the source for all the dead whales on the beach.
The girl and her brothers gave Crow all the food she could eat, but it was the girl’s idea to not let Crow take anything with her. She wanted some privacy for her family for just a little longer, before their existence was revealed. But Crow managed to smuggle some whale meat back to the village, and once the village learned that the brothers were such good hunters, they decided to move back and allow the brothers to be their chiefs.
The girl was okay with this. After all, now they had more protection, and she had people to talk to that weren’t related to her. But sometimes she missed the days when it was just her and her brothers, dancing in human form before becoming dogs again.
Author’s note: This isn’t my best work, but oh well. While it’s specifically mentioned in the story that there are four boys and one girl, after the mother discovers that her children can have human form, she isn’t mentioned again. The focus is on her brothers and their great ability to hunt. I thought it would be interesting to look at how the girl felt about everything.
4 comments:
Madison, I thought your story was very fun to read and I enjoyed reading it a lot! I like the flow of the story and I thought it was laid out and flowed very nicely. The shapeshifting ability you gave the characters was really cool. I also liked that you put it from the girl's perspective. Since she was the only girl child it added a different perspective then from the boy's perspective, especially because the girl was looked down upon.
Hey Madison,
I remember reading this story and finding it so strange--I never even noticed that the girl is not mentioned again but, now that you point this out, it is a bit strange that she just disappears from the story. Great job bringing her back into the fold and exploring this ignored character--I had actually forgotten that there even was a girl! Your writing style is clean and neat and I have no criticism there--great work!
Hey Madison.
I thought this was an interesting story, though pretty sad. I feel bad for the kids and the mom. I do have a question. Is the mother a human or dog? Either way, I feel so bad for her, with her kids keeping their shape-shifting a secret and all. I hope that they all ended up with a happy ending. Good job with this story, I found it unique and well written.
I hope you have a good rest of this semester. Good luck with finals!
Ann
Hey Madison,
I really thought this story, though very sad, was really masterfully told! I read this source story for fun during Week 11, and I was really intrigued and confused by it. I really liked how you brought her into the story and made a brand new story by incorporating a seemingly forgotten character. Great job, and good luck the rest of this semester.
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