A few days earlier, Anna’s evil stepmother’s servants had kidnapped her and left her in the forbidden forest all alone. Anna was the King’s daughter and was only thirteen years old at the time.
Almost five years earlier, Anna’s birth mother passed away and her father, the King of China, suddenly remarried an “evil witch” (as described by the young girl). Ever since the two married, Anna’s stepmother, Vicky, had always despised her husbands daughter.
The young, innocent girl could never figure out why her new stepmother despised her. Although she could never pinpoint the reason of her hatred, she was certain that she wasn’t making it up.
As a young girl, Anna remembers her stepmother constantly trying to hurt her. One time, her stepmother even tried to poison Anna, but accidentally poisoned her own son instead. It took a lot of effort for the princess to hold back her laughter in that specific scenario.
The worst part about the whole situation was that the King thought Anna was being a typical teenage girl and was making up these horrible stories to gain attention. She distinctly remembers him saying, “Oh, Anna… you have an imagination just like your mother did.”
As his little girl sat in the wilderness all alone, Anna wondered if her father would believe her “stories” now.
“Why would Anna run away?” asked the King. “She has everything that she could ever dream of right here!”
“It is okay, honey,” said Vicky calmly. “I am sure she will come around sooner or later.”
Without another word, the King sent his military to search the entire country. The troops were ordered to enter every house and to question anyone who looked suspicious. The military met as a group and decided to split up their search for the lost princess. Out of the entire Chinese military, there was only one man brave enough to search the Forbidden Forest. This man went by the name of Lyn.
Lyn was most commonly known for having no fear. He was a mighty warrior who was a master at sword fighting and archery. The warrior always wore his military uniform and was never caught without two swords in his hands. Needless to say, Lyn was up for any battle that came his way.
After searching for several hours, Lyn grew tired and took a break on a nearby tree stump. The warrior closed his eyes and began to drift off into a deep sleep. Only moments later Lyn heard a noise and jumped to his feet. Determined to kill any creature that came his way, Lyn drew his arrow and was aiming to kill.
Due to the blackness of night, Lynn could not see clearly. As he crept closer to the noise, he saw what looked like a forest dwarf. Lowering his arrow and clearing his eyes, he realized that the figure was not a dwarf… but was a little girl!
“I am the King’s loyal warrior,” yelled Lyn. “Please present yourself.”
Without saying a word, Anna appeared from behind a large willow tree.
Realizing who she was, Lynn swooped her up and took her back to the King’s castle immediately.
Upon their arrival, the King ran from the castle and swooped his little girl into his arms.
“My little princess,” exclaimed the King. “You are safe!”
With those words being said, Anna knew her father finally believed her stories because she never saw her stepmother again and lived happily ever after.
Author’s Note: My story idea came from the the Japanese Fairy Tale Unit that was written by Yei Theodora Ozaki. I got the idea of the “lost princess” from the story named The Story of Princess Hase. In the original story, a young girl had an evil stepmother. The stepmother tried to kill her a numerous amount of times. At the end of the story, she sent her into the wilderness and told her father that she had run away. I got the idea of a brave warrior from the story named My Lord Bag Of Rice. I loved the idea of having a brave warrior save a young child. At the end, I wanted the picture of the little girl running into her dads arms to reflect the way God searches after us no matter what situation we are in. In conclusion, I had a blast writing this story. All of the mystical creatures came from a variety of ancient Japanese fairy tales found in this unit.
Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales written by Yei Theodora Ozaki in 1905.
This was a really great story Matty! I love all different characters in this story such as the princess, the evil stepmother, the king and the brave warrior Lyn. This story had similar qualities as Cinderella with an evil stepmother who doesn't like the princess. I really enjoyed reading this story, keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw your picture I thought that maybe the forbidden forest wasn't so bad. Then I read the detail about how it was filled with intense creatures. Along with the fact that only the brave warrior Lyn would go in looking for the girl.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to find out why the step mother had such a hatred for the daughter.
You had good use of details in your story. I was also glad that in the end the king finally believe his daughter.
This was another great story. The part where you mentioned it was hard for Anna to keep in her laughter when the evil stepmom poisoned her own son, I actually didn't hold back and chuckled out loud. I loved that they had a happy ending, with the princess returning. Another great story, and I had a lot of fun reading it!
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