(Japanese mountains from Pixbay)
Dear Father,
I have
no way of having this letter sent to you, but there are some things on my mind
that I need to at least get out on paper. Maybe I will give this letter to you
when we are reunited. I’m not sure yet.
Before
her death, mother told me to always be an obedient child. She told me to be
submissive of my elders and kind to those less fortunate than I, and to always
behave. I think that she was very wise to teach me this, and I have tried as
hard as possible to follow these rules. But there are some cases in which an
elder may not deserve such nice treatment. For example, what if an elderly
woman tripped a child for no reason and laughed at him as he cried? Or what if
I had an older brother who would always bully me and never let me have peace?
In the past I have been a good girl in these kinds of situations. I would keep
silent and take whatever was dealt to me. I’m beginning to think that I should stop.
Mother wouldn’t have wished for me to be treated badly, right?
You are
a good and kind man, so I don’t think you would allow harm to come to me on
purpose. You have shown me nothing but love and I have no reason to distrust
you. But I can’t imagine what drew your new wife. Do you not see how cruel she
can be? She becomes enraged with jealous at every little accomplishment I make.
Remember when my little brother died? I saw the egotistical smirk on her face
when she brought the wine into the room, and the panic in her eyes when our
cups were switched around. I am very sure that she had poisoned the wine and
was trying to kill me that day.
And
now, I am living with step-mother’s servant and his wife in the middle of
nowhere. Why? Because he was asked to take me away and kill me because I had
behaved “badly.” In truth, I did nothing but succeed and make her jealous. Is
that so bad? I hope that I will be able to discuss this with you upon being
reunited. I just haven’t had the confidence to do so until now, and I’m not
sure I will later.
Love,
Your Daughter Hase-Hime
Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).
First of all, I love the title of your blog! In regard to your story, there's so much emotion within the written words of Hase-Hime. I feel that this represents a moment in which she's growing up, because she realizes that societal rules are not without fail. Having read your retelling, I wonder how old Hase-Hime is. In any case, very well-written!
ReplyDeleteYour story was really well written and interesting! I liked how you made Princess Hase-Hime show signs of character growth in the letter; she’s grown up a certain way but now has changed her mindset on life thanks to her experiences. It makes her a likeable character, even within a short story (or letter, in this case). Anyways, I enjoyed reading this!
ReplyDeleteI read this story on another person’s storybook project page. I liked both of your versions, but they are so different! In your story, she seems to really notice that this is not what her mother would have wanted for her. I didn’t know that the brother died from the step-mother poisoning him, which is really interesting. I really love the letter format of your story.
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