Once upon a time, before war, killing, and anger, there was no hate. Everyone lived in harmony and love in celebration of each other. Back then, humans embraced the differences among themselves. This was all before hate entered the world. The Great Spirit of love spread his knowledge to a scholar, Jonathan-- a leader of the people who spread moral values and lessons of how to maintain good intentions and love in the great society of imperfect humans.
As Jonathan got older, he was frail and eventually, time came for his death. The Great Spirit recruited a more subtle messenger to fill the role of the leader of love before he chose a noble enough human. The messenger lived in the forest so Jonathan, too weak to make this journey, assigned his pet snake to meet the messenger and hand him a book which was filled with everything there was to know about how to love. Jonathan told his snake. "There is a single cherry blossom in the forest. You are to go there and wait. The small messenger will approach you, and you will hand him the book for him to be the messenger of love into the world."
The snake was eager to fulfill his owner's last wishes. He went out into the forest and found the only cherry blossom. He arrived and patiently waiting doing everything as he was instructed to do for Jonathan. As he was waiting, coiled up onto one of the branches, the snake saw his dinner-- a small mouse just below. The snake swallowed the mouse in one strike, and snuck back up into the tree where the book of love was to continue to wait.
At once, the sky turned dark, and The Great Spirit shouted out of anger. "What have you done?" The snake replied. "Don't worry. I have the book that I am giving to the messenger. He will be here soon." It was then revealed that the mouse was the messenger. The human population then felt feelings for eachother they never had before manifested by the blossoms falling from the tree and traveling through air upon the villages. They felt anger, hurt, prejudice, racism, jealousy, and hate fill their hearts. And that is how hate entered into the world.
Author's Note: This is a retelling of the story, How Sickness Entered the World. I decided to change the subject of entering the world from sickness to hate because I found that more relevant to modern day society. With medicine and technology, our generation has overcome many infectious diseases and sickness most of the time is a result of unhealthy lifestyles. Additionally, sickness contradicted with the fact that the wise old man was dying. I used the tree, a Cherry Blossom, to create more imagery and symbolism, because this tree symbolizes love traditionally. I hope you enjoy!
Bibliography: B. Burrough, Tejas Legends, How Sickness Entered the World (link)
As Jonathan got older, he was frail and eventually, time came for his death. The Great Spirit recruited a more subtle messenger to fill the role of the leader of love before he chose a noble enough human. The messenger lived in the forest so Jonathan, too weak to make this journey, assigned his pet snake to meet the messenger and hand him a book which was filled with everything there was to know about how to love. Jonathan told his snake. "There is a single cherry blossom in the forest. You are to go there and wait. The small messenger will approach you, and you will hand him the book for him to be the messenger of love into the world."
The snake was eager to fulfill his owner's last wishes. He went out into the forest and found the only cherry blossom. He arrived and patiently waiting doing everything as he was instructed to do for Jonathan. As he was waiting, coiled up onto one of the branches, the snake saw his dinner-- a small mouse just below. The snake swallowed the mouse in one strike, and snuck back up into the tree where the book of love was to continue to wait.
At once, the sky turned dark, and The Great Spirit shouted out of anger. "What have you done?" The snake replied. "Don't worry. I have the book that I am giving to the messenger. He will be here soon." It was then revealed that the mouse was the messenger. The human population then felt feelings for eachother they never had before manifested by the blossoms falling from the tree and traveling through air upon the villages. They felt anger, hurt, prejudice, racism, jealousy, and hate fill their hearts. And that is how hate entered into the world.
Cherry Blossom, Wikipedia
Author's Note: This is a retelling of the story, How Sickness Entered the World. I decided to change the subject of entering the world from sickness to hate because I found that more relevant to modern day society. With medicine and technology, our generation has overcome many infectious diseases and sickness most of the time is a result of unhealthy lifestyles. Additionally, sickness contradicted with the fact that the wise old man was dying. I used the tree, a Cherry Blossom, to create more imagery and symbolism, because this tree symbolizes love traditionally. I hope you enjoy!
Bibliography: B. Burrough, Tejas Legends, How Sickness Entered the World (link)
Hey Shary!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this story a lot I really also enjoyed how you switched up the story. I think you are so spot on when you talk about how hate is more relevant with today’s society. I feel that there is a bunch of anger directed at different kinds of people for no reason. I love that you used a Cherry Blossom tree, because I have always thought of those trees as peaceful and warm. Overall, I thought you did a great job and cannot wait to read more of your stories.
Hi Shary,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to take a story about sickness and reframe it as a sort of “moral sickness” — so many myths seem to cast disease in a moral, spiritual, or supernatural light, so it’s a great fit and leads to some very interesting places.
Just a technical note: maybe give a tab or a full blank line before each of your paragraphs? It’ll help make the structure of your prose clearer, I think.
Best,
A.M.
Hi Shary! The title of your story instantly drew me into your writing. Like you mentioned in your author's note, I think the topic of hate and all that is it associated with is important to discuss and relevant to the current world. I really liked the imagery of a cherry blossom, something that we usually find beautiful when its leaves are falling, represent the entry and dispersion of vile emotions across the world. Great job!
ReplyDeleteShary! This was for sure more relatable to society and I think you took a great direction with this story. I think your imagery was very powerful and it was unique as well. Your descriptors were great and I felt as if I could see the story being played out in my head. The cherry blossom tree aspect was brilliant, and I think you used it perfectly. Great story!
ReplyDeleteHi Shary! The imagery that you used in this story was wonderful- it made it so easy for me to really picture in my mind what was happening and understand what was going on. Then, getting to see the actual picture of the tree allowed me to match what I was picturing with what you, the author, intended readers to see. Overall, great job Shary!
ReplyDeleteHi Shary!
ReplyDeleteI loved this story! Just from reading the title, I was very intrigued. I didn't realize how different it was from the original until I read the author's note. I like you changed the theme from sickness to hate. Like you said, hate, along with things like racism, prejudice, and jealousy, are definitely more relevant to modern society. It was also clever how you made blossoms falling from the cherry blossom tree symbolize hate entering the world. Great story! I'm excited to read more from you!
Hi Shary!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your story! I knew that I would like it just based on the creativity of the title, and I was not disappointed at all. I like that you maintained the same plot points as the original story, but changed the theme of it. You are a wonderful writer and used plenty of detail to make the story interesting! I can't wait to read more!