Yamato

I really hate taking baths. Surely there has to be an easier way to clean ourselves than to make me walk all the way out to this remote little bay. Then again, who am I to question the traditions that have been so for as long as anyone can remember. I'm sure my ancestor, the Sun-Goddess Amaterasu, knew of better ways to bathe, but I don't get to talk to them, so here we go again. At least this water is really refreshing and the fresh air does make me feel a little better. Now that I've cleaned up, this really wasn't such a bad idea. I needed a little me time, so I'm going to enjoy this as much as I can. I'm going to sit on this rock for a while and just enjoy the sun.

Hey, who's that in the water over there? That looks like a mermaid! I've never met a mermaid before. Look at the way her tail sparkles like sapphires in the sunlight. I'm going to go introduce myself.

"Hey there, I'm Yamato. I was just relaxing on the rocks over there and couldn't help but notice you. You look quite stunning. What's your name?"

*the mermaid leaps off the rock and swims away*

Oh shoot, I scared her. Wait! No! Come back! I just wanted to say hi. Darn it, maybe I can find where she swam off to. I have to find her. There's got to be a cave entrance around here somewhere.

*Yamato swims around the cove looking for signs of the mermaid*

Darn, I couldn't find anything. I have no choice but to come back here as often as I can in hopes of seeing that beautiful creature once again...

*some time passes*

Well, it's been a while since I saw her and I probably won't see her again, so I might as well get married to this princess now. This has been arranged for a while, but I can't put it off any more...

*after the wedding*

Alright, I need to talk with whoever planned the route between our wedding and honeymoon. I like this whole carriage ride idea here, they even let my steed tag along, but I need to talk with whoever decided to go through this creepy forest right next to the old, run-down castle. The forest part is alright I guess...wait. What's all this commotion? Oh great, there are some armed bandits coming towards us. At least we have some armed guards for just this scenario...who have run away. Great. If I see them again, I'm personally beheading each of them. Well, looks like it's time for me to earn my keep. This fight will be easier on my horse, but where did I put my sword?

*Yamato begins fighting off the bandits*

Man, it's been a while since I killed this many people. I forgot how tiring this can be when it draws on. My sword arm is getting a bit sore. I wonder if I could take them on with my off hand. Oh well, at least I'm looking super manly in front of my new wife. This is going to go over great toni..OOF.

Ow, that hit kinda hurt. I think I found their leader. I need to get up so I can kill him too. Oh, awesome, my horse decided to die on top of me. This could take a while to get out of, but I'm feeling a little tired. I think I'll just close my eyes for a quick nap before I go rescue my wife from that bandit leader.

*Yamato loses consciousness*

It's been a crazy few weeks for me. For a while, I thought I loved a mermaid I barely ever met and will probably never see again. I actually get married to this princess who I have known long enough to actually love. Speaking of which, where is she? I remember she was sitting next to me in the carriage as we left for the honeymoon. Then we were going through those woods, then what happened? Right, the bandits happened. I remember I got hit pretty hard, I must've passed out. Oh, I see those worthless guards I had finally did something, even if it was only recover my unconscious body and take it to these medics.

I can't stay here long. I have to rescue my wife.

Author's Note: This story is based on The Labors of Yamato: The Rescue of the Princess from the Japanese Mythology section of the readings in week 7. I didn't change the plot or setting. This time I wanted to try changing the perspective it was told from. I acted as though I was Yamato and recorded his thoughts throughout the process of the story. Stream of consciousness is what I'm going for. Currently, my biggest complaint about the story is that it doesn't read well. If you don't know the story coming into this, then I don't do a very good job of filling in the plot. I am really looking for suggestions on how to improve this problem, especially if you haven't read the story yet. One major issue is that the story from the reading really ends right there. I wasn't sure if that's how I wanted to end or if I wanted to go a little further into the story, so let me know what you think. When I wrote this, I was mainly interested in trying out the new style of writing, and thus don't have a good grip on it yet. As such, I would also appreciate suggestions on how to write in this style.

Bibliography: The Romance of Old by E. W. Champney and F. Champney Link

A statue of Yamato in Osaka.