Juliana's Joy

Once upon a time, in the enchanted forest of Nicomedia, lived a beautiful girl named Juliana. Juliana was a very kind girl who often attended church cared deeply about others. One day at dinner, Juliana's father explained to her that he has arranged for her to be married to the Duke, Eugene, who Juliana had never met. Juliana was unsure about marrying the Duke, but she agreed to meet with him to honor her fathers wishes.

Upon meeting Eugene, Juliana found that he was very rude and nasty to his people. Juliana, being the caring girl that she was, knew that she could not be married to someone so cruel or unkind. Nearing the end of their first date, Juliana informed Eugene that she would only be his wife if he changed his ways to be kind to people. Leaving Eugene in a state of shock, Juliana began the long ride back to her family's cottage.

Upon Juliana's arrival home her father grew extremely angry with her behavior towards the Duke. Upset by the fact that she did not follow through with his plans, he demanded that Juliana return to Eugene the next day and agree to be his wife.

When she arrived at Eugene's home, she told him once again that if he did not start behaving kindly towards his people she would not marry him. Rather than changing the way he acts, Eugene grew angry at Juliana and demanded that she be sent to jail.

Though she found prison to be a dreadful place, Juliana found ways to enjoy it. She hummed songs and paid her respects to the spirit of the forest, whom she had a strong spiritual connection with.

On her third morning in prison, Juliana awoke to the sound of rocks pelting on the outside walls of her jail cell. Still angry that she will not marry him, Eugene hired the children of the village to throw rocks outside her wall to drive her crazy. Outside the kingdom's jail stood more than 100 children, throwing rocks, laughing, and taunting Juliana. It was enough to make any person feel mad.

However, Juliana's kind heart is protected by the spirit of the forest. Rather than hearing the sound of pelting rocks, the magic around her quickly tuned her ear to hear a joyful drum beat instead. Realizing how kind the forest had been to her for allowing her to find joy in this moment, she once again she was connected to and thankful for the great Spirit.

Eugene grew even more angry at Juliana's patience and decided to pit her against Nicomedia's most talented sword fighter. The day of the battle, Juliana was extremely anxious because she did not have any experience with fighting or weapons, she tried to live a peaceful life that was free from violence. The Duke arranged a grand event to showcase the fight and Juliana could feel thousands of eyes staring at her while she prepares for her brutal end. The crowd began counting down and Juliana grew more and more nervous.

However, Juliana's kind heart was protected again by the spirit of the forest. The crowd counted down to one and the battle began. However, a different kind of battle played out in front of the people of Nicomedia. Rather than drawing their swords, Juliana and her opponents could not resist the urge to DANCE. They began a gruesome dance battle which delighted all people present at the event- allowing them to see the fun they were missing out on under the rule of Duke Eugene.

Just a few short months later, Duke Eugene was removed from power and the Kingdom was much more cheerful because of it. Juliana found herself living in a small cottage near the library, where she continued to live a life of joy and caring for others.

Authors note:

This is my rewrite of the story of Saint Juliana. In this story, Juliana is set to marry a Pagan provost, but refuses to unless he converts to Catholicism. This angers the Provost and he devises many ways that he could kill her. Juliana did not lose faith and found that God saved her life in all of these scenarios. I really liked this story for a couple of reasons. For one, I really enjoyed the fact that the story features a girl who did not sway in her beliefs. I also like that it is not a love story in the end. I decided to change the religious basis of the story and change it to a fairy tale type instead. The main theme I wanted to highlight in this story was kindness and gentleness, which is a skill that all people need to learn and value for various reasons. It is also important to recognize that though Juliana was not a stereotypical tough girl hero, she was able to stand up for herself and her beliefs.