The Abduction

The beginning of this story is based off of Changeling stories. In original changeling stories, there are fairies that steal an infant and replace it with one of their own. The replacement baby is called the 'changeling.' The parents of the stolen baby, usually the mother, almost instantly realize that the child has been replaced because the changeling throws fits, is constantly hungry, crying, needy, etc. Naturally, the mother is freaked out and asks for help from a fellow farmer(s), another mother, etc., who tell her how to get her baby back. In order to get the biological child back, the parent(s) must follow the special instructions, which typically involves holding or throwing the changeling into a fire. There are different variations of the special instructions, which you can refer to Ashliman's essay for a Changeling story. The point to understand is that they need to get the changeling to cry by putting it in danger, which gets the attention of the other fairies. Once the task is done, the fairies come to rescue their baby and give back the one they stole.

In "The Stolen Child's Perspective," however, I have changed it to where the parents are unaware that their baby has been taken. So, the monster (Klepto) is stuck with the child she stole. I also provide some information about the party that grows longer and louder every year. I give this detail because it highlights some of the major characteristics of the changeling's environment, which is perfect for a self-indulging creature. The goal of this story is to give the reader a different perspective of a changeling story through observing the stolen child's experiences with his abductor. I added in a twist by developing a mother-child relationship between Klepto and Octopian, which brings up some internal conflict for both of them. I wanted to reveal Klepto's true personality, that she will do anything to keep her secret safe, and she does so by manipulating Octopian with rhyming songs based on made-up events. I chose to create rhyming songs because I think they are fun and, hopefully, help the reader stay engaged and intrigued.

Octopian's Escape

For the second story I used some ideas from the Brothers Grimm's, Rapunzel. The story of Rapunzel is about how a father is forced by an enchantress' condition to trade his daughter for the rampion (rapunzel) flowers he stole to help cure his wife's illness. When the girl turns twelve, the old had locks her away in a tower with a window as the only entrance/exit, secluding her from everyone and everything until a prince stumbles upon the tower. The old hag becomes angry when she finds out the girl is no longer a secret, so she banishes Rapunzel to a desert. Then she tricks the prince, resulting in him going blind; however, the prince and Rapunzel are reunited, he magically regains his eyesight, and they live happily ever after. Something that just happens to be the same in Rapunzel and The Abduction is how the enchantress and Klepto name 'their' baby.

Although there are recurring themes, I would like to outline some of the differences in my story. To start, Octopian's parents did not willingly exchange their child. Klepto successfully captures and holds Octopian locked away from the rest of the world. Similar to Rapunzel Klepto also tells Octopian lies, trying to keep him oblivious to his situation. However, Octopian soon figures out her ways. Unlike the original story of Rapunzel, when the young girls is disowned and forced to live in a desert, I decided to have Octopian trick Klepto into coming in the room so he could kill her. Honestly, the only reason I had him do this was because I thought the room filling with ink would be a good use of imagery as well as creating a use for one of Octopian's artifacts.

Cnidaria

This story is inspired by the Grimm Brothers' tale, Rumpelstiltskin. In Rumpelstiltskin, there is a miller who wants to make a good impression on the king, so he tells him that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The king takes the girl to the castle and for three nights he locks her in a different room, each night the new is room bigger than the last. He gives the girl a spinning wheel and fills the room up with straw, expecting her to spin it into gold by morning. Each night, the miller's daughter weeps and Rumpelstiltskin arrives with an offer to turn the straw into gold in exchange for various items. On the third day, the king tells the girl that he will make her queen if she can do the task one last time; however, when the little man arrives, she has nothing left to give, so she must promise him her first-born child. Rumple returns to the queen after the child is born. He gives her an ultimatum, to guess his name within three nights or she must give up the child. Each day, the queen sent out her messenger to search for obscure names. On the last day, the queen's messenger stumbles upon Rumple dancing around a fire as he sings a chant that reveals his name. The story ends when the queen "guesses" his name on her last try. Then, Rumple throws a tantrum, causing him to die in a strange, self-destructive way (you should at least go read the end of the Rumple story, it took me a minute to conceptualize his death).

Rumpelstiltskin belongs to a type of folktale stories that are known as, "the name of the helper." For my story, I wanted to keep most of the original plot line the same so it could be recognized, however, there are a few differences. One of the major changes is that I reveal the helper's name to Octopian in the beginning. I chose to do this because Cnidaria captures Octopian and there is not a messenger. Other differences are that I swapped both of the characters' genders and both help each other. I needed to add in a story of how Cnidaria ended up caught in the net, as well tie-in Octopian's goal to get to the party, so I created the part with Cnidaria's brother and the sea turtle. Cnidaria's brother and the sea turtle are not characters that are important for the end and, unless I can find some way to bring them back, they will not return.

The links that I provide for you are things that I came across when working on this project. The first in this story is a reference to 'sole.' I am using it in two ways: Cnidaria wants to steal Octopian's 'soul,' but there is also a type of fish called 'sole,' which happens to look like a fish's 'soul.' Next, you will find the link to the 'Canaries Current *.' This is actually divided into two separate links: 'Canaries Current' will bring you to the wikipedia page and the '*' will bring you to a google maps location of the Canary Islands. I chose this current because we know that Octopian is coming from the Puerto Rico Trench and that the kingdom is somewhere in the North Atlantic ocean. So, the idea is that the jellyfish use the currents as a 'highway' and the net causes them to 'miss their exit.' The Canaries current moves from the northeast down towards the southwest, an ideal trajectory to place Cnidaria some where between the kingdom and Octopian. Also, the wikipedia page says that it is a "...wind driven surface current," so I thought it made sense because it's possible that jellyfish and a net would drift near the surface.

Fin

This story is influenced by a story in the Alice in Wonderland Unit called "Down the Rabbit Hole" by Lewis Carroll. I only took a bit from this story. The creature in my story that replaces the rabbit in Carroll's story in a Marlin. I chose this fish because they are one of the fastest in the sea. Then, I have Octopian follow the mysterious character, who leads him to the crevice in a rock. The crevice is supposed to be similar to the rabbit hole, except Octopian does not really travel to a different world. Instead, I was hoping to make it understood that, for Octopian, this kingdom was a whole new, magical world. Everything else that follows is an original story.

I know that it seemed cruel in the end to capture the changeling and enslave him. However, the imposter was aware that he was not the real son. Also, in original changeling stories, the babies are given back to their rightful families; however, in my story, the changeling's parent is dead, so there is nothing that can save him.

Finally, I thought it would be a nice touch to have Octopian give the changeling Klepto's beak. To me, it is a symbol of what will happen to the changeling if he were to try to escape. Plus, there needed to be something that helped everyone tell the two apart, otherwise, it might be possible to mix them up again.