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Author's Note:
While I was reading the stories from the African Unit titled "African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books" written by Andrew Lang, I was able to find many of them were about heroic characters or clever characters and I really enjoyed learning about the different kingdom and people that these stories were about. This story is based primarily off of the story of Hassebu. Hassebu was a boy who couldn't learn any useful practices, but was able to read. One day his mother sent him off with some lumberjacks to cut and sell wood so that he could make some money. Hassebu's father was a renowned doctor in the city and Hassebu wanted to be one as well. After getting taken advantage of and left to die by the lumberjacks, Hassebu came across a king who was able to change his life forever. This story is about a boy named Copper and how he was able to save his kingdom after a war broke out between his kingdom and a nearby kingdom. The story shows how at one point, Copper could only help his father a little, but then after meeting a strange man who mysteriously gave him powers, he was able to become the hero of the story. Hope you enjoy it!
Bibliography: Andrew Lang, The Orange Fairy Book, Hassebu
In the kingdom of Anvil lived a boy who went by the name of Copper. Copper was the youngest kid in his family, having one older brother whose name was Nickel, who went by Nick, and one older sister whose name was Diamond. Nick was one of the members of the King's army and Diamond mainly stayed at home and learned housekeeping responsibilities from her mother. Copper's father was a craftsman and worked in a forge building swords for King Platee's enormous army. Copper's mother was a stay at home mom, who was at one point a teacher, but now stayed home and did homeschooling with the kids. When Copper was eight years old, there was a large war that broke out between the kingdom of Anvil and the nearby kingdom of Hammer. Copper, who loved to see his dad's swords, began helping his father in his forge in order to make enough swords to supply King Platee's army.
One day when Copper and his father were working in the forge, a group of soldiers came in and said to Copper, "Son, what are you doing in such a dangerous place? You could be seriously burned or even die!"
Copper's father responded, "He has been working in the forge with me for quite some time, and I need all the help I can get."
They went about their business, but this encounter left Copper a little distressed. All this time he had thought that what he was doing was fun and didn't consider the fact that making swords was dangerous at all.
The war that was taking place between these two kingdoms was over resources, and primarily lumber. Lumber was used to make all the buildings in both kingdoms and to provide warmth in homes in the form of fire. Copper's father also used the lumber, along with some gunpowder to keep his forge running hot, so that he could forge the metal to create swords with. The kingdom of Hammer had a plentiful amount of lumber and was not willing to share with the Kingdom of Anvil. Anvil's largest resources were crops and other food items, which they had always been gracious enough to share with the other kingdoms.
The war had been happening for several years and Copper's brother Nick, was finally sent off to fight. After a few weeks of fighting, Nick returned home but was greatly injured. He had only one remaining limb, and was extremely damaged from the intense battle field. Copper took note of this and tried to stay busy helping his father in the shop so that they could take care of Nick at home.
On his way home one day, Copper stopped by a marketplace that he liked to get food from, and he went into his favorite restaurant to get a meal. When he walked in, he noticed no one was working in the front. He decided to go into the back-kitchen area, and found only one worker there, but it wasn't one of the regular workers. In fact, Copper had never seen this man before in his life.
The strange man looked down at Copper and said, "What brings you here, little child?"
Copper stated, "I was wanting to get some food, but it looks like there is only one of you here, so if it's too much trouble, I can go elsewhere."
The man looked back at him and said, "I have something greater than food to offer you." The man then reached for a book, which Copper had thought to have been a cookbook, and handed it to the boy.
Copper said, "What is this?"
The man responded, "This is the answer to the war..."
Copper was immediately into the idea as he remembered how badly the war had effected his own family. He took the book and ran home as quick as the wind.When he got home, he opened the book. It was filled with weird symbols and rituals that ancient sorcerers once used. He found one titled, "The Eternal Flame," and quickly began reading it.
Over the next several weeks, Copper returned back to help in his father's shop, and thought nothing of the book that he was given. The kingdom had almost completely run out of lumber, and both Copper and his father knew that within the next day or so, they would be completely unable to make any more weapons. That was until one day, when Copper was reaching for a red-hot piece of metal and his father yelled, "
Be careful, Copper, that one will be very hot, for it has been in the fire for quite some time now!" Copper looked at the glowing red piece of metal and picked it up. He felt nothing though.
The hot metal didn't burn him at all, and he yelled back at his father,
"Are you sure? I was able to pick it up with my bare hands."
Upon hearing this, Copper's father quickly ran over to see what the child was talking about and he saw that his son had truly picked the metal up with his bare hands. His father was stumbled, and amazed. Copper then remembered the book the strange man had given him.
He looked at his father and said, "Father, I know how to stop the war!"
The powers that Copper had received from the the book went further than just touching hot objects and not being burned by them. Copper was able to create fire without using any lumber. His father took him to the King and showed him what the boy could do, and the King praised Copper and his father and said, "The war is ended! We have an eternal fire!" Copper used his powers to create a furnace system that could generate enough heat to be distributed to the entire kingdom. Once this had happened, the war was ended, and the Kingdom of Anvil no longer sent food to the Hammer Kingdom, and eventually, the Hammer Kingdom fell. This brought immense happiness to Copper, as he realized he had saved so many from the horrors that he had seen the war do to his own brother.
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