The Marsh King's Daughter
By H.D. Greaves
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About this ebook
The Marsh King's Daughter is one of Hans Christian Andersen's least known stories, but it is a good yarn and worth a wider audience, which is why I chose to dramatize it so long ago. The year was 1966, and this work developed because I had seen so much badly written and produced theatre for children. Most plays were condescending and filled with poorly constructed cardboard characters and inane dialogue.
This play honestly strives to tell a story that is exciting, funny, and terrifying, as well as compassionate, and it definitely does not talk down to children.
Unfortunately, because it calls for a large cast, extensive special effects, and a big production budget, it is my only play never produced. This presentation as an ebook is its first public outing.
For readers who are familiar with Andersen's story, you will find this play considerably changed from his original. For acceptance by contemporary audiences, I have omitted much that possibly would confuse or alienate children and adults. I’ve avoided, for instance, all of Andersen’s references to Medieval Christianity and its attendant mysticism: Vikings, Ancient Egyptians, Riddles, Magical Transformations, murder and mayhem being more than enough material to fill three brief acts.
Andersen also liked his heroines to die. Many of his best-loved stories have tragic endings (The Little Mermaid, The Red Shoes, The Little Match Girl), including The Marsh King’s Daughter. I chose to have Helga, his unlikely heroine, live.
H.D. Greaves
How about a story, a joke, a quip, a witty remark? H.D. Greaves, who lives in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, where he was born and raised, can give you all of those, as he does his good friends all the time. Indeed, he is well known for his outrageous sense of humour. Although he has travelled extensively, his island home has always held a special place in his heart. Now in his seventies, he continues to write new novels and short stories, as well as regaling his friends with his whimsical comments. He sings too! (To which his friends, with rolling eyes, say, "Oh, God, help us!") Fourteen of his books are now on Amazon Create Space Print on Demand hardcopy, for all readers who prefer holding a book in hand rather than reading ebooks via an ereader such as a Kindle or a Kobo or a Nook. These books can now be purchased in hardcopy through Amazon: MANDRAGORA - A Ribald and Irreverent Tale from the Italian Renaissance, has, since its publication as an ebook on Smashwords, has gained thus far five excellent reviews (on Amazon/Kindle), as well as a fine critique on The Podler Review of Books. An outrageous satirical comedy, it continues to delight readers with its wit, sexual situations, and sleazy characters. OF BLISS AND GRANTED WISHES - A True Story Told as a Novel, is about aging and an ageless love, and yes, it's all true. THE NARRATIVE VOICE - Nine Intriguing Stories and a Novella: The Witch of Tabaquite, is proof that with perseverance (and not a little luck), it is never too late to create and to succeed. POONKY DOODLES - A Novel of Growth and Survival. DRAMATIS PERSONAE - Poems of Comedy and Tragedy, a book with a wide variety of poems SEVEN PLAYS - A collection of plays - one acts, full-length epics, all suitable for all ages, comedies and melodramas. Available on Smashwords are his plays as individual playscripts: ATASCADERO! and INCIDENT IN A DUCKYARD are unusual adaptations of stories by Hans Christian Andersen. Other plays are GNATWING! - A Farce for Clowns, THE FIREBIRD, DISAGREEMENT IN EDEN, and the ever popular RUMPLESTILZKIN. H.D. is currently working on another novel: CLIZIA – A Tale of Scandalous Surprises, based on an Italian Renaissance comedy by Niccolò Machiavelli.
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