Miguel Zeng

ENGL 305
Write your own fairy tale
Once upon a time, there were two affluent parents who lived in a city. These parents had
everything but a child, that is they had a struggle conceiving and then giving birth to a child and
had constantly prayed to God for a child, asking to give them a sign when he was ready to
provide them a child, they swore even if it has to be a duck. At one particular time, it was
snowing lightly and the couple were out on a date. The wife had received roses as a gift and
accidently pricked her finger, bleeding out onto the snow. Then, the couple saw that the blood
faded away and exclaimed that this must be the sign from God. They hoped that the child would
be red as blood and white as snow and they participated in the miracle that night and the wife
managed to conceive a child. This child, name Miles (pronounced me less), in particular is a boy
not as red as blood but surely white as snow who also grows up to be a human-duck. After many
years, sixteen to be exact, the husband dies, no reason provided, and the wife remarries. The new
husband puts up an act for a few years because he hated the step son, after all he was a duck.
For one particular time, they take a vacation also for Miless birthday, by going to a ski
lodge. This ski lodge is special to the wife as this is where she met her first lover. In continuation
of this, Miles too had met his match, a poor young girl, Naritza. They got along for quite some
time and even shared the same room. Now, on one particular day there was heavy snowstorm
warning and the stepfather grew impatient. Miles was snowboarding for some time and it should
have been ready to go in to remain safe. However, the son took a bit more time on the slopes,
curious to see down one side, so the stepfather saw this as an opportunity. He and Miles were in
the slopes. The stepfather, knife drawn, now started to creep up behind Miles and prepared to

stab him in the heart. Suddenly, the spirit of the snowy stallion stirred and stopped this heinous
act by placing an ordinary stone in the steps of the stepfather and the tripped and fell colliding
onto his son. Both of them rolled down the hills into different directions and the snowstorm
started to become severe.
*
When the snowstorm had begun, the Naritza had been looking for Miles. She was
worried to the heart that he didnt make it inside. After through searching, she concludes he went
missing and wept, insisting she would be her own search party, if no one else would help her.
I love Miles so much; he gave me what you (parents) never gave me. I want him back.
Im going out and look for him! Im coming, Miles!
*
Miles had rolled and slipped into a particular small village that is near the slopes. This
village contained inhabitants of a different kind, snow sprites, and snow sprites thrive in the
snow. Snow, it is special because it never melts, is part of their culture: snow sculpting, snow
farming and much more. Snow sprites, occasionally get humans that fall from the slopes, so this
isnt surprising to them when one of them saw a human tumbling down. In the middle of them is
a magical lake, very clear, pure and blue, that never freezes and in the middle of the lake,
connected by a bridge, a piece of land that juts upward or an island and on there is a magic stone
which represents the shrine of the spirit of the snowstorm stallion for this village. This stone is
what gives the village and the ski lodge their snow, as an abundance blessing.
Now, the sprites took him in and took care of him until he recovered that very same day.
Upon waking up dazed, he looked around with the smell of pines and a glowing ember chamber
(fireplace) and saw no one with him in that room. He walked around peering through the rooms

and noticed it was the kitchen. He saw a blue and glowing being and was frightened. It made him
more frightened when she noticed him and started to talk in English.
She said Welcome, lovely. I am preparing lunch right now for the rest of the village to
enjoy, please come and join us. In the meanwhile, drink that, thats on the table
He reluctantly slithered to the table, sat down, drank and asked questions which the sprite
did not seem to mind answering.
One particular question he asked, what is that light bulb doing up there?
She replied we sprites hate poison so if that light ever lights up, it means that there is
poison in here.
*
Now on the other side where the stepfather fell, the stepfather fell into particularly
nowhere but it was relatively close to the village. When he woke up, he was upset and cursed
loudly but no one heard him. He noticed some blue and glowing thing picking out fruits of the
forest, some of them no human has seen these before. Among of these were unique berries,
peaches and grapes. Once the sprite finished harvesting, the sprite moved somewhere, so he
stalked him. Upon following him, the stepfather noticed the village. He checks it out and knocks
on a door. It opens, a sprite says oh hello there, what do you want?
He replies, I am in search of my son
The sprite points to the other cabin that the boy is in. The lunch has already passed and
most of the sprites went to do their duties. Eventually, the stepfather finds his son there. They
rejoice.
The stepfather then suggests to celebrate so he runs out and picks out some berries and
poisons them.

After sometime, he offers the berries to his son. The sprites alarm (the light bulb) lit up
and it alert Miles that the berries are poisonous. He says father, these berries a poisonous. I shall
not eat them.
So Miles throws them away. The stepfather, having become impatient stabs the son. In a
panic he dashes out with greed and steals the magic stone.
The sprites return some time later and see the son lying dead. They prepare a coffin made
of ice for the boy and place it in front of the lake. They noticed that the stone went missing and
grew into a panic, leaving the coffin, with the body in there, there.
Because the stone went missing, the snowstorms ceased and it became rain that harmed
the sprites, that the sprites had to hide from, with strong gusts.
*
As the stepfather was running away with the stone, Naritza runs and crashes into him and
he drops the stone. She asks where his son went. Being the smart girl that she was, she noticed
that he was carrying a stone and nowhere without the son, so she grows suspicious and they go
after the stone. She yells look its a bird.
He looks up and she snatches the stone away. They both run to the village. The girl is
panting across the bridge and the stepfather caught up tackles her, causing the stone to fly out of
her grasp. So, the stone falls into the lake and the lake started to glow very bright. The stone,
being magical that it was, floated back to its place and there appeared a spirit of the snowstorm
stallion, in other words and actual white horse came out of the woods and walked on the water
and stood on the island. The spirit was angry but ceased the curse of the rainstorm.
It started talking. Sprites, you may come out now. And so they did.

It says to them no longer will you have live in the woods, go and inhabit the lodge and
be their guiders
Then it turns to Naritza and says Young girl, thank you for bringing back the rock. You
are a brave person and you shall be rewarded. Tell me what it is that you want and I shall grant it
to you.
She requests weeping Please bring back, Miles. I love him so much
The spirit compels her to kiss the boy and the boy will surely be healed and alive. She
does this and he lives.
The spirit then turns to the evil stepfather because of your horrible acts you shall
become a dog, a loyal servant to this couple whom I bless. You shall be their guardian and they
shall be your master.
Upon hearing this, he starts glowing and shifts into a dog, a husky.
As the boy wakes up, the spirit lastly turns to him and says you are the child that your
parents kept asking for and I have given you to them and should I not also be your guardian? No
longer shall you be a human-duck but a human boy. Go and be with your girl for she has loved
you the most. Go forth and marry the woman.
Upon hearing this, he glows and transforms into the most handsome boy that the girl has
laid her eyes on. He gets down on his legs, the sprites give them ice sculpted rings, and he
proposes. She happily says yes! I will marry you!
And they go back to the ski lodge, newly with the sprites as employees, with the mother
there and the dog to live with them, to hold their wedding and Miless birthday. And they lived
happily ever after. The end.

Analysis
So for this story I drew inspiration from various fairy tales: Hans-my Hedgehog and
Snow White (the main one). In continuation to fairy tale models, my fairy tale has the following:
setting is woods (snow added); death of one parent then comes a step parent; death, resurrection
and magic elements; mentions of God; mentions of sex (not explicit); and happy endings and
punishments. Lastly, some characters had names, others did not and its inconsistent in fairy tales
and I kept most of my characters flat as well. I have never gone snowboarding so I wanted to do
so for the story. A lot of details were just added to the story such as the stone and magical
elements and a lot of details were missing still, for example a full backstory for Naritza, the
village and the sprites. Lastly, I didnt write the story for a moral purpose.
The only way that it is loosely based off Hans is that the main character, Miles, is born as
a non-human and there is a transformation. This story is more loosely based off Snow White and
the Dwarves. It still shares some of the common themes of the story: the hope for red as blood
and white a snow, poison apple into poison berries, the dwarves become sprites, the glass coffin
as ice coffin and the genders reversed. I dropped the magic mirror because I couldnt fit it in. I
wanted to include reflections in the ice as a mirror method but didnt work out well. Same goes
for the huntsman, I just never mention a huntsman-like character. He was hard to fit in.
There was no reason for the transformations: the boy didnt even do anything to warrant
the need for a transformation and the girl does go from poverty to riches, which is a
transformation, out of brave deeds. The punishment made a little more sense since all the fairy
tales ended with some punishment but I wanted it to be a happy punishment who doesnt like
dogs? The step father hated the son for a different reason than the step mother for Snow White.
In the story it was just merely out of hate where as in Snow White, it was a competition for

beauty. I wouldnt know what would be the equivalent for males, like more muscular or athletic
but that can easily be solved by competition and not murdering the strongest one (which would
also be ironic). Therefore, reversing the genders was difficult linked with the magic mirror. As
with all stories, a lot of logic is also ignored; its ridiculous trying to apply logic to fantasy
stories. All in all, it is certainly hard to write your own fairy tale.