Seven brother princes find a beautiful girl in the woods with her yak and decide to all marry her, which is a terrible idea because she's actually a demon and the yak is her demon husband. After the marriage, the brothers begin to die one-by-one every year (because she's eating their souls). When there is only one brother left, concerned yet clueless people call a fortune teller to help. The man they call is actually a fraud, but he tries because he doesn't want to give himself up, and he ends up, through a combination of accident and luck, uncovering and defeating the devils. After his success, he is rewarded by the remaining prince, but his greedy wife asks for more for him, and receives it .
Since it's been an incredibly long time since I've actually watched Snow White (and yes, I'm going to use the Disney version here), I refreshed myself on what happened using the synopsis here.
So for character transposition, this is what I'm thinking:
1. Seven Brothers = Seven Dwarves
2. Beautiful Girl/Devil = Snow White
3. Yak/Devil = A forest creature, either a bird or a squirrel
4. Fortune Teller = Huntsman
5. Fortune Teller's Wife = Evil Queen/Hag
I may switch four and five, but as of right now I am relatively certain this is how I'm going to do it.
I've also spent some time looking up details on the tsamba and prayer beads used in the original story, as well as the Tibetan Devil Dance, which is used to expel demons and bring good luck. This research will hopefully give me the necessary info to depict the exorcism of the two devils accurately.
Bibliography: The Two Devils from Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton with illustrations by Mildred Bryant (1925). Source.
Image: Snow White and her devil bird. Source.
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI have been hesitant to do story planning posts because I am never really sure what to write, but I think you did a great job with yours. I really like the creativity - how you translated your characters into other familiar ones. Since I am pretty unfamiliar with a lot of the stories that we read about, it is always nice to do some research on the topics before we rewrite the stories.
I like the change to the story! Snow White (and a lot of other Disney princess stories) always have the princess being somewhat innocent and reactive, so a story where she's instead a soul-eating demon is a huge change!
ReplyDeleteThe research into the exorcism from the Two Devils story is a good idea, and I bet it helped a lot with writing that section of the story. I like how you called the bird a "devil bird" in the image title as well. It's a nice touch, even if it's not quite accurate to the actual original image!