Week 11 Story: The Mysterious Swan

A swan on a lake. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood on 24th in Norman, Oklahoma. Anne had just finished defeating her soccer rivals at Norman High and scored the winning goal with six seconds left to spare. After the game, Anne stepped outside to survey the scenery around her.  As she peered at the earth above her, she noticed the clouds were light and airy, reminding her of the little marshmallow puffs she would emerge in her hot cocoa every morning. She noticed the clear blue skies reminded her of freshly blown blue glass. The sun shone so brightly that she could not bear to look at it with her sunglasses. In the breeze of the air, she smelt the cool crisp air with a hint of warmth from the sun.

Anne loved to explore her surroundings and she held the greatest appreciation for nature's beauty. One day, Anne decided she wanted to try skating around her neighborhood. So she put on the skates her parent's had just bought her for her 17th birthday. The roller skates were hot pink with turquoise polka dots. Anne was all about bright and vibrant colors; they made her feel happy and excited. 

As Anne left her house, she continued to admire the things around her. When Anne had gone 2 blocks away from her home, she came across an old pond.

Anne had never really noticed the pond, but there was something that stood out she had never seen before. In the middle of the pond was the most beautiful white swan she had ever laid eyes on. Swans aren't something often seen in her town, so this moment felt extremely special to Anne. Anne went down the little grass hill that surrounded the body of pond water. As Anne neared the pond, the swan swam a little closer to her. Soon the swan and Anne were face to face locking eyes. Anne couldn't help but see the sadness in the swan's pitch black eyes. Then Anne touched the left wing of the majestic bird and suddenly a gorgeous woman with long black hair and mesmerizing green eyes appeared. The woman introduced herself as Kate.

Kate explained how she had previously lived a life full of love and kindness, but a witch had cursed her for her constant good deeds. The witch figured cursing Kate for her good deeds would make her want to do bad and forget being kind. The witch allowed her to choose what animal she would become, but the curse would not be lifted until someone would dare to touch her feathers. Thanks to Anne, Kate was released from her curse and able to continue her good deeds. Kate told Anne the story of how she became a swan. Because Kate was shown kindness by Anne, she graced her with a life long guardian to watch over her as she would one day grow into a woman. 

Author's Note: For this story I created, I used the original story of Nriga from chapter 11 of Shri Krishna from Dwarka. The story begins with Krishna's son Samba and other young nobles are journeying through the woods when they come across an enormous chameleon at the bottom of a well. When Samba and his friends hurried back to Dwarka to tell Prince Krishna, he immediately pulled the chameleon out of the well. When he held the giant chameleon in his left hand, it turned into a handsome and tall man. The man then began to tell them of how him unjustly robbing a brahmin of his cow caused him to accrue penalties to pay through the messengers of Yama. So he was born again as a beast, but being touched by Krishna set him free. Similarly, in my story, both people are set free from their curses by being touched. But I changed the plot to be more modern. Anne in my story is a young woman who decides to one day take a more scenic route in her neighborhood to enjoy nature. She comes across this rare swan in the neighborhood pond and her touching the swan causes the woman Kate to return to human form. In my story, I changed the reasoning behind Kate being turned into an animal and attributed it to her committing good acts as opposed to doing evil like King Nriga. I wanted to change up the storyline because I thought it would be refreshing to show that even though Kate was punished for doing good deeds, it did not make her turn into a bad person nor did it encourage her to be unkind. Additionally, Kate set a great example for Anne by showing her that good deeds never die. 


Bibliography: Nriga and Paundrika