THE
STONE-CUTTER
retelling by Sonal Patni
Email Me
Up in the
high hills of a
mountain lived a very helpful spirit. Being able to grant wishes, he
loved to spread happiness to the townsmen. Often times, the people from
the village would come to the mountain in search of an answer. The
spirit would listen and try his hardest to help. Now he had become
acquainted with a lot of the town, but until recently he never
met the stonecutter.
The
stonecutter lived a happy
life and would carefully cut the rock for whatever job. He never
dreamed of having another life until he met Samuel. Samuel was one of
his
customers, and he was extremely rich. The stonecutter saw the jewels
that Samuel had and proclaimed, “If I were rich, I would be so happy!”
The mountain spirit heard this, and granted this wish. When the
stonecutter arrived home, he found a lavish palace.
The
stonecutter lived very
comfortably throughout the winter. When the sun began to shine on the
hot summer days, the stonecutter found the heat unbearable. He looked
out of his window and saw a prince being fanned by his servants. “If I
were a prince, I would be so happy!”
This
was
still not enough to
make the stonecutter happy for he was still burning. He realized that
the sun was very powerful, and wished aloud that he was the sun. The
spirit was surprised to hear from the stonecutter again, but granted
this wish. The spirit hoped that this would make the hard-working
stonecutter happy, and it did, for a while that is.
After
shining rays across the
world, the stonecutter was shocked to find a large cloud coast in front
of him. He thought that being the sun was worthless, especially if it
couldn’t even shine through a cloud. “If I were a cloud, I would be so
happy!” Instantly, the stonecutter became a large fluffy cloud drifting
in the sky. His power was undefeated by everyone except a large stone,
which stood tall throughout the rain and bad weather.
Knowing the
stonecutter as well
as the spirit did, he knew that the stonecutter would want to be this
rock. Just when the stonecutter thought he had finally become happy, he
felt someone chipping at him. Could it be another stonecutter! He
quickly began to realize he made a huge mistake and started to cry. “If
I were my old self again, a stonecutter, I know I would be happy.” The
spirit could not bear this crying, and returned the stonecutter to his
life.
The
stonecutter was so happy to
be back to work. He worked in the sun and rain, but became grateful for
who he was and what he had. The spirit was finally able to rest now
that he had helped the stonecutter.
Shelly leaned out of her bed and said “That was a lovely story Ms
Clare, but I am not sure I entirely believe in spirits and things like
that.” Shelly began to tuck in all her dolls in bed with her as she
prepared for a good nights sleep. Shelly had more dolls then any of the
other girls in the house, and she loved that she had them all to
herself.
Annabelle rolled her eyes at Shelly. “Ms Clare I believe in things like
that. Do you mind if I tell a story that I think Shelly would like?”
Normally Ms Clare would not allow this, but since it was still early
she decided that there was in fact enough time for just one more story.
She nodded and Annabelle began to speak.
“I never believed in spirits or people watching over us until I heard
this story. It’s called Grasp All,
Lose All.”
Bibliography:
Story Title:
The Stone-Cutter
Story
Websource:
http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/241.htm
Book Title:
Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books
Author:
Andrew Lang
Year: 1903
Image:
Title:
Mountain Scene-Left
Story
Websource:
http://funwavs.com/posters/Museum-Landscapes/display/377104.html
Author:
Keiichi Nishimura
Author's
Note:
I kept the
basic story the same
since it really helped support the great message. I kept the same
characters as the original story. Instead of having the spirit interact
directly with the stonecutter through dialogue, I made him have
emotions that linked him to the stonecutter. This way, the stonecutter
was guided by more of a fairy godmother then a mysterious spirit voice.
I
really liked the
messages behind this story. It encourages us to be ourselves, and be
grateful for what we have. I think that this story showed aspects of
the mystical themes found in several Asian tales. The spirit is one of
the main characters in this story. A belief in the supernatural is
common to Asian culture. The most important thing I want people to
remember about this story is how easily it translates to North American
culture. I barely altered it and yet you can hardly tell it is from
Asia. It is great to look at similarities in stories and see how they
reflect the culture.
Storybook
