The Blue Bird
by Nicholas Wojcik
Sophie
had just returned home from the gallery where her latest masterpiece
had been revealed. She climbed into her bed, but no sooner than she
closed her eyes, an incessant banging came from the front door.
"Yes.
Who is it?" she asked.
"Madame
Sophie," replied a policeman. "We are sorry to bother you, but there
has been an incident at the museum." A fire had broken out. Part of the
roof had collapsed, and many of the paintings had been severely
damaged. The burning blue flames caught hold of Sophie's masterpiece
destroying the frame and part of the canvas.
The
next morning, she ran to the scene but was denied access inside. Smoke
still billowed from the museum's east wing. Suddenly, a beautiful blue
indigo bunting soared past and winked at Sophie. She knew it was a sign
from her beloved grandmere. She followed the bird to the library and
went inside. Rattling on an oak table lay a hard-bound book with the
title, "The Blue Bird," by Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy. Sophie opened it,
and her grandmere appeared before her as she had done several times
before.
"I
know of your troubles, my dear," replied her grandmere. "You know,
there is a lesson to be learned from this tragedy. I know you loved
that painting, but now that it has been scarred, it has a new chapter
in its life. It reminds me of a story. Let me show you."
Sophie
knew her grandmere would make the best of the situation, so she
listened as her grandmere began reading from the book.
There
once was a very wealthy king who was in such despair over his wife's
passing that he banged his head against a wall for eight days straight.
His servants tried everything to cheer him up before nailing pillows to
the wall to prevent the king from any more damage to himself. At last,
there came a woman who told the king that she too had lost her spouse
and knew what he was going through. As she spoke, he raised his head
and saw a gorgeous woman before him. Over time the two of them fell
very much in love with each other and were eventually married.
Now
the king had a daughter named Florine from his first marriage. The
queen did not take too kindly to Florine, for the queen had a daughter
of her own named Truitonne. Truitonne was a cruel and hideous
individual whom the queen adored. The queen would do anything to keep
Florine from being happy. When the two daughters were old enough to
marry, a man named King Charming came to stay at the castle. The queen
presented Truitonne to King Charming. Truitonne was dressed in the most
luxurious clothing and jewelry in all the land but to say the least,
the king was not impressed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw young
Florine, and he was overcome by a pain in his heart.
"My
lady," said King Charming to Florine, "one of such beauty does not need
lavish jewels or fancy clothing." Florine blushed, and the queen and
Truitonne became enraged. That night, the queen sent some masked men to
capture Florine, and lock her in the highest tower.
Night
after night, King Charming went to Florine's window, but she was not
there. Instead, the evil Truitonne came to the window pretending to be
Florine, and the two of them spoke of their love for one another.
After
many nights of this, the king asked the woman at the window to marry
him, yet did not know
he had been tricked all along. Truitonne agreed. When the king found
out he
had been duped, he told the queen that he refused to be with anyone but
Florine and demanded to see her at once.
The
queen began laughing hysterically. "You have made a promise to my
daughter. Do you choose not her hand, but rather that of the pitiful
Florine?" From there, the queen summoned the fairy Soussio to transform
the king into a helpless blue bird for seven years.
The
blue bird was now very miserable. He spent his days flying about the
outside of the castle hoping to find Florine. He finally came to a
window at the highest point of the east tower and saw Florine inside.
He flapped his wings against the windowpane until Florine answered his
call. He scratched his words into the glass and she then knew it was
him. He caressed her soft face with his wing and they remained still in
happiness.
After
two years, the queen began to suspect that something was going on. "How
can you be so happy all of the time when you are locked up?" the queen
would ask Florine, but Florine never revealed the truth about her
nightly visitor, the blue bird. The queen had one of the servants spy
on Florine, and the spy told the queen that Florine was frequently
visited by the blue bird. The queen was familiar with the tree where
the bird would sing. She tied razors, spears, knives, and daggers
to the tree and when King Charming returned to his tree, he was
severely hurt. Florine was sad when he did not return to her window for
many days and she became weary that he no longer loved her.
The bird
was rescued by an old friend of his who restored his old form and
turned Truitonne into a sow. The queen was stoned to death by the
townspeople whom heard of the terrible series of events she had caused.
King
Charming rescued Florine from the tower and they resumed their lives,
scarred, but stronger than ever.
"So you
see, my dear. It is tragic what has happened to you, but you will see
your painting soon and you will see that it too can be stronger to
ever. It has also been scarred, but people will still love it-- it is
the same painting."
Author's
Note:
I have retold the story "the Blue Bird" because I wanted to keep the
theme of colors. I found it interesting that the original story
reminded me of Cinderella. Florine was the prettier of the sisters and
did not rely on lavish jewels or fancy clothes to show that. In
addition, the King saw this as an admirable trait. There was also a
wicked step-mother! The biggest challenge was that the original story
was extremely long so I had to shorten it a great deal, leaving out
many specific details. It is exactly 1,000 words! I really love the
pictures for this storybook and hope the reader does too.
Bibliography:
"The Blue Bird" in The Fairy Tales of Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy by
Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy, 1892 Original
Source
Image
Information:
"Indigo Bunting" by Harold Lindstrom Original
Source
"Dead Blue Roller" by Hans Hoffmann Original
Source
"Plate 36 from Documents Decoratifs" by Alphonse
Mucha Original Source
"Plate
39 from Documents Decoratifs" by Alphonse
Mucha Original
Source
"Plate
40 from Documents Decoratifs" by Alphonse
Mucha Original
Source
"Plate
33 from Documents Decoratifs" by Alphonse
Mucha Original Source
