In the land of Candy Corn, there was a king with two
beautiful daughters. They were rumored
to be the most beautiful in all the land and they were finally old enough to
marry. The two young women had many
suitors, including kings, princes, knights, and everyone in between. However, to their father’s dismay, they refused
every proposal.
Little did the people of the kingdom know, but the god of
the land had sent every one of his friends to ask for the daughters’ hands in
marriage. He finally decided to come to Candy
Corn to evaluate the young women. He arrived
during the night, appearing as poor, dirty beggars.
Meanwhile, the young women were priding themselves on their success. They believed that their father would
acquiesce and not force them to marry.
They were happy with their freedom and didn’t want to be under the thumb
of a man. Why did they need husbands?
When they awoke, the noticed that a tent had appeared
outside of the castle where the merchants usually set up. It looked bedraggled and dirty, definitely
not one of the usual crowd. They
mentioned it to their father, but he took no action against the new
people. He always had a soft spot for
the poor and hungry, and was loathe to throw them out.
Unfortunately, the king had resolved that night to find
husbands for his daughters, since they refused to choose their own. He devised a contests, the champion of which
would marry his daughters. The contest
was announced and the young men of the land traveled to the city in
droves. They couldn’t wait to win the
contest and marry the most beautiful women in the land!
On the day of the contest, every man lined up to take his
shot. They were to shoot an apple off the
highest turret while standing in the courtyard.
Amazingly, every single man missed!
The king was in disbelief, until suddenly an arrow pierced the apple! When he looked around, he saw the young
beggar man standing with a bow in his hand.
“Young man, is that your arrow in the apple up there?” the
king asked.
“Yes, my liege. It is,”
the dirty young man replied.
“Well, unfortunately I cannot declare you the winner of this
contest. No one saw you make the shot, so
we must hold another. Tomorrow, we will
have a hunting contest!” declared the king. The man with the greatest kill
would be declared the winner.
The beggar looked piqued but did not dissent. Meanwhile, the two daughters were very
grateful that their father had declared another contest. They did not want to leave their life of
luxury for that of poverty and hard work.
-------------------------
The next day, the men assembled for the hunt. Men without horses were given the stable
nags, the slowest of which was given to the beggar. The rest of the hunting
party was not concerned about the beggar beating them this time, because they
knew he could not keep up.
When the horn blew, the entire party took off at a gallop
with the beggar lagging far behind. The
group disappeared into the woods and there was only the occasional horn sound
to let the castle know of the progress.
Several hours later, the castle trumpet sounded to call the
hunting party back to the keep. They
came in slowly, all toting their kills on their saddles or in their saddle bags. However, the beggar was nowhere to be
seen. Finally, as the final kills were
being compared, someone spotted the man returning from the woods. As he drew closer, the people could see what
appeared to be a small sleigh being pulled behind the beggar’s nag.
When he rode into the keep, the entire company gasped. He had shot a 12 point buck, the greatest
catch of all the hunters. Of course, there
were cries of cheating and deceit, but the king honored his promise. Unfortunately, his elder daughter had already
promised herself to a foreign king, without her father’s knowledge. The younger daughter was able to fulfill the
promise, however.
She followed the beggar to his tent and cared for him. She did her wifely duties with nary a
complaint or wish for her old life. They
stayed within the castle walls and she visited her father every day. Her sister, who was still in residence, was
always decked from head to toe in jewels and fine fabrics. She made a point to degrade the younger
sister every chance she got.
However, on her return from visiting her one day, she could
not find her husband’s tent. In its
place was a grand tent, made from beautiful silks and poles made of gold. She began to worry if her husband had been
pushed from his spot by this extravagant newcomer.
Suddenly, an incredibly handsome man exited the tent. He had long black hair, a chiseled jaw, broad
shoulders, a barrel chest, and eyes to die for. He was the man every woman dreamed of, but he was not her husband! She drew breath to berate him. However, he beat her to it.
“Before you ask where your husband is, look closer, my
love. I am your husband, but I have
finally assumed my true form. I am the
man that this land worships. I came to
earth to see what all the excitement was about you and your sister, but you are
by far the better woman. You honored
your deal, despite the misgivings that I know you had. You never complained either, and I know it
wasn’t easy.”
The woman couldn’t believe what was going on. She was married to a god! The man gave her
something to eat and explained that it would make her like him, so they could
stay together for eternity.
Of course, the older sister wanted to join them, but her
husband took her to his home, which turned out to be a drafty castle filled
with smelly old men. You know what they
say about Karma!
Author’s Note:
I chose to rewrite the story of Dirty-Boy this week. It
seemed like one that I could easily twist about and had enough superfluous
details that I could shorten it to fit my need.
I kept pretty close to the original story, although in the original,
there were two deities that came to the village.
I’ll be honest about the name of the kingdom. I’m sitting at my desk shoveling candy corn
into my mouth as I am writing this, so it seemed like an appropriate name. It makes the kingdom sound more than a little
childish, but I’ve come up with worse names!
I didn’t make any major changes to the story other than
changing the details. I kept close to
the original because I thought it was a good story that would teach a good
lesson. Too many changes would have changed
the message!
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