The Celestial Sisters

Hello, reader. Before we start talking about fairy tales, I have something to announce. I'm publishing a book! It's called A Tale of Two Tricksters and it's set in the modern day Midwest. Although it's not a direct adaptation of fairy tales like the short stories I write for this blog, there are many elements from folk tales and fairy tales in my novel. There are also a handful of short stories that I posted on this blog that tie in, mostly indirectly, to my novel. A Tale of Two Tricksters isn't ready to buy yet, but it will be up on Amazon when it is, as an ebook and a physical book. Rest assured, I will let you know when it is officially published.

This is either just a hawk, or it used to be a person, or spirit. Who knows?

Now that that excitement is taken care of... This week's story comes to us from a North American Native American tribe. I wish I knew which tribe, but that's not listed. Either way, The Celestial Sisters is a story about a man falling in love with a woman he barely knows. Don't worry, this one's different. It has magic baskets. Check out the story in the link and continue reading to analyze with me.

Firstly, it irks me when we have stories of men kidnapping women because they're pretty. At the first opportunity, the celestial woman books it back to her home, bringing her son with her. However, it's not clear if she actually liked her husband or not. It's possible that she did like him, but she needed to go home more. After all, at the end she chooses to be a white hawk with him. It's also possible that she hated him and only chose the same animal piece he did because she felt like she had to since he was her husband. It's impossible to say. These stories are often more complicated than we give them credit for.

While we're examining motivation, or lack thereof, where was this woman's family after she got kidnapped? Her sisters all ran away when it happened and, as far as we know, never came back to try to get her. Her father never came at all, as far as we know. However, again, it might be more than it seems. It's possible her father, who is a star, couldn't come down to earth to get her. Still, you'd think he would send someone to try to bring her back. That is, unless she was actually happy and he knew that. Fairy tales are too short to explain how everyone is feeling all the time, but sometimes I wish they would.

Finally, we have the mass exodus at the end. Why did the star want to get so many celestial spirits down to earth? Again, his reasons are unknown. He might not have even known so many would choose to leave and become animals. Or perhaps the celestial world was getting a little crowded and it was time to get some folks out of it. I hope no one hunted the celestial spirits turned animals. You know, since the star asked specifically for animals that Waupee hunted. Hm. Maybe there's a reason they all wanted to leave after all.

The moral of this story is to make sure that if you're going to kidnap a woman, that she can learn to love you. Alternatively, don't kill mice that aren't doing any harm to you.

Have a different moral? Wondering what the man's family thought of his disappearance? Do you also think Celestial Sisters would be a great name for a girl band? Comment below!