Story: Dream of a Queen

A long, long time ago, a baby girl was born into a servant family. Her name was Amelia and she was different from the first day of her life until her last. She grew up at the bottom of a giant mountain, which had a castle on the top. Her mother told her stories about the royal family that lived there and about the young queen who lived there who happened to be the same age as Amelia. As she grew older, Amelia saw the poverty that filled her village and that overcame her parents everyday. She, her mother and her father had to work in the fields from sunrise to sunset every single day, just to each be able to buy a bowl of soup. Although Amelia loved her family and wouldn't trade them for the world, she wanted their lives together to be more rewarding and less stressful. She saw the way that her mother and father were affected by their financial problems, and not to mention the health issues that arise from working daily in a field. Amelia wanted to change her and her family's fate, but she didn't know how.


Castle on a mountain.

One night, Amelia went into a deep sleep and had the most vivid and realistic dream of her life. She and her family lived in the elegant castle on the top of the mountain and ruled over all of the land they could see. Her bed enveloped her and the canopy above her head was made of the most beautiful woven cloth she had ever seen.
She sat up and immediately a woman scurried over to her and asked, "Good morning, your majesty. Would you like to fetch you some water?"
Amelia was beyond confused and overwhelmed. Just when she thought things could not get any weirder, her mother walked into the room wearing a gown and dripping in priceless jewelry.
"Hello, darling. I hope you slept well! We have a busy day ahead of us. The girls will get you ready and tell you about the appointments you have today." Before Amelia could respond, her mother was floating out the door. Dozens of women swarmed her and started to prepare her for her "busy day," whatever that mean! Amelia had millions of questions, starting off with "Where am I?"
One of the younger girls seemed confused and responded with a shy, "Your castle, your majesty."
Amelia immediately realized that she was the queen of the mountain!

The day went by in a blur, with hundreds of villagers coming in to the castle speak to the queen herself. At the end of the day, the new queen lay in bed and shut her eyes. That night she dreamt about a quaint life in a village. She and her parents worked in a field from dawn until dusk, but Amelia had never been happier.

Author's Note: My story is based off of the chapter called "The Vanishing Wife." The main character Buite was very unhappy and one night had a dream; and the next day when he woke up, it was true! This idea for a story reminded me of the movie "Bedtime Stories," but it is obviously more historical. It can create a plethora of unique stories, but that all focus on the same theme. I noticed that this magical power to dream something to life was recurring in the Stories from Congo, and I wanted to memorialize this. I decided to end the story with an interpretive ending, meaning the reader can make what they want of it. I didn't want to have to decide whether Amelia was dreaming the entire time, because, in my opinion, that is not important. Many stories are open for complete interpretation, but this one has a basic plot. Dreaming is a very interesting topic of conversation and in stories so I am glad that I got to share this story with you.
Richard Edward Dennett's Stories from Congo "The Vanishing Wife"

Reading Notes: Stories from Congo, Part B

In one of the stories, a man stumbled upon a tree and starts to pull at the branches. When he pulls off one of the leaves, it turns into a woman. All of the leaves that he tugs at start to turn into men and women. This part of the story reminds me of the Tree of Life from the Bible, but it different because in this story, it involves magic. The woman who was transformed from a leaf became the man's wife and turned him into a more handsome man and created a village and home for them to live in. In the first story of Part B, it tells a myth about why the leopard always kills an antelope when it sees it. Within the story, the author uses native African words, like nkutu, ngongo, shimbec and chimpacasi, to incorporate the culture of the people of Congo. The words are put into the story in a manner where the reader can infer what they mean, without the author actually specifying. Most of the stories are depressing, but I think I could write my own unique and possibly up-beat version for this week's storytelling assignment. I plan to write about two other animals that don't get along, or perhaps do get along, and the story behind how they came to meet each other. I have noticed that most of the stories are more gruesome than the Greek myth, but they are still entertaining to read. In one of the stories, an antelope sends a leopard's skinned head to his wife and she ate it. It was a bit more morbid than some of the stories that I read, but it shows the unique characteristics and culture of original myths from Congo. Most of the myths also contain the same animals, including leopards, antelope and gazelle. These are animals native to Africa and are well known amongst that region of the world. I enjoy reading stories from Africa and Asia because I have never read anything like them before and it gives me some insight into what their cultures are like.


Leopard attacking an antelope.

Richard Edward Dennett's Stories from Congo (1898).

Reading Notes: Stories from Congo, Part A

The story jumps right in with a man killing animals and giving them to his three wives to eat. Then, suddenly, an ox killed the man while he was trying to hunt. One of the wives has the power to dream what has happened; another has the power to locate their husband; and the other has the power to bring him back to life. The animals that the characters eat in the story are different than those that people eat nowadays, especially in the United States. They eat monkeys and antelope. The dog is also animated and can speak to his owner. I enjoy reading stories that have talking animals because it can attract people of all ages and with different interests. Even as an adult, I love watching animated movies and the stories that are created to develop the animated characters.
A recurring magical power that characters in this story seem to have is the power to dream something and then it actually coming to life. One of the wives in the first story had this power and so did Buite, a man who left his brother to live alone in a valley. However, when Buite did not follow the exact storyline of his dream, all of it went away. I would like to possibly write about this in this week's storytelling assignment because I could talk about a more modern man who also dreamed about his perfect woman.
A motif that is often seen in these types of stories is when one of the main characters runs away from home to start a new life for themselves. This can be the beginning of a mysterious, unfamiliar place where anything could happen to this character and where they have no one else that they know. I think it is important to reference these motifs when writing your version of the story because it keeps the main ideas similar to the original. It magnifies important themes that were frequently used in not only Africa, but also the majority of myths.


Women and wives of Congo, by Henry M. Stanley.

Richard Edward Dennett's Stories from Congo (1898).