The stream (noodling)...
Mar. 24th, 2006 10:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranTwo small girls are playing with a stream with an ornamental comb they found partially buried by a path. The setting is a mythical Chinese mountain landscape. They are playing at this particular place, at the base of a small waterfall upstream from their village, because it's the only place that has pools still enough to see their reflection in that isn't also within sight of the other villagers. They don't want anyone and particularly not their parents to see the comb and take it away. The waterfall also marks the furthest most point they are allowed to travel. Beyond it lurk dangerous spirits.
The girls start arguing over whose turn it is to wear the comb and this ends in the older girl losing sight of her young sister as she admires herself in the water. When she looks back, her sister is in the company of a strange woman, a demon, who then vanishes with her.
Now, the interesting thing is what happens with the girls' parents. If the parents are cruel and heartless (or if the parents are really step-parents or unloving guardians), the story becomes simple. The older girl heads off up the stream without regret to have adventures in the spirit world and retrieve her sister. Likewise, if there's some sort of time pressure that takes the parents out of the equation, say the older girl knows she has to act quickly and has no time to tell anyone else.
But if it turns out that the girls' parents are actually loving and caring and the girls know this, then the story becomes very different. The older girl sets out on her own to retrieve her sister, because she knows her parents love them both and will be upset, not knowing that from the parents point of view, this is the worst thing that could happen. In a way, it uses child logic instead of adult logic. There is a poignancy there that I like, instead of triteness.
The girls start arguing over whose turn it is to wear the comb and this ends in the older girl losing sight of her young sister as she admires herself in the water. When she looks back, her sister is in the company of a strange woman, a demon, who then vanishes with her.
Now, the interesting thing is what happens with the girls' parents. If the parents are cruel and heartless (or if the parents are really step-parents or unloving guardians), the story becomes simple. The older girl heads off up the stream without regret to have adventures in the spirit world and retrieve her sister. Likewise, if there's some sort of time pressure that takes the parents out of the equation, say the older girl knows she has to act quickly and has no time to tell anyone else.
But if it turns out that the girls' parents are actually loving and caring and the girls know this, then the story becomes very different. The older girl sets out on her own to retrieve her sister, because she knows her parents love them both and will be upset, not knowing that from the parents point of view, this is the worst thing that could happen. In a way, it uses child logic instead of adult logic. There is a poignancy there that I like, instead of triteness.
