Once upon a time there was a little sea princess, the fairest you could image. She was the youngest of six and daughter to the Sea King. She had no feet, and her body ended in a fish tail, for she was a little mermaid.

            The little mermaid was very curious and was happiest when learning about the human world. She made her grandmother tell her everything about the world above the sea.

            “You may go to the surface when you turn fifteen,” the grandmother told the sea princesses. The youngest sea princess would have to wait five years before her time came to swim to the surface and see the human world for herself.

            Five years passed. It was finally the day the little mermaid would emerge from the waters and view the world above. The little mermaid swam up to the surface and saw a large ship full of sailors. The little mermaid watched the sailors talk and dance, but she was most drawn to the young prince among the group. She was in awe of the whole scene. She stayed there for a long time, but then a storm began to take hold of the ship. The ship creaked and groaned and broke apart.

            “Oh no!” the little mermaid said. She was frightened when she saw the young prince sinking down into the sea, and she quickly swam after him. The little mermaid grabbed the prince and brought him to the surface. She held his head above water until the storm ended, and she brought him to nearby land. She laid him on the sand and made a pillow for his head. Hidden in the waves, the mermaid waited until a young girl came and found the prince. The little sea princess was filled with sorrow as she returned to the palace below the sea. …

                                                                               Moral

                                                  Our tale was meant to show,
                                                  That when through wishes 
                                                  And through deals with the deep,
                                                  You seek a way into this holy land
                                                  Of love and cherished time,
                                                  Things may not work out as they ought,
                                                  And you might get what you wished you had not. 

                                                  But good children, 
                                                  Who make their parents happy
                                                  And are deserving of their love,
                                                  Bring joy and God’s gift of everlasting life, 
                                                  The greatest wish of all.

I did just a part of the beginning of the story and then part of the end, as “The Little Mermaid” is a bit too long to include the entire story

There she was, walking down the hallway like a goddess, with eyes as green as a jade and a body that was beautiful and lithe; her skin was milky white and she had shoulder length black hair. She was the most popular girl in school, Briar Rose, and I was madly in love with her at first sight. I have been consulting my horoscope and visiting a fortuneteller everyday to find someway to be closer to her and the day finally came when we were put in Class 4 together for History. I now sat next to her in the back of the class and used every chance I got to steal a glance at her. Everyday she would settle into her desk like she belonged there and that she would be in that desk for years to come and would sit through the class with an attentive gaze fixed on the board. But one day, during a long lecture in class, I looked over to see Brair Rose fast asleep at her desk. She sat in her desk unmoving and oblivious to the world around her in a deep sleep and I was mesmerized by her beauty once more and surprised that she could sleep through the chaotic debates and discussion that were taking place in class. I stared at her for the longest time appreciating her beauty and grace, thinking of the future that we could have together and wishing that this moment would never end. As the end of class was approaching, I contemplated the idea of waking her up to see her reation, even if she was angry, in order to learn more about the love of my life but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. If only I had been born a Taurus! Finally the end of class arrived and when the ball rang, Brair Rose woke up and began to methodically pack up her stuff like nothing had even happened. As she was leaving I wispered, “Stay safe, Brair Rose, untill we meet again.”

As for last week, explore your creative side by modeling one of our writers.  Modeling is a powerful tool for developing your own distinctive voice, as well as the best possible way to learn scansion and form. 

The only restriction, this week, is to broaden your sources of inspiration a bit—stretch your own writing range and keep your classmates guessing! Remember that all our authors, including critics and theorists, are fair game.

Guidelines:

This is your opportunity to learn from a master craftsman!  Model your writing style, imagery, themes and tone on one of the writers we’ve read so far. As always, decide whether you want to stretch your analytical or creative voice, or something in between, and choose the author to model yourself after accordingly (our theorists and critics are fair game). 

After carefully reading your model author and analyzing their choices, create a brief scene in essay, fiction, or poetry form. For your subject matter, pursue what has interested you most in our readings so far.

Whatever author you choose, to get credit for this assignment you MUST take the modeling requirement seriously.  When we read your post, we should know just from your language (syntax, diction, etc.) or form which writer you’re channeling. 

Do NOT tell us who you’re channeling, though—part of the fun will be guessing, via comments and in class, the source of each short piece.

No restrictions on word limit this week!