Friday, January 27, 2017

Reading Notes: The Husband's Shadow


A Hidden Affair
(Source: Maxpixel)


This story was about a king who fell in love with a merchant's wife. The wife then indulged in the affair. They both waited for the husband to go out of town so that they could be together. However, the husband left a nitwit to look over his wife. The nitwit then asked then asked the wife who that man was? The wife told him that it was a shadow. She took him into the mirror and showed him his shadow. When the husband came home and asked the nitwit if anyone had come. The nitwit said just your shadow sir. 

This was one of the most entertaining stories I have read. I loved the setup of the story and how it ended. However, I would change a few things in this story. In my story, I, would end the story differently. In my version of the story I would have the husband find out about the affair. However, some things to think about would be, would it matter if the affair was with the king? Another idea I have for the story is the king requesting to marry the merchant’s wife. That would be an internal struggle for the merchant. Would he give up his wife for the riches? Or would he fight for his love?

This story has given me so many ideas for a story. One more idea is a more feminist perspective. The feminist I am comes out in my writing. I would have the king and the merchant fight for the woman. However, she would realize that she is not a prize. So, she would leave the merchant and curse the king and live a life by herself.


There are many ideas that come to mind when I read this story. I would keep the characters the king, merchant, and the wife. Keeping the nitwit in the story would just depend on what my story line is.

I would also like to have a shadow play a role in the story somewhere.

Bibliography:

A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India by A. K. Ramanujan. Link to The Husband's Shadow.

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