Love Across Time and Culture: Brainstorming Styles

Topic. I want my Storybook to be about love across time and culture. I would like to find four love stories from different cultures and time periods. I think I will include the story of Savitri and Satyavan, an Indian love story. I also might want to include Connla and the Fairy Maiden from the Celtic Fairy Tales Unit. Another story I'd like to include is The Cat's Elopement from the Japanese Fairy Tale Unit. I would most likely make the cats in the story be humans so that the there is more continuity between the stories. I should definitely have enough material to choose from!

Bibliography:

Savitri and Satyavan from “The Book of the Forest” from Mahabharata (an ancient Indian epic)

Connla and the Fairy Maiden from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, illustrated by John D. Batten (1892) 

The Cat's Elopement from The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H.J. Ford (1897)

Possible Styles:

I will probably tell the story from a 3rd person omniscient point-of-view. Each of the possible styles listed below would be in third person. I want to be able to convey the thoughts and emotions of all characters.

One couple through time and culture: I've been thinking about trying to unify four love stories across time and culture by having one couple be the main characters throughout all the stories. Maybe it could be a kind of supernatural thing, like the two characters have the same souls throughout all the different times and cultures. (I think there is a novel or a movie like this?) I'm not sure if this would be too weird or complicated to try to pull off, but in my head it seems like it would be cool.

A frame couple telling the stories: If the first style doesn't work out, maybe it would be interesting to make up a frame couple that is perhaps facing some adversity in their relationship. To make themselves feel better, they tell four love stories to each other. They can learn and grow from each example.

An observer present throughout all stories: It might be cool to have some sort of mystical observer that was present as each of the couples' stories unfolded. It could be something like the wind or the stars, since these elements are present all around the world (as opposed to a tree or something that is sedentary). 

Death tells the stories: This one is definitely darker. I'm drawing inspiration from The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak (2005). Unfortunately, I've only seen the movie and not read the book. For my stories, at least one of them explicitly deals with Death. Maybe I could find a way that Death comes to take one of the members of each couple, but upon seeing their love and devotion decides to let them live. This could all be unknown by the couples (except for the Indian love story). Death could narrate what he sees of the couples and maybe even feel their emotions along with them.

(Romeo and Juliet, by Frank Dicksee 1884)