Week 6 Storytelling: A Prolonged Elopement

Koma’s heart beat wildly as she approached the cherry tree, guided only by the moonlight. It was the very same tree where she had first seen Gon those many months ago, when her life was changed forever. Before she met him, she never would have considered leaving her mistress. But now, Koma had no choice. Koma’s mistress and Gon’s master lived on opposite sides of the city, and despite the young lovers’ pleadings, each refused to part with their favorite servants. As Koma reached the tree, she thought back to her last desperate effort to secure her mistress’s blessing.

            “You silly girl,” Koma’s mistress said to her dismissively. “You barely know the boy. You cannot speak of love so freely.”

            “My lady,” Koma said, blinking away her tears. “I cannot explain it, but I feel as though I have known him all my life.”

            “Speak no more of this foolishness,” her mistress said. “I will not lose my loveliest maid to a common servant boy.”

            “My darling,” Gon’s familiar voice broke through Koma’s daydream. She grinned, nearly forgetting all her troubles, and fell into his arms. He held her close and smiled. In her presence, he was brave and sure. Leaving home did not scare him anymore. His only fear was a life without Koma.

            “Are you ready?” he murmured into her soft, black hair.

            She nodded, struck silent with nervous excitement. He took her hand and slung her small bag over his shoulder. Without a glance back to their homes, they set off into the night.

By late afternoon the next day, they found themselves in a bustling town. Vendors shouted from every direction, trying to sell their products. Children and animals scampered about the streets. Soldiers roamed on horseback, surveying the crowd for signs of conflict.

            “We must get something to eat,” Gon said wearily. “You must be starving.”

            “We have no money,” Koma said, shaking her head. She was always careful not to complain, as she knew Gon would do anything for her.

            “You wait here,” he said, ushering her into a small alley. “I will get us some food. I’ll just take what we need to get by. Soon I’ll find work, and we can live an honest life.”

            “Gon-“ Koma protested, but he had already darted across the road to a busy vendor. Koma watched anxiously as he snuck around the booth and grabbed two small items.

            “Hey, thief!” boomed a voice from nearby. Koma gasped as a group of soldiers came towards Gon, spears raised, and surrounded him. Her heart nearly stopped. Tears rolled down her cheeks as they dragged him away.

            Gon spent an excruciating month locked away in a prison cell, fretting endlessly about Koma’s fate. What could have become of her, a defenseless young woman who had never once left home, all alone in a foreign city? It was torture to think about. He had tried tirelessly to implore his guards to search for her, but they had merely laughed.

             Then one day, a guard unlocked Gon’s cell.

            “Come, criminal,” he said. “The queen desires that all well-behaved prisoners be trained as servants.”

            So Gon gained a measure of freedom. During the day, he attended to the needs of the royal family. They were pleased with his work and manners and soon promoted him to a well-respected rank. But each night, he snuck out of the palace and searched for any sign of his beloved Koma. He half-hoped that she had fled after his arrest and somehow made it back safely to her mistress’s home. Still, he could not accept that he would never see her again.

            One night as he was returning to his room in the palace, he spotted a dark figure moving towards the queen’s bedchamber door. Something in the figure’s hand glinted in the moonlight.

            A dagger!

            “Stop!” Gon yelled, running towards the intruder. “Help! An assassin!” he shouted wildly.

            Guards came rushing to his aid as he tackled the figure into the ground. The dagger slid across the floor. The figure struggled to escape Gon’s grasp, but guards soon surrounded them both. Gon squinted through the moonlight at his captive and finally recognized the face of one of the royal advisors.

            “You snake!” one of the guards spat at the man. They yanked him up and led him towards the prison cells. Another guard, the man who used to patrol Gon’s cell, helped him to his feet.

            “The queen will hear of your bravery,” he assured Gon, inclining his head respectfully. “You will be greatly rewarded.”

            The next day, Gon was promoted from a servant to a guardsman by the queen herself. As happy as he was for the honor, his heart still ached terribly for his love.

A few months later, Gon was out on patrol in the busy city. He spotted a bit of trouble off to the side of the street involving a young vendor in a large hat and some townspeople. The townsmen were large and rowdy, and one was yanking at the cloth the poor vendor was trying to sell.

            “No way you’ll get such a price for this ugly of trash,” the man said, stepping towards the vendor. “Surely a lovely girl like you can understand the value of beauty.” He yanked off her large hat. Gon grabbed the man’s arm from behind and took the hat away easily.

            “Surely such a goon like you knows the penalty for stealing,” Gon said, and he shoved the man off to the other guards nearby.

            “Here you are, miss,” he said, turning to the vendor. His heart leapt at the sight of Koma staring wide-eyed back at him.

            So the overjoyed couple finally married and lived a long, happy life together in a lovely little house near the palace. 

(Maple Viewing at Takao by Kano Hideyori, early 16th C) 

Author's Note. This story is based off of The Cat's Elopement from the Japanese Fairy Tales Unit. In the original story, Gon and Koma are cats owned by a "master" and a "mistress." The two meet and fall in love, but each owner refuses to part with their beloved cats. Gon and Koma finally decide to run away together one night and end up in a park, where they come across a big mean dog. Koma runs up a tree to hide and Gon is rescued by a servant of the local princess. The princess loves Gon and treats him well. He eventually saves the princess from an actual snake. After that, he is treated even more royally. One day, Gon sees that a big cat is bullying a small one and goes to help the victim, who turns out to be Koma. He and Koma go to the princess, who gladly allows them to live happily ever after with her.

In my version, I changed Gon and Koma to humans. Of course, the fact that the main characters were no longer cats lead to some necessary changes. I struggled for a while with how to keep close to the original story while having the events make sense for the now-human characters. Firstly, I made them instead the favorite servants of their master/mistress. This was the closest I could keep to the dynamic between the two young lovers and their "owners." For the conflict that separates Koma and Gon, I altered the run-in with a dog to a run-in with the law. (Gon stealing food was not a part of the original story.) 

I really struggled with keeping this story in the word limit. I would have loved to expanded on so many parts, particularly the couple's reunion at the end.

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