Week 3 Story: Greek Mariothology
The goomba thieves feasted in the night with food supplied from Rosalina before they began their journey. They trek across a stream where they stop to drink and continue to the village. The Goombas arrive at the home of a young princess and steal her into the night as quickly as they came. Once they arrive back at the cave where they all home, the princess cries endlessly and laments her separation from her dearest family. As the princess will not eat or sleep, Rosalina attempts to console her. Rosalina becomes angry that she will not quit crying, therefore she inquires what is making her so upset.
She said, "Today was my wedding day. Friends and family had gathered to watch me be wed to Luigi, and I even dreamed that something horrible may happen."
Rosalina replied, "Let me divert your attention from your troubles by telling you a story"
In a royal city far away, the King and Queen had three daughters. Birdo and Toadette, who were beautiful, and Princess Peach, whose beauty was indescribable. Visitors from all over the Mario universe came to lay eyes on Princess Peach, as if she were superior to the Goddess Daisy. This upset Daisy, so she ordered her son Yoshi to lay a curse on Princess Peach's relationships. Because of this curse, men from all over would come to marry her sisters but only wanted her to look at. The King, suspecting anger from the gods, consults the great oracle Toad. Toad reveals to him that a green creature is coming to lead her into a dreadful marriage. The king and queen are distraught by her fate, but lead her to her doomed wedding anyway. They take her up to a mountaintop and leave her alone to be taken.
Once Princess Peach is alone, she is lifted by a gentle cloud named Lakitu that takes her down into the valley below. She is exhausted from her emotions and fear, so she decides to take a nap in the valley. When the princess awakes, she's located in a beautiful meadow with trees and a stream, which is next to a gorgeous palace. She decides to explore the palace, only to see items that would belong to a god. In solitude, she takes a relaxing bath and eats dinner, accompanied by the occasional whisper of voices. Princess peach is overcome by sadness due to her lack of companionship, and her mysterious husband whispers in her ear to not be sad, and that everything in the castle is hers. He takes her as his wife, although he is a bodiless and unidentifiable figure.
Her husband soon tells her that her sisters, Birdo and Toadette, miss her and are convinced that she has died. She begs him to let her sisters come see the palace, and him not being able to resist her beauty, gives in to her demands. The one condition is that the Princess cannot reveal any details about him. She obliges and promises to meet his requests. He warns of pain for both of them if she chooses to reveal his identity. The sisters are brought down off the mountaintop the next day by Lakitu and into the palace. The three sisters have an emotional reuniting, as the two sisters are ecstatic to find Princess Peach alive. They marvel at the beauty of the palace that their sister lives in and can't help but feel envy towards her. After spending time together, the two sisters leave and agree to plot revenge on her for not sharing her wealth and for keeping details about her husband a secret.
The sisters decide to return again, this time with the intent to convince Princess Peach that her husband is in fact a beast and that she should not be married to him. They inquire more again about her mysterious husband, but again, she keeps her promise to him. Day by day, the sisters return in order to convince her that her husband is malicious. They find out that Princess Peach is pregnant with this man's child, and that it could potentially be the child of a god. One day, they remind Princess Peach of the prophecy from Toad and instill within her that her child she is carrying may be a beast. This horrifies her, and she admits to her sisters that she still does not know what her husband looks like, breaking her promise to him. They encourage her to kill him in his sleep when he lays next to her.
That night she puts a razor blade under her pillow with the intent to end his life. When she awakes, she sees a gentle toad on the pillow next to her. She instantly falls in love with him and realizes what a horrible mistake she has made. He awakes and realizes what she has done when he sees the blade. Yoshi reveals to her that he was sent by Daisy to curse her relationships, but fell in love with her instead. Her husband ordered her to leave the palace and never return.
She walked to a kingdom where she knew that her brother was ruling, and requested their presence to share the news. Birdo and Toadette arrive at the kingdom, and Princess Peach shares with them the consequences of their suggestions. Once Birdo hears that the princess has been banished, she travels to the palace so that she can have Yoshi to herself. She hastily jumps off the mountain, expecting to be met by Lakitu, but is only met by the harsh and unforgiving rocks of the valley.
"Cupid and Psyche" by Apuleius, from The Golden Ass. Web source: Mythology and Folklore Un-Textbook
Author's Note
This story was originally about Cupid and Psyche, where Psyche is the third sister and Cupid us the mysterious husband, sent by the Goddess Venus. The story originally is about the sister who is cursed by Venus for her beauty so she marries Cupid, and betrays him by telling his identity. All of the plot elements are the same, I just changed the characters to ones that are a part of the Mario Universe because it is very relatable to our age demographic. Princess Peach is Psyche, Yoshi is Cupid, Daisy is Venus, Birdo and Toadette are the two sisters, Rosalina is the old woman, Lakitu is the zephyr, and the goombas are the robbers.
Hello Sidney,
ReplyDeleteI really love how you turned this story into a Mario Universe tragic love story. I'm sure the majority of this class grew up playing Mario cart or at least being around it which makes this story so interesting. I would've never thought to do this but I love it! This was a very fun and creative story!
Sidney, I'm honestly so glad you wrote this piece because when I saw the title I immediately knew I wanted to read it! I think it's cool you took the time to take Mario Universe lore and combine it with Greek Mythology to write this piece. That said, if you're up for it, it'd be cool if you went more in depth with Peach and Yoshi's relationship since it is only briefly mentioned; naturally, though I get it since it was a lot to rewrite, so either way even without that in depth detail the story was enjoyable, and I could easily follow along. Likewise, maybe clarify if you're keeping Yoshi as he appears in the Mario Universe, etc. or if you're making him a humanized version to make the relationship make a little more sense. Other then those few things, again, I enjoyed your story and how creative it was. I look forward to reading future works from you!
ReplyDeleteSidney, this retelling of Cupid and Psyche was so entertaining! I loved seeing all the characters that I grew up playing as on Nintendo in this new light. I think it would be cool to see a plot twist in some way. Another thing that you could dive into more is the relationship between Daisy and Yoshi. What do you think a typical day was like inside that massive palace?
ReplyDeleteHi Sidney! Wow this was such a creative and interesting way to retell this story! I saw the title and immediately wanted to read it! I think that using something so well-known to our age-group to take a classic and make it more accessible is such a fun idea. I was wondering how you chose which character in the Mario universe would represent which character in the original telling. Did you do research into the background of the Mario universe or just think about which ones made sense based on your experiences with it? Either way I think it turned out great! It would be interesting to learn a little bit more about Peach's marriage with Yoshi, like does she know it's Yoshi? The story mentioned that she could not reveal his identity, but it seems as if she did not know his identity to start with. I really enjoyed this retelling and would love to see more tales retold in this way!
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