Week 7 Story: Sentaro's Journey
Sentaro's Journey
The paper crane carried Sentaro over hills and mountains and
rivers and oceans until he was finally dropped in the middle of a busy street with
buildings taller than any he had every seen. Everything was shiny like metal,
but not like any metal he had ever seen. He spun around, taking in his
surroundings, and as far as he could see there were tall buildings and people
and strange moving machines on wheels unlike he had ever seen. He stopped a
person and demanded to know where he was. They gave him a strange look and told
him he was in a place called “New York City”. He decided that this must have
been the Land of Paradise the hermits had told him about. But strangely, no one
was smiling, as he had assumed they would be. They looked rushed and
unfriendly. But, he thought to himself, maybe that meant that everyone was content
with their own lives enough that they didn’t want to concern themselves with
other people’s lives. He began to walk down the street looking at all the bright
lights and the strange clothing the people were wearing. He came to a place
serving food and walked in. He pointed to a picture of the food, but for some
reason they didn’t understand him. He got angry and left and continued to walk
down the street. He became increasingly more bothered by by what he saw. No one
seemed happy to be there. He thought to himself that he couldn’t stay in
Paradise if this was what it did to him. So he prayed to his gods to return him
to his old life, where he could be happy. The crane re appeared in his pocket
and carried him back the way they came and he returned home and lived out the
rest of his life peacefully.
Back on the mountain, the hermits decided not to ever tell
Sentaro that they had not actually sent him to Paradise but to a land that
would teach him his lesson.
Authors note: In the original story a man has everything he could ever want but wants to escape death and sickness. He wanted the Elixir of life and went to the hermits on the mountain because they knew where he could find it. They told him his request was selfish and that they could not give him the elixir but could send him to a place where no one dies called the Land of Paradise. I took the original story and instead of Sentaro going to the Land of Paradise where no one ever dies but everyone wants to, I took him to NYC, a place that would make him question what was truly paradise.
Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki link to reading
Hi Caroline! Great story!! I loved the last paragraph, when the story comes full circle, and we find out that he was supposed to go to New York City to be taught a lesson! I'm glad it worked!! Maybe you could include the part of the man being unhappy in his original home at the beginning, so we have an idea of what's going on.
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline! This story is great! I loved how it taught Sentaro a lesson. Stories that have underlying messages are my favorite, because people can interpret them so differently. Like you said in the original story it made the maan question what was paradise. Was that the case in your story? Was Sentaro bored and tired of home? What made him take this journey? Great job!
ReplyDeleteHey Caroline! I like the spin you put on this story, especially since you set it in the middle of one of the busiest cities in our world! I did notice that you have a typo in the second line (you put "every" instead of "ever") and that you used the phrase "he had ever seen" three times in a row, but other than that, it looks great! Awesome job!
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