Ronan's Revenge

I can't remember where I first found this story! I have, however, tweaked it a bit for my own telling.

For more stories, a random blog, books and other stuff, you're welcome to drop by my website: www.TinaKonstant.com.

Listen here, or pick it up and subscribe on your favourite Podcast Player including:

STAY IN TOUCH!

If you want Waffle-Free Stories dropped at your digital doorstep, AND the (tweaked and updated) transcripts to episodes 7, 8, 9 and 10, then click here, fill in the "Join the conversation" form, and I'll send them right to you.

STORY TRANSCRIPT

Far up north there was a land wrapped in a perpetual winter - nothing but snow and ice. The people in that land struggled to find food and warmth because the sea was barren and the animals of the land hid in deep caves. As a result, the people were cold and hungry and in a family, one more child can often prove to be one child too many.

So it was with one such family - a mother, a father and three children. During a particularly cold stretch, the two parents got together and discussed which child they should get rid of. After much discussion, they decided that their oldest daughter, Ronan, the one who asked too many questions, who had too many opinions... that's the one who should go.

So the father went to the cliffs at the edge of the barren sea and made a deal with the skies.

The next day, Ronan’s parents sent her to the cliffs on the edge of the barren sea and told her to collect firewood. Ronan was surprised. There was no firewood to be found on the cliffs, but it would give her a break from the tedium of her household chores and her parent's bickering, so she went.

Now when she got there, she saw far out to sea, there was a boat. It was, even from a distance, a most remarkable boat. The sails were white, and it was lined with furs, and best of all, there was a smell of hot, fresh food. And on the boat was a man. He was tall and strong and looked like his skin had soaked in the sun. The man waved to Ronan. He asked her if she wanted to travel to a land where there was sun and warmth and food. Ronan didn’t think twice. She waved the man ashore, and she got on the boat.

But no sooner had the man left the shore than he raised his arms to the sky where they turned from limbs to mightily wings. Instead of resting on a bed of fur, she was clinging to sharp, hard talons. A powerful albatross swept to the sky carrying Ronan with him.

They flew to the cliffs on the far side of the land where he dropped her into a nest full of screaming chicks.

Ronan realised immediately what her parents had done. So from the nest, she began to cry and wail, begging her parents to bring her back.

After a whole year, the parents finally accepted that they couldn't manage without Ronan, so her father got in his boat and sailed across the long, barren ocean to the cliffs where he rescued Ronan from the Albatrosses nest.

But it didn’t take long for the Albatross to realise that Ronan was gone. He swept across the ocean until he found the small boat. He cursed Ronan’s father for breaking the deal: "You told me if I...

I can't remember where I first found this story! I have, however, tweaked it a bit for my own telling.

For more stories, a random blog, books and other stuff, you're welcome to drop by my website: www.TinaKonstant.com.

Listen here, or pick it up and subscribe on your favourite Podcast Player including:

STAY IN TOUCH!

If you want Waffle-Free Stories dropped at your digital doorstep, AND the (tweaked and updated) transcripts to episodes 7, 8, 9 and 10, then click here, fill in the "Join the conversation" form, and I'll send them right to you.

STORY TRANSCRIPT

Far up north there was a land wrapped in a perpetual winter - nothing but snow and ice. The people in that land struggled to find food and warmth because the sea was barren and the animals of the land hid in deep caves. As a result, the people were cold and hungry and in a family, one more child can often prove to be one child too many.

So it was with one such family - a mother, a father and three children. During a particularly cold stretch, the two parents got together and discussed which child they should get rid of. After much discussion, they decided that their oldest daughter, Ronan, the one who asked too many questions, who had too many opinions... that's the one who should go.

So the father went to the cliffs at the edge of the barren sea and made a deal with the skies.

The next day, Ronan’s parents sent her to the cliffs on the edge of the barren sea and told her to collect firewood. Ronan was surprised. There was no firewood to be found on the cliffs, but it would give her a break from the tedium of her household chores and her parent's bickering, so she went.

Now when she got there, she saw far out to sea, there was a boat. It was, even from a distance, a most remarkable boat. The sails were white, and it was lined with furs, and best of all, there was a smell of hot, fresh food. And on the boat was a man. He was tall and strong and looked like his skin had soaked in the sun. The man waved to Ronan. He asked her if she wanted to travel to a land where there was sun and warmth and food. Ronan didn’t think twice. She waved the man ashore, and she got on the boat.

But no sooner had the man left the shore than he raised his arms to the sky where they turned from limbs to mightily wings. Instead of resting on a bed of fur, she was clinging to sharp, hard talons. A powerful albatross swept to the sky carrying Ronan with him.

They flew to the cliffs on the far side of the land where he dropped her into a nest full of screaming chicks.

Ronan realised immediately what her parents had done. So from the nest, she began to cry and wail, begging her parents to bring her back.

After a whole year, the parents finally accepted that they couldn't manage without Ronan, so her father got in his boat and sailed across the long, barren ocean to the cliffs where he rescued Ronan from the Albatrosses nest.

But it didn’t take long for the Albatross to realise that Ronan was gone. He swept across the ocean until he found the small boat. He cursed Ronan’s father for breaking the deal: "You told me if I took her, she'd take care of my chicks!"

The Albatross was so angry he dived into the sea and swirled it into a fury causing waves ten feet high to crash over the small boat. In order to save himself, the father threw Ronan overboard hoping to appease the Albatross. But Ronan swam to the surface and clung to the boat. Her father took out his knife and stabbed her hands. Ronan fell into the ocean, and whether it was fury from the Albatross or magic from Ronan, each drop of blood that fell from her hand turned into seals. Ronan clung to the boat again, and again, her father stabbed her hands. Once more Ronan was forced to let go. This time, the blood from her hands turned to a myriad fish! Shoal after shoal joined the seal and battled the albatross beneath the waves. One more time, Ronan grabbed the edge of the boat but again, her father stabbed her hands. This time, from the drops of blood, mighty whales were born.

By now, Ronan was exhausted, and she sank deep, deep to the bottom of the ocean.

As the sea calmed, the father stared at the water teaming with food and he rowed back to his home where he told his wife what had happened. The parents realised that to catch this might bounty, they’d need the help of the village, they went to the elders with a wild story that didn’t include what they’d done to Ronan.

But the village elders were wise and knew these parents. They took the last remaining siblings into their care and banished the parents to the edge of the village to fend for themselves.

From the bottom of the ocean, Ronan heard everything. She called her animals to her and told them to fetch her parents. The whales, the fish and the seals created a mighty swell that flooded the parents’ home, washing them into the ocean where they were dragged to the ocean floor. There, Ronan pinned them both to the earth with mighty rocks forcing to watch what they saw as food, but never able to eat it.

But because of the kindness the elders showed her siblings, Ronan made a deal with the village. Once a year, Ronan would give safe passage for a medicine man to swim to the bottom of the ocean to tend Ronan’s damaged hands. In exchange, she’d give the village all the fish they needed to keep them fed through the long, cold winter months.

THE END