Week 11 story: The Child with the Changing Blossoms
There once was a village in a forest where a child Melonome lived. Melonome was lonely, for they never felt like they fit in with the girls and boys of the tribe. Melonome sometimes wanted to play with the girls and sometimes wanted to play with the boys, but the other children didn't let Melonome play with either group.
Melonome liked to hunt and fish, but they also liked to sew and cook. The women of the village did not approve of Melonome partaking in "men's activities," and the men did not like taking Melonome hunting with them, because they felt Melonome should be at home doing "women's activities."
Melonome felt the only people who understood them were their parents. They tucked Melonome in bed every night and whispered to them, "You aren't like the others. You are special. Everyone will see how wonderful you are some day."
In the mornings, Melonome prayed to the Great Spirit for the others in the village to give them the acceptance they had so desperately wanted their whole life, but everyone in the tribe continued to shun Melonome.
Melonome became so demoralized by the rejection that they refused to go to school one day. They ran to the center of the village and fell to their knees, begging the Great Spirit to make them like everyone else. The Great Spirit took pity on the child, but the Creator never intended for Melonome to be like everyone else. So, instead of making them conform, the Great Spirit turned Melonome into a beautiful flowering shrub. Melonome could change the colors of their blossoms whenever they wanted, to reflect how they were feeling that day. Everyone in the village admired the beautiful flowers that now graced their village. And that's the story of how the Lantana flower with its changing blossoms came to be.
Melonome liked to hunt and fish, but they also liked to sew and cook. The women of the village did not approve of Melonome partaking in "men's activities," and the men did not like taking Melonome hunting with them, because they felt Melonome should be at home doing "women's activities."
Melonome felt the only people who understood them were their parents. They tucked Melonome in bed every night and whispered to them, "You aren't like the others. You are special. Everyone will see how wonderful you are some day."
In the mornings, Melonome prayed to the Great Spirit for the others in the village to give them the acceptance they had so desperately wanted their whole life, but everyone in the tribe continued to shun Melonome.
Melonome became so demoralized by the rejection that they refused to go to school one day. They ran to the center of the village and fell to their knees, begging the Great Spirit to make them like everyone else. The Great Spirit took pity on the child, but the Creator never intended for Melonome to be like everyone else. So, instead of making them conform, the Great Spirit turned Melonome into a beautiful flowering shrub. Melonome could change the colors of their blossoms whenever they wanted, to reflect how they were feeling that day. Everyone in the village admired the beautiful flowers that now graced their village. And that's the story of how the Lantana flower with its changing blossoms came to be.
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| Pink and yellow Lantana flowers. Source: Nikolas Majchrzak
Author's note: This story was inspired by "The Maiden who Loved a Star," a story from the Tejas Legends unit. I like the idea of stories showing how things in nature came to be, and I thought it would be cool to write a legend with a gender nonconforming person as the main character. The Lantana flowers are beautiful, and I wanted to show that GNC people are beautiful, too -- and always have been.
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Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI loved your retelling of the maiden who loved a star! Having a gender non conforming individual as the main character was a wonderful idea. I liked how in the end the person was able to become happy, even if they were turned into a flower. Great work and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work!
ReplyDeleteHi Emily! I really liked reading this story. I love how you explored a different side of gender that is not often covered, especially in historical myths. Your writing is very clear and descriptive, which makes it easy to picture the world that you created in your story. Did you consider having any direct dialogue from the main character? That could have been interesting. Nice job!