Week 2 Story: The Water Well

Once upon a time, there lived a mother and a daughter in the foothills of the Great Plains. One day the sun rose and brought with it a beautiful sunrise for a very special day. For that day was the daughter’s thirteenth birthday. 
A girl’s thirteenth birthday is seen as a rite of passage that comes with many responsibilities. 
The mother, dreading this day, has been brewing up a plan for quite some time now. The mother, apprehensive about her daughter surpassing her in beauty, wits, and head maiden of the house, devises a mission to murder the birthday girl. 
“Little girl, for now you are coming of age to uphold more household duties. You’re first task of the day is to fetch water from the well four miles uphill to the West. This well is a special one, only to be drawn from on very special occassion. Today calls for the specialist of days.”
   
The little girl, so excited to fetch the magic water, hurries along for her trek with the basket. After travelling the four miles, she notices something very peculiar. There were no water drip marks leaving the well. If people fetch water here, why are there no markings of water leaving the well? Weary of this observation, she fetches water oh so carefully. 
Peering over the edge to grab the rope, a troll appears out of nowhere and shoves her down the well to await her death. 
Knowing there was something malicious going on, the little girl had outsmarted the troll by dragging her water basket in with her as she fell. With this, she was able to reel herself out of the well as she sit in her own basket. She was able to think two steps ahead of the troll and devise a plan to outsmart him. 
The troll, very taken back in amazement at the one person in his lifetime that was able to outsmart him, offered the little water from the well. He even insisted on carrying the full basket back to her home the whole four miles. 
As the troll and daughter creep up to the steps of the house, the mother viciously opens the door and screams in rage. Realizing her mother had intentions to kill her, the daughter takes the bucket of water and throws it. 
“I’M MELTING...HELP ME…”
There the daughter watches as her mother melts away into a puddle of nothing. What goes around comes around...




For the most part, I stuck to the same plot and theme of the original story. I changed the characters and setting to add more of my own personal touch to is, as well as inspiration from the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz. I implemented the same theme, "what goes around comes around". The mother having a malicious heart in deciding to kill her daughter, ended up as her own demise.

Bibliography. Retold Story from "The Man Who Gathered Lotuses". Original story source: Tayodhamma Jataka in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers.
Water Well
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Comments

  1. CamilleFebruary 2, 2020 at 10:37 AM

    Hi Jinal!
    This is a great story! I love the plot and the execution of it. The dialogue was also done very well. I always have trouble inserting dialogue smoothly, but you did it very well. I wonder if the water from he well melts everyone or just the mother. If it does just melt the mother, why? Overall, well done.

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  2. Amandeep KaurFebruary 6, 2020 at 7:41 PM


    Jinal, great job on the story! When I first started reading it, I thought it was going to be a happy story about a mother and daughter who overcome hardships. I loved the twist of the mother actually being the evil one. Question, why does the water not hurt the girl but melts the mom?

    I think "what goes around comes around" is such an important lesson. Personally, I think kindness is the best thing to go around and come around!

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  3. Clara PianaltoFebruary 19, 2020 at 8:12 PM

    Hi Jinal!
    I really enjoyed how you took inspiration for your story from The Wizard of Oz! I felt like the dialogue flowed really well in the story and was easy to follow. Did the daughter know that water would melt her mother before throwing it? I love the “what goes comes around” theme as well. Great story, I enjoyed reading it!!

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