Story-Bleu the Magical Thinker

It was destined that a child would save the Village. Monstrous livestock had plagued the Village and every night the harmless sheep and cows would turn into something viscous. These creatures prowled the woods that surrounded the Village and would prey on the village people. When Bleu was born his parents new he was special. When he was ten years old he found an old shepherds horn in his fathers cabinet. When he blew the horn something amazing happened, a sound as loud as a yell and a strong wind came from the horn. When his father heard this he knew his son was the one who was destined to save the Village.

The original Little Boy Blue while he naps. Web Source

From that night on, armed with his horn Bleu would go out and sit on the hay, when the monstrous animals would get too close to the city he would blow his horn and with the powerful sound would push the animals away from the city, scaring them back into the shadows of the wood.

Bleu did this for many years. At first he was excited to have the honor of protecting the city, to be the chosen one. But as he grew up, Bleu no longer wanted this job.  He pleaded with his dad to let one of his other brother’s take over, but his dad refused.

“Please father, I want to experience the world outside of this Village. I have done this for twelve years. Haven’t I done enough?,” Bleu pleaded. But with one look at his father he knew it was no use.

“Stop whining boy, you should be honored that you were chosen for this life. This was destined for you.”

Bleu tried one more time to reason with his father, “Shouldn’t I get a say in how I live my life?”

Expecting anger from his father he was surprised to see resignation. “ I’m truly sorry son, but we are in no position to question or challenge fate. The best we can do is to make the best out of what we have been dealt.”  With a strong pat on his shoulder, Bleu watched his father walk out of the door.

Bleu knew that he needed to take his future into his own hands.  He knew the animals only changed at night, so he needed to find a new way to protect the Village while they were sleeping. The following nights, he tried several different ideas. He locked the animals in pastures, but they still managed to get out. Next he tried to distract the animals with piles of food in the jungle, yet they still came back to the village.  He knew he was running out of ideas, so he began to think. There had to be a reason the animals didn’t change during the day.

That night he surrounded the small village with torches. He thought that if he could keep the light going, even during the night, that the animals wouldn’t change. What he saw surprised him, armed with his horn; he saw that the animals didn’t change. He tested this out for the next two weeks and got the same results. When he approached his father and asked him to come see what he had discovered, his father was amazed.

“Looks like you were destined to save the Village, one way or another. “ He father exclaimed with a heavy pat on the back.

From that night on Bleu realized that he has more to offer than just what destiny had decided. Bleu was finally able to be a normal boy.

Bibliography: This story is bases on the nursery rhyme "Little Boy Blue" in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang.

Author’s Note: I really enjoyed getting to read different nursery rhymes. When I read the story about Little Boy Blue I immediately thought that there had to be something special to a little boy who herds the sheep and cows. I was also struck with the idea about what comes after the fairytale ending or the happily ever after. I knew that Little Boy Bleu would one day grow up and I wanted to see who he would become. I hold the firm belief that everyone has something special about them, whether it is something they are born with or something they discover. Bleu in my story might have been destined to be one thing, but he was took control and became who he wanted to be!