About The Golden Hart King

Stories::Meta

This story is based on an old tale from India. In the Indian story there are two herds of deer, and in the end the king of the golden deer succeeds in securing safety, not only for both herds of deer, but for all animals, even the birds and the fish. I simplified the tale quite a bit for today, in part because I wanted to put forward the idea that a king should be willing to do anything he asks his subjects to do, but also because I had heard the tale a while ago and only remembered the barest parts of it.

That's really the essence of storytelling, if indeed there is one. You remember the outline of the story and the main points, and flesh out the details. That makes the story your own. Even when we tell familiar stories like Cinderella we never tell the story the same way the ancient Chinese or Charles Perrault or Walt Disney or the Algonquins or the Egyptians did, or do. We add characters, invent dialogue, or change the plot a little. My granddaughter's current favorite version has Ella going to two different balls, and she only loses her slipper at midnight of the second night.