NOTE: This story can now be read over on my portfolio site, A Monster's Bond, so please go check it out there, since it will have more editing and refinement than this version!
The Clever, Brave and Wise
A noble councilman and his wife had two children, the first of which was a daughter who was as beautiful as her mother and as noble as her father, and the second was a son who they named Moonlight, for he was as stunning as his namesake and his kindness was like a light in the darkness for all who met him.
Once Moonlight came to be of marriageable age, he brought forth a request to his family.
"Father, Mother, Sister," Moonlight said. "I will marry a woman who is clever, brave or wise, and I will take no other. So long as she is clever, brave or wise, I shall gladly accept the proposal."
While Moonlight's father set about his business for the council, he was approached by a woman with hair the color of silver who was adorned in the simple clothes and fanciful trinkets of a tinkerer.
"Are you perchance the father of Moonlight?" the silver-haired woman asked. "If so, I would like to ask for his hand in marriage."
"I am indeed," the father said. "To marry Moonlight you must be clever, brave or wise, which are you?"
"I am clever," the woman said. "Please allow me to prove this to you."
She brought the father to her workshop, which was filled with wonderous inventions forged of metal, including a bow that would amplify the force of an arrow threefold and a chariot that could fly.
The father was much impressed by her workmanship and accepted the silver-haired woman's proposal, slating the wedding for the seventh day.
While the father was away, Moonlight's sister was shopping in the town when she was approached by a woman with hair the color of gold who wore intricate plate armor and a sword at her hip.
"Would you be the sister of Moonlight?" the gold-haired woman asked. "If so, I would like to ask you for his hand in marriage."
"I am his sister, yes," the sister said. "But my brother will only accept a wife who is clever, brave or wise, which are you?"
"I am one who is brave," the woman said. "If you will follow me, I shall prove it."
And so the sister followed the gold-haired woman to the training area of the city guard, and the woman demonstrated her great prowess with many weapons by besting members of the guard.
The sister was in awe of the woman's great skill in the martial arts, so she accepted the gold-haired woman's proposal and slated the wedding for the seventh day.
That same day, Moonlight's mother was sitting on the veranda of their estate when a bronze-haired woman in the elaborate robes of a sage approached her.
"You are Moonlight's mother," the bronze-haired woman said. "I would like to ask for his hand in marriage."
"Yes, I am his mother," the mother said. "My son will only take a wife who is clever, brave or wise, which are you?"
"I have great wisdom," the woman said. "I will prove this to you."
The bronze-haired woman demonstrated the ways in which she could see that which was true, allowing her to know of things that might otherwise be unknown.
The mother was astonished by the bronze-haired woman's knowledge and abilities and accepted the bronze-haired woman's proposal, slating the wedding for the seventh day.
When the father returned home, he told his wife and daughter what had happened and what he had done. After he had finished, they each relayed the events of their own days, and the three came to realize they had invited three intended brides to the same wedding, and they were unsure how to choose between them.
However, when the day of the wedding came, Moonlight was nowhere to be found.
"Moonlight has been abducted by a mighty dragon," the bronze-haired woman said. "He has been taken to her cave in the northern woods."
The father was frightened, and asked for the silver-haired woman to come up with a means to save their son. She swiftly produced a flying chariot and the powerful bow that she had shown the father before.
The three female suitors and the father set out to the northern woods in the flying chariot, and they swiftly arrived before the dragon's cave.
The dragon pounced out of the cave to meet them with her her great wings outstretched, and she stood taller than a house, with platinum scales and a crest of black horns
The gold-haired woman took the bow the silver-haired woman had created and stepped forward to face the dragon. She and the dragon battled, but neither could inflict any serious wounds on the other.
However, a few minutes after the fighting began, Moonlight ran out of the cave with his arms outstretched.
"Please, both of you, stop!" Moonlight called.
Both the gold-haired woman and the dragon stopped and all present turned to look at Moonlight.
"Father," Moonlight said. "I see that you have brought the three female suitors who are clever, brave or wise. However, I do not wish to marry any of them."
"Why, my son?" the father asked. "Are they not exactly as you asked?"
"They are indeed clever, brave or wise," Moonlight said. "However, I have found one instead who is all three."
"Where is this individual that is clever, brave and wise?" the father asked.
Moonlight stepped up next to the dragon. "This mighty dragon is all of these things," Moonlight said.
As he spoke, the dragon morphed into the form of a platinum-haired woman with black horns in an elegant platinum dress.
Moonlight took her hand and she smiled at him. "Father, will you allow us to be wedded?" he asked.
In spite of the protests of the female suitors, the father agreed to have them married, and so Moonlight happily married the mighty platinum-haired dragon.
Author's Note:
I had a lot of fun making some changes to this story.
Firstly, I did a gender swap for Moonlight, Moonlight's sibling, the three suitors, and the monster. So Moonlight became male, and the sibling, suitors and monster became female.
The biggest change I made though was to the ending of the story.
In the original story, the brave suitor slays the monster, and then the three suitors argue over who truly deserves to marry Moonlight, as the Wise suitor told where Moonlight was, the Clever suitor provided the means to get there and to slay the monster, and the Brave suitor actually slayed the monster. This was pitched as a sort of riddle, and the ultimate decision was that the Brave suitor should marry Moonlight, since they actually slayed the monster.
I decided to change it up though, and instead have Moonlight marry the monster. The original monster was a cruel giant, but I instead turned it into an elegant dragon. And then to provide the justification for the choice within the story, I thought it made sense that the dragon would be Clever, Brave and Wise, in essence making the dragon equal to all of the suitors put together. (And I feel all of this suits the typical mythos around dragons, which can often shapeshift, and are often very intelligent and courageous)
I also decided to include a little detail in the hair colors of the four eventual suitors, which was something of a ranking for who was most fit to marry Moonlight. So I selected the hair colors in order of increasing value, so from Bronze to Silver to Gold to Platinum.
The Wise suitor in the original story struck me as being the most replaceable, since there are plenty of ways to figure out where Moonlight had been taken, so I gave the Wise suitor Bronze. The Clever suitor was what enabled the Brave suitor to get there quickly and slay the monster, so I gave them Silver. And of course, the Brave suitor is the one who was actually slaying the monster to save Moonlight, so I gave them Gold. And then I made the dragon Platinum, since the dragon was greater than all of them.
Another fun little detail I included was while the other two suitors asked to make sure they had the right person, the Wise suitor simply knew they were asking the right person.
A minor detail I changed was that I swapped the order of the adjectives. "Brave, Wise and Clever" was how the original did it, but I thought it made more sense to put them in the order we meet the suitors, which would be "Clever, Brave and Wise".
I think that about sums up the changes that I made to this story, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved telling it!
Bibliography:
Story Source: "Brave, Wise, Clever" by Arthur W. Ryder
Image Source: Clipart by OpenClipart-Vectors
