Story Week 10: Cinderella and the Mint Plant

(Mint plant)

Once upon a time, there was only one mint plant in the entire country.  Everyone had to get their mint from the same plant and we all know how important mint is in life.  Mint is useful for making food and drink taste better, for energy, and for all sorts of ailments, but most especially it is useful for stomach ailments.

Outside a little village in a run down chateau, lived a young maiden named Cinderella.  She was very kind and beautiful and was loved by all animals and most people.  She was supposed to inherit her family chateau and all the family wealth and possessions, but she had a cold cruel step-mother who killed her beloved father.  Once she killed off poor Cinderella's father, she squandered the family fortune, trying to get her own ugly daughters married off into wealth and royalty.  But the daughters were so ugly, inside and out, that no one wanted them.  

The cruel step-mother made a slave of Cinderella.  Cinderella was so troubled by the loss of her father and the cruelty of her step-mother and step-sisters that she began to develop horrible stomach issues.  Cinderella knew that mint was the only remedy for stomach issues so every day she would sneak into the village that was home of the only mint plant in the land so she could get some mint leaves for her trouble stomach.  

One day, the evil step-mother caught Cinderella eating some mint leaves.  Thinking that Cinderella was getting some delicacy and keeping it only for herself, the step-mother bribed someone to pull up the mint plant and take it far, far away.  

Cinderella was devastated by this!  First she lost her father, then she lost her mint plant that was the only thing making her life bearable.  Her stomach got so bad within a few short days that she had no choice but to collapse in her tiny attic room.  The animals that kept Cinderella company saw this and were so worried that poor Cinderella might die if she didn't have her mint plant soon.  They all tried to retrieve the mint plant, but none were successful.  

Finally the tiny hummingbird, who was one of Cinderella's best friends, told the others that he could sneak quickly to the prince and tell him of the troubles that Cinderella was having.  The prince would know what to do and would save poor Cinderella.  So the hummingbird went quickly to the prince at dawn and told the prince about what had become of poor Cinderella and begged for help getting back the mint plant.

The prince was so moved by the bird's devotion to Cinderella that he set off at once, with the hummingbird leading the way, to retrieve the mint plant.  The prince battled the horrible man guarding the mint plant, defeated him, and dug up the plant, returning it to the village and to its rightful place.  The prince immediately plucked a few mint leaves and followed the hummingbird to the run-down chateau to take them to Cinderella. 

Upon seeing the prince, the step-mother tried to tell him that there was no Cinderella there, but that both her daughters had stomach issues and were in dire need of mint leaves.  The prince wouldn't listen to her, but instead followed the hummingbird up to the attic where they found poor Cinderella nearly dead from her sorrow and stomach troubles.  The prince immediately gave Cinderella the mint leaves to chew and she felt instantly better.  The prince and Cinderella looked into each other's eyes and fell madly in love, so the prince carried Cinderella out of the run-down place and back to his castle where she was nursed back to health.  They were soon married and lived happily ever after.  So happily in fact, that Cinderella's stomach issues were never a problem again, so she sent the animals with mint leaves to all the villages so they could be planted and shared and there was plenty of mint for everyone!

Author's note:  I liked the story, of the tobacco from the Cherokee myths and that all the little animals wanted to help the old woman who was dying from her need of tobacco.  However I didn't like that it was tobacco that would save someone, because why would I encourage smoking when I'm deathly allergic to it.  I wanted to make it a truly useful plant, with real medical benefits, in my story so I used the much better mint plant.  And the fact that all the animals wanted to help made me think of Cinderella so I decided to make it Cinderella instead of the old woman that the animals were helping and that she needed the mint plant to make her better.  It would be very logical after the way Cinderella was treated by her evil step-mother and step-sisters, that she would have ulcers and other stomach issues and mint is known to help these things so I made it so that the animals would need to rescue the mint plant to bring Cinderella back to life.  And because it's Cinderella, you have to have a prince saving the day so they can fall madly in love and live happily ever after, I let the hummingbird (who was the actual hero in the original story) go to the prince for help so the prince could bring the mint leaves back to Cinderella and they could all live happily ever after.  And without any more stress in her life, of course Cinderella's stomach issues would all go away and there would be mint for everyone.

Bibliography:  "The Tobacco and the Strawberries" from Cherokee myths.  Weblink.