Thursday, August 15, 2013

The Maiden's Tower


This is a short story I wrote that is based off of two legends associated with The Maiden's Tower in Istanbul. One of the legends is called The Princess Story and the other is called Hero and Leander. I decided to mesh the two together and have it involve children as the main characters. Enjoy!


The Maiden’s Tower
by Charlane Jackson

 

            I knew I needed to rescue Hero the moment I heard her voice calling over the waves.

            “Take me away!” she would cry every night, the sound of water lapping all around her words.

            Rescuing Hero will not be an easy task. For one thing, she is stranded atop an ivory tower in the middle of the Bosphorus Straight. Also, her father is the sultan and is the one who imprisoned her there. I knew the consequence would be death if I was ever found out.

            Nonetheless, I was prepared to take on this feat.

            “Leander?” my mother asked, interrupting me from my thoughts. “You’ve hardly touched your breakfast! Where is your mind today?”

            If only she knew. I looked down at the menemen that my mother has prepared for me today. Any other day I would have scarfed it down, as it is my favorite meal. “I’m sorry mama, I guess I’m just not that hungry this morning.”

            My mother scrutinized me a moment longer and then began to busy herself by putting on her yashmak. This meant she was heading out to the bazaar soon. A good thing for me--I highly doubted that she would approve of what I had planned for today.

            As soon as she stepped out, I leapt up from the table and discarded my uneaten menemen. I hastily snatched up my satchel and headed out the door.
 
Read the rest! Do it, do it now.
 

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