Week 10 Storytelling: Silent Forest

Silent Forest

Once upon a time there was a young couple, Jay and Catari, that lived just outside a great forest. Their love was as big as the great pines that surrounded their humble home and it ran as deep as the crystal clear streams that flowed out from between the trees.

One cold winter, when the forest was white with snow and the streams were frozen solid Catari became very ill. Jay did everything in his power to save his beautiful wife but no healer could rescue her from her fate. 

In his grief Jay hiked into the great forest to find a place to mourn his wife's death. For hours he wondered through the thick pines and soon the sun began to sit.  As he tried to find his way home he became more and more lost until finally he noticed a change in the scenery. As he looked around he realized that all of the trees around him were dead, and there was no sound of birds or any living being. As he continued to walk through the lifeless forest he found a path that he had never noticed before. As the sun faded in the distance he followed the eerie path between quiet trees until he came upon a decrepit long house with smoke starting to rise from the chimney. Grateful to find shelter just as the sun set, Jay ran into the house and was surprised to see many people huddled around the fire. Even though she had her back towards him he instantly recognized Catari.

"Catari," he yelled as he ran to embrace her. "I can't believe I found you!"

When she turned around to embrace him her face was pale and even though she was near the fire she was as cold as ice.  For a moment Jay saw happiness in his wife's eyes but it almost instantly turned into fear, since she knew what happened to the living when they found this place. 

Catari held the embrace for a second before explaining to him that he had wondered into the Silent Forest. With tears running down her face she told her love that he could only stay for the night. since he was still living.  

That night Catari showed Jay around the village. She took him to a nearby lake to see where the children fish, but all Jay saw was broken down canoes with holes in them surrounding a stagnant pond. The children of the village proudly showed off what they had caught but all Jay saw was skeletons of fish and twigs in the nets.

As the night continued Jay began to realize the truth that his wife had spoken, this place would never be able to sustain a living person.  Even though he knew he could not stay past morning he waited until the sun had nearly rose to tell his wife goodbye. As he paddled away in one of the dilapidated canoes, water began to fill the small boat. Before he knew what was happening the water had overtaken him and the canoe was completely underwater. Unable to breath Jay struggled to swim to shore, and passed out on the bank just as the sun was rising.

When Jay woke he was in the same longhouse as before, but it was strangely different. Instead of being old and worn down the house seemed to be brand new. As he tried to stand he heard to whistling of birds and the laughter of children just outside the door. Confused, Jay stepped outside and saw tall lush green pines surrounding the village. In the distance he saw that the stagnant pond had turned into a gorgeous clear lake. As he turned to take in the scenery he saw Catari running towards him only now she was no longer pale.When she jumped into his arms he felt her warmth and in that instant he realized what had happened. In his panic he had swam back to the shore of the Silent Forest. Since the sun rose on him, he had died and was destined to stay in the ghost forest with his wife from that point on.

(Silent Forest, credit to Jaymantri at pexels)

Author's Note

This story was based of the tale, Chinook Ghost. Chinook Ghost is about how a ghost wanted a wife and so he bought the blue jay's sister and took her to the land of the dead. After many questions and much searching the blue jay found his sister and she was surrounded by skeletons. At night the skeletons came to life and were ghost. The blue jay became mischievous and played pranks on the ghost so they banished him. He ended up dying and when he returned to the land as a ghost everything was in pristine condition, unlike when he went to the land when he was alive. In retelling this story I wanted to emphasize the different ways the land of the dead can be perceived. Specifically, I thought it would be interesting to do Jay's view of the land of the dead before and after he was actually dead. I also wanted a stronger connection between the two main characters so I created a new character, Catari, to be the love interest of Jay.

Bibliography

Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon. Katharine Berry Judson. (1910) link.