Week 6 (Storytelling): Kai-Lan

 

(Laotian Wedding Tradition; source: Our Journeys Within)

January 7, 1707

“To my one and only Kaipo,

It has been many months since our last meeting. I constantly think about you and the past times when we were together. Remember when we used to gaze at the stars or when we found that lost puppy? I recently saw that puppy with its family and she looked very happy! I wish I could feel just as happy. I miss your handsome face looking at me. I miss your strong hands holding mine. I miss your calm voice steadying my heart. Ever since my father forbade me to see you, you are all I can think about.

I hate my father. He and his servants are constantly watching me. My father is frequently boasting to others how he drove you away. He invites many suitors into my home. He is expecting me to marry one of them. However, I refuse all of them. You are all that I want. No one can compare to you. Our love is stronger than any distance that keeps us apart. I will never betray our love or you.

We have been apart for too long. These past months have felt like centuries to me. Time moves so slowly when you are not around. I cannot wait anymore. My father is hosting a feast for all in the province tomorrow night. Please come. I must see you. I must be with you.

Love,

Your Dearest Aelan”

The next night, the feast was held. It was possibly grander than any of the king’s feasts. People from all over the province came to enjoy the festivities. They were everywhere and the room was filled with constant laughter and merriment. Everyone was enjoying the party except for one, Aelan. She constantly kept an eye out for her dear lover. However, she could not find him. Dismayed, she stepped outside into the garden to get away from the crowd. Suddenly, she heard shrubs shake and turned around to see her lover, Kaipo, standing there in front of her. She ran to him and they embraced. Tears filled her eyes and it felt as if they had never been separated at all. Kaipo looked lovingly into Aelan’s eyes. Right then, he pleaded her to elope with him. She did not think twice before complying. They both jumped on his horse and while they did that, a servant saw them trying to escape. He immediately told Aelan’s father and a search party was formed.

Kaipo and Aelan went far past the city limits and into the dangerous and rocky mountains. The two lovers came to a huge canyon and had nowhere to go. The search party was catching up to them. They were trapped. Kaipo and Aelan looked at each other and nodded. They both decided that they would rather die together than be separated again. So, they jumped. They were so close to making it to the other side, but their weight was just too much. The couple and their steed fell into the river at the bottom of the canyon. The search party saw this. The river was two hundred feet below the top of the rocky canyon, so there was no way the couple could have survived. They decided that there was no reason to continue and they returned home. However, by the will of God, the couple and horse fell into the river and survived the fall. They scrambled out of the river with a few bruises, but very much alive. The couple was so tired that they laid on the riverbank and looked up into the stars. They lived happily ever after.

Author's Note - The original storyline comes from Lovers' Leap in the Laos Unit. For my past storytellings, I usually do a modernization of the plot, but this time I did something different and tried a love letter style. In the original plot, the lovers do not make it over the cliff, but I wanted to have a happier ending than that. Then, in my original storytelling, I wrote that the couple made it over to the other side of the canyon, but I realized that it was a bit predictable so I changed it for my portfolio to the way it is now. I actually like my new ending a lot and I think it is more interesting. Other than that, I kept the story basically the same. For the title, I combined the lovers' names together. In Laotian, "Kaipo" is a male name meaning "sweetheart" and "Aelan" is a female name meaning "flower." I know that it is pretty cheesy. In fact, my whole story is pretty cheesy. I imagined the lovers to be around sixteen or seventeen years old so I figured that I could get away with it. This reminded me a bit of Romeo and Juliet as I was reading it so I added the detail about the stars. Star-crossed lovers usually have tragic endings because the stars controls people’s fates, but like I said, I wanted a happier ending. Therefore, in the end, I just had the couples stare at the stars as a triumph over what their fate should have been. 

If you are having trouble deciding what unit to read next week, I highly recommend the Laos Unit! It has some really good stories and many have surprising endings. The diction and wording are also easy to read! If you have any suggestions for what I should read next week, please leave a comment below!


Book: Laos Fairy Tales

Author: Katherine Neville Fleeson

Year Published: 1899

Web Source: Project Gutenberg