Sam Samurai pt. 1
Once upon a time, in a cottage next to a great wood and next to a small stream lived a woman with 3 children.
The oldest child she named Sam. He was a strong young man of 16, and he had built his muscles helping his mother tend to the land they lived on. He tended their small flock of sheep, and tilled the small plot of land which they grew rice and wheat on, that they would harvest and store up for winter. He had dreams of being a great vassal one day, with slaves to order around to do his work, and to buy his mother fancy clothes to wear, but he figured he would always just be a small farmer and shepherd.
The middle child was named Aiko. She was a very shy girl of 13 years who loved her elder brother very much. She followed him around loyally, doing very un-lady-like things like chopping wood and stomping through the mud which always bothered Sam. When Aiko was not tagging around with Sam, she was absorbed in practicing calligraphy, and reading old scrolls and texts. She was a very smart girl.
The youngest child was a boy of 10 years old named Hiro. He was an energetic boy, who constantly shirked his chores to go running through the forrest and sword fighting imaginary warriors using sticks as swords. Hiro was a very loud, obnoxious boy, but he was also very talented at things like catching fish with sharpened sticks, or climbing trees.
They were very poor because the land they lived in was governed by a powerful young Emperor named Yamato. Yamato had been arguing with some separatists from one of his provinces, and eventually sent a shipment of troops to fight their insurrection. Sam's father was a soldier in Yamato's army and was sent to lead the troops into battle against these rebels. Thanks to Sam's father, the troops conquered the separatists, but tragically, Sam's father died in the battle. No one was left to care for the family, so Sam was forced to take care of his mother, and his siblings. They loved each other, and took care of each other.
Sam looked tiringly over the grain fields that were next to his cottage. They were brown and bare in the hot, mid-day sun. "We will starve this winter if we do not have more crops. The few crops we have are gobbled up by the sheep, and we cannot live on meat all winter long." he told his mother. His mother agreed, they had to do something if they were to survive the long, hard months that lie ahead.
Sam's mother loaded him with food, and some silver coins she had stashed away in a small compartment underneath the floorboards of their cottage, and bid Sam to go to town to sell some goods, and to buy some goods that they could store for the months ahead. "Please take your brother with you, Sam." Sam's mother asked. "I am ill, and have Aiko to help me, but you are coming back with many goods, and will need help from your brother to carry things home."
She then turned to Hiro and sternly looked at him, "Obey your brother, my little renegade. You will help him, and do whatever he says. I need you to act like a grown up. I am counting on you two." Hiro nodded affirmatively.
Town was an entire day's journey away, so Sam and Hiro packed their bags, and recieved kisses, hugs and tears from their mother, and left early the next morning for town. Hiro talked and talked all the way to town, and Sam would frequently roll his eyes or stop to argue with his little brother about how foolish some of his ideas were. "Wouldn't it be neat if Samurai could fly?" Hiro would say.
"That's stupid." Sam said. "How could they fly?"
"They could make wings out of bird feathers" Hiro said.
"You obviously don't know ANYTHING about samurai," said Sam. "Samurai wear armor, and their armor would be way too heavy to fly with. They would fall out of the sky like stones."
"Well, it would STILL be cool." Hiro argued.
"Hiro, do you think I could ever be a Samurai?" Sam said.
Hiro laughed histerically, "You?! yeah, right! A Samurai has to have a sword, and you couldn't afford a sword if you sold our whole house!"
"True," Sam said, still deep in thought, then whispered to himself, "but it would be cool."
They continued to talk about dragons, samurai, ninjas, and other make-believe adventures, and it made their entire walk seem like just a couple of hours instead of days. That evening, they slept in a tree just a mile outside of town, looking at the stars, and opening small packages that their mother had packed in their bags that were filled with rice buns, grape-leaf dumplings and candied ginger she had packed for them.
The next morning they woke up early by the sunlight shining in their eyes. They climbed down from the tree they were sleeping in to stick their feet in the grass that was covered with cold dew, and stretched their arms to the sun as they yawned and then rubbed the sleep from their eyes. "Lets head into town." Sam said to Hiro, yawning. Hiro nodded, scratching his head.
The two boys went into town, filled with excitement and adventure. They were very poor, and perhaps it was a bad thing that they needed to go into town to buy supplies, but they seldom had an opportunity to visit town, so they fluttered from shop to shop looking at oddities and fanciful things they could not afford.
Sam became absorbed in a shop that sold things called "books". Books were a fascinating invention, that he had never seen before. Several sheets of paper were bound together with hinged pieces of wood on the top and bottom of the stack of paper to protect the sheets and to hold them fast together. Sam turned over the pages of one of these "books" to find several tiny characters. He didn't know how to read, but he recognized it as writing.
"You like that? That's a work of genius!" the bent, old shopkeeper walked out and pointed to the book in Sam's hands. "It's a story of a samurai who was killed one night, and his memory haunts the people he left behind. An assassin claims he killed the samurai, and tries to repent of his sins. His wife claims she killed her husband by letting him walk out in the woods alone late at night... and the samurai's ghost shows up, and explains to both of them that he saw all the signs of his death around him, but he ignored him so HE was responsible for his own death. Quite interesting... you should read it."
Sam deflated a bit... "Oh... Sorry, shopkeeper. I was just looking. I have no money, and do not know how to read." His finger traced the lining of the beautifully carved cover while he talked. His sister, Aiko had time to learn how to read, but he was usually too busy to do much with it.
"No shame, boy... have no shame. You can learn. It just takes a little time." The shopkeeper produced from behind the counter, a worn, thin, paper-backed booklet and opened it to the first page. "You see the picture there?"
"Yes." Sam said anxiously. "It's a rooster."
The shopkeeper pointed to an over-sized character below the rooster. "That's the symbol for rooster" He flipped through a few more pages and demonstrated how the alphabet worked, and how different characters stood for different things.
"There are hundreds of characters," the shopkeeper continued to explain, "Learning these will give you a head start. You have a lot to learn boy, and right now you have a lot of time to learn it in." The shopkeeper could see from Sam's face lighting up that he understood how the letters worked.
"I have a sister who knows how to read. I'm sure she can help me learn."
"You keep that booklet." the shopkeeper told Sam. "Practice reading and writing the characters. When you are done, come back to me and i will give you a new lesson."
"Thank you... very much!" Sam smiled brightly, and turned around to continue through the marketplace.
Sam continued to walk around from shop to shop until he was suddenly overcome with nausea and panic. "Uh-oh..." he said. "Where's Hiro?"
to be contd.
Characters:
- Sam's mother
- Sam's (deceased) father
Sam - (16) strong, smart, responsible boy
Aiko - (13) Sam's younger sister: timid, pretty, smart, thoughtful
Hiro - (10) Sam's youngest brother: outgoing, cocky, bold, skillful
Yamato - young Emperor who rules the land
Possible future characters:
(the anti-yamato rebels)
The oldest child she named Sam. He was a strong young man of 16, and he had built his muscles helping his mother tend to the land they lived on. He tended their small flock of sheep, and tilled the small plot of land which they grew rice and wheat on, that they would harvest and store up for winter. He had dreams of being a great vassal one day, with slaves to order around to do his work, and to buy his mother fancy clothes to wear, but he figured he would always just be a small farmer and shepherd.
The middle child was named Aiko. She was a very shy girl of 13 years who loved her elder brother very much. She followed him around loyally, doing very un-lady-like things like chopping wood and stomping through the mud which always bothered Sam. When Aiko was not tagging around with Sam, she was absorbed in practicing calligraphy, and reading old scrolls and texts. She was a very smart girl.
The youngest child was a boy of 10 years old named Hiro. He was an energetic boy, who constantly shirked his chores to go running through the forrest and sword fighting imaginary warriors using sticks as swords. Hiro was a very loud, obnoxious boy, but he was also very talented at things like catching fish with sharpened sticks, or climbing trees.
They were very poor because the land they lived in was governed by a powerful young Emperor named Yamato. Yamato had been arguing with some separatists from one of his provinces, and eventually sent a shipment of troops to fight their insurrection. Sam's father was a soldier in Yamato's army and was sent to lead the troops into battle against these rebels. Thanks to Sam's father, the troops conquered the separatists, but tragically, Sam's father died in the battle. No one was left to care for the family, so Sam was forced to take care of his mother, and his siblings. They loved each other, and took care of each other.
Sam looked tiringly over the grain fields that were next to his cottage. They were brown and bare in the hot, mid-day sun. "We will starve this winter if we do not have more crops. The few crops we have are gobbled up by the sheep, and we cannot live on meat all winter long." he told his mother. His mother agreed, they had to do something if they were to survive the long, hard months that lie ahead.
Sam's mother loaded him with food, and some silver coins she had stashed away in a small compartment underneath the floorboards of their cottage, and bid Sam to go to town to sell some goods, and to buy some goods that they could store for the months ahead. "Please take your brother with you, Sam." Sam's mother asked. "I am ill, and have Aiko to help me, but you are coming back with many goods, and will need help from your brother to carry things home."
She then turned to Hiro and sternly looked at him, "Obey your brother, my little renegade. You will help him, and do whatever he says. I need you to act like a grown up. I am counting on you two." Hiro nodded affirmatively.
Town was an entire day's journey away, so Sam and Hiro packed their bags, and recieved kisses, hugs and tears from their mother, and left early the next morning for town. Hiro talked and talked all the way to town, and Sam would frequently roll his eyes or stop to argue with his little brother about how foolish some of his ideas were. "Wouldn't it be neat if Samurai could fly?" Hiro would say.
"That's stupid." Sam said. "How could they fly?"
"They could make wings out of bird feathers" Hiro said.
"You obviously don't know ANYTHING about samurai," said Sam. "Samurai wear armor, and their armor would be way too heavy to fly with. They would fall out of the sky like stones."
"Well, it would STILL be cool." Hiro argued.
"Hiro, do you think I could ever be a Samurai?" Sam said.
Hiro laughed histerically, "You?! yeah, right! A Samurai has to have a sword, and you couldn't afford a sword if you sold our whole house!"
"True," Sam said, still deep in thought, then whispered to himself, "but it would be cool."
They continued to talk about dragons, samurai, ninjas, and other make-believe adventures, and it made their entire walk seem like just a couple of hours instead of days. That evening, they slept in a tree just a mile outside of town, looking at the stars, and opening small packages that their mother had packed in their bags that were filled with rice buns, grape-leaf dumplings and candied ginger she had packed for them.
The next morning they woke up early by the sunlight shining in their eyes. They climbed down from the tree they were sleeping in to stick their feet in the grass that was covered with cold dew, and stretched their arms to the sun as they yawned and then rubbed the sleep from their eyes. "Lets head into town." Sam said to Hiro, yawning. Hiro nodded, scratching his head.
The two boys went into town, filled with excitement and adventure. They were very poor, and perhaps it was a bad thing that they needed to go into town to buy supplies, but they seldom had an opportunity to visit town, so they fluttered from shop to shop looking at oddities and fanciful things they could not afford.
Sam became absorbed in a shop that sold things called "books". Books were a fascinating invention, that he had never seen before. Several sheets of paper were bound together with hinged pieces of wood on the top and bottom of the stack of paper to protect the sheets and to hold them fast together. Sam turned over the pages of one of these "books" to find several tiny characters. He didn't know how to read, but he recognized it as writing.
"You like that? That's a work of genius!" the bent, old shopkeeper walked out and pointed to the book in Sam's hands. "It's a story of a samurai who was killed one night, and his memory haunts the people he left behind. An assassin claims he killed the samurai, and tries to repent of his sins. His wife claims she killed her husband by letting him walk out in the woods alone late at night... and the samurai's ghost shows up, and explains to both of them that he saw all the signs of his death around him, but he ignored him so HE was responsible for his own death. Quite interesting... you should read it."
Sam deflated a bit... "Oh... Sorry, shopkeeper. I was just looking. I have no money, and do not know how to read." His finger traced the lining of the beautifully carved cover while he talked. His sister, Aiko had time to learn how to read, but he was usually too busy to do much with it.
"No shame, boy... have no shame. You can learn. It just takes a little time." The shopkeeper produced from behind the counter, a worn, thin, paper-backed booklet and opened it to the first page. "You see the picture there?"
"Yes." Sam said anxiously. "It's a rooster."
The shopkeeper pointed to an over-sized character below the rooster. "That's the symbol for rooster" He flipped through a few more pages and demonstrated how the alphabet worked, and how different characters stood for different things.
"There are hundreds of characters," the shopkeeper continued to explain, "Learning these will give you a head start. You have a lot to learn boy, and right now you have a lot of time to learn it in." The shopkeeper could see from Sam's face lighting up that he understood how the letters worked.
"I have a sister who knows how to read. I'm sure she can help me learn."
"You keep that booklet." the shopkeeper told Sam. "Practice reading and writing the characters. When you are done, come back to me and i will give you a new lesson."
"Thank you... very much!" Sam smiled brightly, and turned around to continue through the marketplace.
Sam continued to walk around from shop to shop until he was suddenly overcome with nausea and panic. "Uh-oh..." he said. "Where's Hiro?"
to be contd.
Characters:
- Sam's mother
- Sam's (deceased) father
Sam - (16) strong, smart, responsible boy
Aiko - (13) Sam's younger sister: timid, pretty, smart, thoughtful
Hiro - (10) Sam's youngest brother: outgoing, cocky, bold, skillful
Yamato - young Emperor who rules the land
Possible future characters:
(the anti-yamato rebels)
posted by Jon at 2:52 PM
3 Comments:
the return of jonponder!
looking forward to pts. 2 & ff.
I was just posting it somewhere so i could look at it while i wrote it. This is very rough stuff. It's actually a story that i'm writing for my nephew, Sam.
who is skyk? by the way, i'll try to continue to post new episodes of this. I'm just here to clean up the original post (it was just a rough draft). And in case you didn't notice, i move work very slow.
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