Jabberwocky, a retelling

Once upon a time there was a king and queen in a faraway kingdom. All their people were happy, including the king and queen, and it was a peaceful place. But one night, a birdlike creature with wings as sharp as knives and eyes of flame snuck past the guards and slashed the lock to the king and queen’s room. The queen shrieked but the creature slashed her neck before any sound came out. She fell to the bed, smudging red into the soft white sheets. The king, who woke up in horror at the sight of his wife, was in rage as he gave the creature a death stare for a second before hollering for the guards. 

Their son David had woken up at his dad’s screaming, grabbed his teddy bear, and ran down the hall to his parents’ room. The guards were right behind him as he entered the master bedroom. He made his way to his dad, as the guards piled in.

“Daddy, what’s going on?” he asked, but then saw his mother on the bed. “Mommy!” He cried, but there was no answer.

The guards attacked the creature, but it responded by stabbing his sharp wings into each of their hearts, killing them at once. Its wings were covered in blood. He went into the bathroom to wash it off, then walked away whistling.

“Daddy, I’m scared.” David said.

“It’s going to be alright-” his dad said, but quickly ran for the palace door.

“Daddy, where are you going!” David cried, as he hurried after him.

“The villagers, they’re asleep,” the king said. “You must go to the shelter, I’ll go get them.”

David did as he was told as he hurried into the underground shelter. There was one room filled with food and drinks and thirty rooms with about eight beds in each. There was one more gigantic room that made David feel like a little ant. It had lots of chairs and couches with a gigantic bookshelf filled with all sorts of books.

When the king entered the shelter, the people were behind him. When the village piled in, David noticed something; this wasn’t even half the village. He made his way through the crowd and to his father.

“Where’s the rest of the village?” He asked.

“The creature,” the king said.

***

A few weeks later, everyone went back to their homes. 

David hadn't said a word since he asked his father about the villagers.

He and his father went back to their castle, though it didn’t feel like home anymore.

Some servants put the queen’s body in a coffin outside while the king had the greatest adventurer in all the land to find information about the creature. He supplied him with matches, lots of food and water, and a sword. He even gave him a motorcycle in case the creature attacked him and sent him off.

***

A few weeks later, the king was getting worried about the adventurer. 

It was almost time for his wife’s funeral when he heard a knock at the door.

“Come in, it's open,” he said.

When the door opened, the adventurer entered.

“Your majesty,” said the adventurer. “I have some useful information for you”

“Of course, come in,” the king said.

“These creatures are deadly but smart,” the adventurer began.”When I went deep into the woods, I saw a sign with written words on it spelling Jabberwockies’ home, enter and perish. I went deeper past the sign and thousands of those creatures were staring at me. I used the motorcycle you gave me to get away from them. It was only a second before I could no longer see them. So basically, they’re called Jabberwockies and their weakness is they’re slow.”

“Wow,” said the king. “Thank you for your service, good day.” The kind sighed.

Little David, who had been listening intently the whole time, made a promise to himself. “Mother,” he whispered, “I will someday slay the Jabberwocky and avenge your death.”

***

11 years later, David was getting ready to fulfill his promise.

The king had grown old and still, so he could not stop him. “Please do be careful my son,” said the king. “You’re all I have left.”

“I promise I’ll come back,” David said, putting his hand on top of his father’s. “And I’ll have the Jabberwocky in my bag.”

With his sword in hand he set off  for the woods to find the Jabberwocky.

***

He walked nonstop for many days when he finally reached an area close to the sign in front of the Jabberwockies’ home. He rested under a Tumtum tree and fell soundly asleep.

A few hours later, sometime around midnight, he heard footsteps.

“Who’s there!” he shouted. He looked around and when his head was facing forward again, eyes of flame were in the trees. 

The eyes grew bigger and bigger, until David was standing right before it; it was a Jabberwocky. Its body was completely black except for the eyes, and it was also much smaller then David remembered it.

David swung his sword but missed, he swung it again and missed. He swung his sword again and again but he kept missing.

The Jabberwocky dashed toward David with its wings pointed out.

David jumped out of the way just in time, but then his eyes began to blur as he fell over. He picked himself up and rubbed his eyes. “I knew I should have gotten more sleep,” he muttered.

The Jabberwocky ran to David and hopped on top of him. He pointed his wings at David.

David shut his eyes tight, in a moment this would all be over, in a moment he would be dead, in a moment he would break both of his promises.

His promises! He couldn’t break them! 

He picked up his sword and chopped off one of its wings. 

The Jabberwocky howled in agony as David chopped off another one. He stabbed it in the heart one more time and put the body in a trash bag. He put the bag by the tree and fell soundly asleep.

***

The next morning, David set off for home.

He walked for miles, taking breaks along the way. He didn’t want to be too tired when he got home like when he was fighting the Jabberwocky.

After a few days, David was standing at the huge palace doors.

“Our prince has come home at last!” the guards announced, raising flags and blowing trumpets.

The villagers had come out of their houses to see David as the guards made a path for him. 

The boy went up the stairs and to his father’s room, though the king was already rushing down the stairs.The king gave David a big hug and asked in delight, “Has my boy slayed the Jabberwocky?”

“Yes, I did Father,” David replied, pulling out the Jabberwocky from his bag, “and we’ll have it for dinner.”

David went down to the chefs and told them to cook it, giving them the trash bag.

When the chefs had finished, they placed it on the table with tons of other goods.

The king had invited the whole village to celebrate his son’s accomplishment and they were just arriving. They started piling in and some of them even made easy handmade presents.

In the middle of the feast, the king tapped his fork on his glass to get everyone’s attention. “Cheers to my son, the only man brave enough to fight the Jabberwocky. Today we celebrate his accomplishment.”

Everyone cheered as David stood up and smiled.

Suddenly, what looked like a black cloud covered the sun. Everyone hurried outside to take a better look. 

That's when they saw that giant birds were forming the black shape; the other Jabberwockies were coming to take revenge.

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To be continued…

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