Mar 29, 2010 08:45
I had a dream early this morning that's kind of stuck in my head. In the dream I was reading Joe a childrens book about a Sultan and his daughter:
The story starts with a western dignitary and his son visiting the Sultan's palace. The dignitary's son and the Sultan's daughter are about the same age, let's say 15-ish. The girl tells the boy that her father is pressuring her to find an appropriate suitor for marriage, but she isn't really all that interested in the concept. Some time goes by and they quickly become good friends, and fall in love. The Sultan's daughter tells her father that she found the man she wants to marry, and that he's the westerner's son. The Sultan is outraged, and informs his daughter that she needs to marry a prince. The Sultan arranges several princes to court his daughter, all of whom are fat, or ugly, or pompous, and none of which are as handsome as the westerner's son. It was about this time that the alarm clock went off, cutting my story short. I'm not entirely sure how it ends... I'm thinking maybe she runs away from the palace when the westerner and his son leave, and stows-away on the ship going back to New York. The westerner, of course, discovers she's stowed-away and is adamant that she is returned to the palace immediately, but the ship has already sailed and can't turn around. She spends some time in New York with the westerner's son while they try to find a ship that can send her back. The Sultan's daughter and the westerner's son have a teary-eyed goodbye before she's shipped back to the palace, alone. When she returns to the palace the Sultan is furious and banishes her to her room. A long time goes by and she stays in her room long after her banishment had been lifted, absolutely distraught because she loved the westerner's son. One day the Sultan comes into her room and tells her a story about the woman he loved before he was Sultan, who as it turns out was also a westerner. When their love affair was discovered, his father forbid him from ever seeing her again. Several months later his father died and he became Sultan. And on his first night as Sultan, he had a visit from a doctor from the west. The doctor came carrying a new-born baby girl, and explained that her mother had died in child birth and that he was the father. He explained that he did not want his only, beloved daughter to have to go through the same thing he went through. He tells her that he will not force her to marry anyone she does not want to marry, and that she is free to marry whom-ever she wishes. Several years pass and the Sultan's daughter becomes a young woman. She'd never forgotten the westerner's son, but believed that he'd probably long forgotten her. One day, the Sultan's daughter hears a rumor that a stunning young westerner showed up at the palace to have a meeting with the Sultan. Several hours pass, and the Sultan summons his daughter. When she walks in, she recognizes the westerner immediately. The westerner proposes. They get married and live happily ever after. The End.
Hey, I could be a childrens book author!
-CJ