They made him seem such a hero
but they left out the bit
where he fondled the dwarfs
They made him seem such a hero
but they left out the bit
where he provided the GHB for the apple
They made him seem such a hero
but they left out the bit
where she couldn’t marry in white
They made him seem such a hero
but they left out the bit
where he called her ‘my immaculate’
She was no fool
She knew the ways of the world
She was no fool
She knew what he had done
She was no fool
She knew she’d have her chance
She was no fool
She knew she’d take revenge
One drop for each fondled dwarf
Two drops for every letter in GHB
Three drops for the wedding dress
Four drops for calling her Maria – the fool
He got a night cap
Every day
For the rest of his life
She lived happily ever after
Yesterday’s prompt inspired me even through my moodiness. I guess I upended it a bit, turning the hero into a villain. And the victim into a perpetrator. I happily blame/thank a fellow participant for that. Alison Dunne.She tweeted something that got me thinking:
I’ve decided in 2018 to keep a count of how many women are victims in the cultural stuff I consume, books, plays, telly, you know. Thinking of a catchy hashtag
#didawomangetkilledinit? I’m fully expecting it to catch on.I love altered fairy tales. There something about something SO familiar turned into something surprising that makes me excited, that makes me smile, that makes me happy. I’ve done a couple in the past, either prompted or unprompted.
Jenny Luddingtone wrote my all time favourite altered Little Red Ridinghood story last year, for the ‘poem from a minor character’ prompt. Yesterday she wrote one about the soft spot of the wolf – and she has a point!
Since I’m a fan, I searched yesterday’s NaPoWriMo.net entries for more fairtytale related poems, coming from the prompt to write a poem in which a villain faces an unfortunate situation, and is revealed to be human (but still evil)
I found poetry tales featuring these characters from the Northern European story book:
Snow White by Smitha V.Cinderella by Charlene Delfin
Rapunzel by Vandana Bhasin
Captain Hook by N.K. Hasen
Loki by S.G. Liput
Please leave yours in the comments if you can add to the list. They don’t need to be from this year’s #NaPoWriMo. I used an old drawing of mine, for example 😉
Unassorted stories 
Thanks Angela for the mention. Did not like the prompt initially but once I started writing it, found it fun. Enjoyed reading you. You have made the hero a true villain😀. Words make all the difference.
I loved reading you snowy white!
*Perversion*
She was left in her room.
Alone.
Again.
Nothing she did was ever good enough,
No matter how hard she tried.
The only thing
Where she seemed to succeed
Was looks.
Her mum enjoyed dressing her up,
Tying pink bows in her dark curly hair,
Putting frilly skirts on her,
Tailored from delicate silk and lace
Which meant she had to sit in place
Not run around,
Climb trees,
Explore the forest
Like she would have wanted to.
Because she knew too well
The screams and beating she’d get
If she came back with the tiniest snag,
Hair out of place,
Scartched elbow,
Muddied slippers.
Did she realise
Quite how expensive these clothes were?
And how lucky she was
That her parents could buy her
Such beautiful garments?
(She didn’t feel so lucky
Since she couldn’t be herself,
But she daren’t say so.
She’d tried once.
The barrage of words,
Belittlements,
Guilt,
Still rang in her ears)
So she sat,
Quiet,
And learnt to be defined
By how pretty she looked.
*
He sat on the sidewalk.
Alone.
Again.
Nothing he did was ever good enough
No matter how hard he tried.
The only way to be noticed,
It seemed,
Was to excel in school.
But even that didn’t seem enough,
Since the school bell’s tinkles
Had long stopped ringing.
And there he was,
Waiting,
Forgotten.
Again.
The only way to be loved
Was to impress,
To whine for more attention
To show devotion
Never to show hurt.
You had to be stronger
Than the competition
Who cared if it was
Your own brother and sister?
If it meant stepping over others,
Lying,
Cheating…
Who cared?
As long as he gained
A bit of Mother’s attention.
*
She looked at herself in the mirror,
Wondering aloud
If she was still beautiful,
This was, after all
The only way to define her worth.
And when she felt threatened
The anger and loneliness hidden inside
Came to the surface.
She sprouted warts on her nose,
Her skin started to sag
Her shoulders,
Weighed by the burden of low self-confidence,
Curved towards the ground.
She donned a black cloak
And offered red apples
To innocent beauties.
*
He looked at himself in the mirror
Wondering whether he still had it in him.
But did he have a choice?
Life was “Eat or get eaten”
So he’d have to keep fighting.
He’d still walk all over others
To feel his worth was higher.
If not, they’d surely walk all over him
And he’d be finished.
He’d demand devotion too.
If you weren’t devoted to him,
Then you had to be against him.
That’s how he learnt love works.
And if you didn’t love him
(in the twisted way he thought was love)
Then you’d better beware!
Why should he love you
If he gained nothing in return?
So he’d crush you
Every chance he’d get.
*
Whether in fairy tales or in real life
All evil has an explanation.
And people with open hearts
Are easy targets to their perversion;
Whether an innocent beauty
With hair black as ebony,
Lips red as blood
And skin white as snow,
Who didn’t choose how she looked,
Couldn’t change who she is
And didn’t yet know how to protect herself;
Or a battered child
Told from the beginning
That her feelings were lesser
Than those of Father,
Of others,
Who had to change who she was
And grew up thinking
She wasn’t worthy of attention
If she didn’t behave
According to expectations.
*
In my poem, villains suffered some pain, but the situations are old in my poem, not current.
Yet the evil is still present.
I started with the evil queen, imagining what sort of childhood she must have had to feel so threatened when her beauty fades. And I couldn’t help but make it a bit auto-biographical too :)
Perfect! When there’s no public link, this is a great solution.
Thank you for the opportunity! 😊
nice insightful work.
Wonderfully written Angela! Thanks much for the pingback and mention. I actually did it in hurry and wasn’t sure how it came up 🙂
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