Storytelling "The Tale of Richard More"

 Richard More was a bright and inquisitive young boy.  While his siblings and masters worked busily to cook and hunt, cut trees and dig holes, Richard busied himself in exploring the new land outside the fort.  His older brother Jasper and his mother often cautioned him about the wolves and the Indians, but John took no notice of their warnings.  As his master, John Carver was governor of the new colony, he was often preoccupied with other matters, and was unable to pay little attention to the wanderings of his young servant.  Richard liked running underneath the great blue sky and would often run for as far as his little legs could take him, while he just stared up at the clouds and the sun.

Although he was only 6 years old when he and his family first arrived in the New World, Richard was very keen and often heard the adults talking in hushed voices while he was supposed to be sleeping.  They mostly talked about God and the rumors of the colony, so Richard would pay them little attention, but one night, a meeting was held after all the children had gone to bed.  Richard lay as still as he could, and listened as the adults began to talk about something different.

“None of the crops are growing like they said they would”

“How are we supposed to make it through winter?”

“There is no way I can keep my own mouth fed, let alone my wife’s”

The voices grew louder and angrier as the night wore on and although he did not know exactly what they were talking about, Richard could tell that it was not good.  They seemed to be talking about food quite a lot, and the word ‘starvation’ was stated many times, although Richard was not quite sure what that meant.  Finally, sleep overcame his little eyes, and he drifted off to rest.

The next morning, after finishing the little chores his mother had given him, Richard slipped away and ran off into the forest, as he liked to do.  After running for a while, Richard sat down on a large, mossy rock to catch his breath and look at the sky.  As he sat there, he began to feel tired for not having slept much the night before, and lack back to take a little nap.

Richard slept for a little while and then sat up and rubbed his eyes.  When he opened them, a little boy sat right in front of him.  He screamed, startled, but quickly composed himself and looked at the boy.  He was very dirty, and was wearing almost nothing but some leather strips and a feather necklace.  His skin and hair were very dark, unlike Richard’s.  The boy had not moved since Richard had awakened, and sat there quietly, simply observing the equally strange sight in front of him.

“What is your name?” Richard asked.  “Why is your skin so brown?”

The boy looked back at him with a strange face, said something unintelligible, then suddenly jumped up and ran back into the woods as quick as a cat.  He was gone before Richard had time to think.

The next day, Richard excitedly ran out to see the strange boy again.  After running deep into the woods again, he found the same rock as before.  He waited there for over an hour, until at last he grew disappointed and began to slowly walk back towards home.  Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder.  He turned around, surprised, and there he was again.  The same boy stood before him, smiling.  Richard smiled back.  The boy held out his hand and pushed a small bag full of roasted maize into his hand.  Then, just as quickly as before, he ran away, sprinting into the forest.

This continued for several days.  Richard would run into the woods, and the other boy would always find him, somehow.  Each time they met, they spoke to each other, even though neither could understand what the other was saying.  The boy would bring Richard food, and Richard would bring him little trinkets from the colony.  So a friendship was born, and the boys grew close, even speaking the same tongue.

One cold day, Richard’s mother noticed him eating a large handful of delicious, black, berries that the Indian boy had brought him.

“Richard” she began quietly, “Where did you get those berries? Are they safe?”

Richard looked away unfomfortably and muttered “My friend gave them to me”

“What did you say? Speak up, boy? A friend you say?

His mother continued to insist, until finally, Richard had told her the whole story, about meeting the boy, about how they trade things, and about how he always brought Richard food.  Upon hearing this detail, Richard’s mother became very thoughtful.

“How about, Richard, next time you go out there, if you take Master Carver with you too?  Could you do that?”

Although Richard did not want to, his mother made it very clear that he would have to.  So, the next day, Richard took off running into the woods, within Governor Carver at his heels.

“You said this Indian had food?  We pray to God he does, boy, you know we could use it in the colony.”

Richard did not answer, but kept running through the dry leaves and into the heart of the forest.  He ran and ran, with the man keeping up right behind him.  Richard went first to the large rock where the boys had met for the first time.  He went to the stream where they had played when the weather was warmer.  No matter where he looked, his friend was nowhere to be found.  Dejected and depressed, Richard reluctantly began to return home.

“What a waste of time” Carver muttered.  “I told that woman she was mad.  This is a fool’s errand.”  He trailed off, speaking to himself under his breath.

As they reached the clearing, Richard turned back once more, just enough to catch a glimpse of a dark-skinned boy one last time.

Author’s note: This is a very different adaptation of numerous fairy tales found in the book Welsh Fairy-Tales and Other Stories by Peter H. Emerson.  In these stories, fairies leave presents, usually gold, for small children or luckless adults until eventually someone finds out and the children tell their secret about the fairies.  From that moment on, they never find the fairies or their gifts again.  I wanted to retell this in a setting that was closer to Thanksgiving (inspired by the class announcement) and so I reframed it with a mysterious, gift giving Indian boy instead.

I chose Richard More as the protagonist, an actual historical figure, and one of four children on the original Mayflower expedition.  He and his siblings were servants to John Carver, the first governor of the Mayflower.  Sadly, Richard was the only More who survived into adulthood, as the others died of disease before maturity.

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