Hector Protector was all dressed in green;
Hector Protector was sent to the Queen;
The Queen did not like him;
No more did the King;
So Hector Protector was sent back again.
*****
You see, at each meal there is a specially appointed guard to taste each of the royal family members' food for poison. It is considered one of the highest honors to willingly sacrifice one's life on a daily basis for the kingdom. A soldier may ride into battle a few times each year, but the royal taster puts his life on the line each and every night. Naturally, when the acting taster died (from a wild dog attack actually), Hector became quite excited to try to fill the position.
Then, one day the letter came. King Larry and Queen Lola invited Hector to court.
"Oh my", thought Hector, "My day has finally come to live out my dreams. But what must I wear to court? My armor is filthy right now from the muddy drunk last week and all of my other clothes are unacceptable."
He pondered what to do until he remembered his family friend was recently appointed to be an apprentice to a tailor in the kingdom. So, Hector paid him a visit to see if he could help. Unfortunately, all the apprentice could offer was a returned outfit with a hideous green pattern all over.
"No, no", said Hector, " There must surely be something else."
"I'm sorry", said the apprentice, "this is the only outfit that my master won't mind missing, but I assure this outfit follows the latest fashion trend."
Reluctantly, Hector put on the green clothes and went to meet before the royal court. He felt silly, but was comforted by the apprentice's assurances that all of the nobles were wearing similar outfits.
However, the king and queen took one look at Hector and begun to laugh, which made the entire court burst into laughter. Poor Hector was so ashamed that he ran from the court and was never seen again. Some say that he plots his revenge against the apprentice and royal family for making him a fool. Still, others say that he fled into the nearby villages where he found true happiness as a baker.
The Baker, circa 1681, by Job Adriaensz Berckheyde (1630-1693), Source: Wikimedia Commons
Bibliography: This story is based off of "Hector Protector" in the Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang.
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I really enjoyed your story. I think you did a very good job at expanding the story and making it your own. It was very easy to follow and kept me interested the whole time. I also picked the nursery rhyme book and think you did a good job with expressing it and making it still sound like a nursery rhyme.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was looking through the nursery rhymes, I also thought that the "Hector Protector" rhyme was rather vague. In some cases, the rhymes seem to be almost nonsensical in that no cause and effect is shown. Why was Hector sent to the king and queen? Why did they send him back? It's possible that in numerous nursery rhymes, not just this one, the full story has only been given a vague overview and has been made subservient to the rhythmic structure.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a good job of integrating what was an almost nonsensical rhyme within a broader narrative. I thought the line concerning the former royal taster's demise was funny. Hector is given motivations clearly lacking in the original rhyme. He's also given a deeper, more relatable personal background. As absurd a position as he holds, most people have felt a lot like Hector when traveling to new places. I certainly have.
You did a really good job by combining what we've been reading in class and something from your childhood.
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