{"id":3520,"date":"2023-04-25T00:05:39","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T04:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=3520"},"modified":"2023-04-10T12:12:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T16:12:13","slug":"save-me-a-story-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=3520","title":{"rendered":"Save me a Story &#8211; Unity?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i>This is the continuing story of my adventures in the tale: Save me a Story. If you wish to read the introduction to understand what is happening, click this link:\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=3431\">https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=3431<\/a><\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i>Otherwise, I\u2019ve tried to summarize what happened at the beginning of most of the sections of this story. <\/i><\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\r\n<!-- \/wp:post-content -->\r\n\r\n<!-- wp:image -->\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/A-to-Z-2003-U.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-3423\" src=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/A-to-Z-2003-U-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"106\" height=\"106\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/A-to-Z-2003-U-300x300.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/A-to-Z-2003-U-150x150.jpeg 150w, http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/A-to-Z-2003-U.jpeg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 106px) 100vw, 106px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Unity?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the pied piper continued playing, more and more characters that had avoided being captured came out from the woods until the ground was covered in front of me with sleeping people, animals, and other story characters. All were mixed together so that no story faction was in only one area. The decision I had to make was what to do next.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I asked the piper if, in his playing, he could bring all the sleepers back to semi-consciousness so that they could hear me but not fully wake up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He nodded yes, and the tune he played must have changed, for I began to see stirrings amongst the seated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I began by telling my story. I told how in my world, their stories flourished. Tales were shared by our elders orally. Stories were shared through books, schools, parks, theaters, and homes. I spoke of how writers and storytellers transformed stories and adapted some of them for the times we live in. In some of these stories, points of view were changed so that a character with a bad reputation got to defend themself. I told them how characters were not limited to who they were; they could grow and change positively and sometimes even negatively. I explained that I was such a teller of tales.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I continued to recount to them how I was taken from my world to help them save and recover their identities and stories. I pointed out that though it might have been foretold that I was to do this, I couldn\u2019t do it alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I ended with the fact that we needed to find the source of this thievery and return to all the kingdoms of all worlds what was our destiny. We needed to work together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I asked the piper to stop playing, and we both waited as the crowd of story characters began to wake fully.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I had no idea what to expect. Would they wake up and continue the battle they had been starting before the piper played? Had they heard what I said, and would they be willing to work together? Could they put their egos aside and focus on the whole picture, not just their puzzle piece? For if they didn\u2019t, I had nowhere else to go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At first, there was just stunned silence as everyone looked around at each other warily. Some of the characters, like the little red hen, happened to be sitting next to an especially hungry wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing, whereas the wolf from Red Riding Hood found himself sitting next to the tooth fairy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Captain Hook, never the quiet one, stood up and shouted, \u201cAnd which of our stories do you plan to save\u2026only the good ones? We saw you chumming up with Pan.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Red\u2019s Granny responded rather loudly, \u201cAnd why not? Why should we care what happens to you and your stories?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cinderella\u2019s stepmother had an answer for that and screamed, \u201cBecause we\u2019re always the ones that get the burnt end of the stick. We deserve some recognition too!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Pied-piper-playing-flute.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3636 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Pied-piper-playing-flute-286x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"116\" height=\"122\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Pied-piper-playing-flute-286x300.jpg 286w, http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Pied-piper-playing-flute.jpg 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 116px) 100vw, 116px\" \/><\/a>I could see that things were about to get out of hand, and I turned to the piper and told him to put the flute to his lips but not play anything. <a href=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Heilbrun-pointing.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3635 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Heilbrun-pointing.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"95\" height=\"189\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Everybody saw that action, and there was an immediate silence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I now raised my voice. \u201cDo I need to make you all go back to sleep again with a magic flute? My task is to save <\/span><b>ALL<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the stories. How you deal with them after they are saved is up to you. We have friends and comrades that need our help. Our whole existence depends on their survival. So make your decision now. Will you all work together with me to accomplish this task? Time is being wasted here. We need to act now!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was some murmuring amongst them all. I turned toward the piper and shouted. \u201cCan you play a tune that only those sitting can hear?<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d Whether he could or could not, he nodded yes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I turned to the crowd and said, \u201cAll those willing to work with me and save our destiny, stand up. The rest of you stay seated.\u201d I turned back toward the piper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before he could play a note, I heard a great rustling from the crowd. I turned back to see everyone standing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether or not they were all being honest or just standing to avoid being put under a spell was yet to be determined. To my astonishment, all good and bad characters agreed to do the same thing for the first time in folklore history. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Continued in&#8230;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=3522\">Visions and Small Victories<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the continuing story of my adventures in the tale: Save me a Story. If you wish to read the introduction to understand what is happening, click this link:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=3431\u00a0 Otherwise, I\u2019ve tried to summarize what happened at the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=3520\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[410,4,7],"tags":[70,421],"class_list":["post-3520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2023","category-original-stories","category-story-writing","tag-a-to-z-blog-challenge","tag-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2023"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3520"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3637,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3520\/revisions\/3637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}