22nd
Story
Our group for the “Art of Book” task has chosen to desgn the Grimm Brothers fairy tale known as “The Twelve Brothers”. A transcript can be found here. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm009.html
To update the story into one that everyone in our group was motivated to work with and design, our story is now set in a fantasy world, rather than the original setting of the story. This required us to create an extensive backstory to the universe where the tale is set. It basically goes as follows.
Long ago, an ancient forest kingdom was ruled by a kind King. When he passed away, his two could not agree who would take over the throne. One fateful night, the local witch fed up with the bickering cursed the kingdom, made a prophacy about twelve flowers and a child of stars that would reuniite the two seperate sides of the kingdom and turned herself into a tree to get away from the human world. Still unable to decide who would take over in their fathers wake the villagers split. On half went into the mountains, fascinated by the potential energy and development of technology. The other tried to remain in the forest but found they could not support the lifestyle they had grown accustomed to. So they moved across the river to build an almish type villiage, refusing to research new technologies believing it to be heretic.
Thousands of years have passed when our story takes place. The mountain kingdom has been set upon by disease. Although their technologies have far surpassed that of the real world now, there seems to be no cure for this plague. The ruler of this mountain kingdom, a scientist in his own right, is trying to develop cyborgs to carry and grow untainted organs to help cure the land. He creates 12 models of cyborg, each bettering the last. Near completion of the thirteenth, he vows to his wife that if this model works then he will scrap the others. Having grown affection for these models the wife tells them to hide in the forest until she can get word to them by means of a red or white flag of the success of the thirteenth model. The model is a success. The 12 brothers go into exile in the forest and vow to destroy the 13th model should they ever cross paths.
Years later, the 13th model, a girl with a star shaped scar on her forehead, discovers the existence of her ‘brothers’ and heads off into the woods to find them. She eventually comes across their home, built in the remnants of the original forest kingdom. She meets the youngest brother who helps her win favour with the other eleven. They live together happily for a while, until one day the girl discovers the witches tree. Below it 12 flowers grow in a perfect circle. Astonished by their beauty picks them to show her brothers. But the moment they are plucked from the ground her brothers turn into ravens and fly off into the sky. The witches tree comes to life and tyrades the girl for her mistake. The witch tells the girl that to reverse the spell she must remain silent for seven years and cannot smile or laugh. So the girl climbs a tree and silently waits for seven years to pass.
One day whilst hunting in the forest, the king from the village across the river, discovers the girl and amazed by her beauty asks her to marry him. She accepts by nodding her head. She travels with him back to the nature kingdom. They are married, but the kings mother finds her silence and her depressive natutre to be heretic and convinces the king that she should be burnt at the stake. Reluctantly he agrees. As the flames lick at her feet the seven year deadline passes and the 12 ravens swoop down from the skay and save the girl. The girl explains her predicament to the young king and all is forgiven. The kings mother dies a horrible death for her treacherous ways.
