Week 1 Storytelling: Mistress Mary

MISTRESS MARY, quite contrary,

Mistress Mary was an awful young woman—and I’m only calling her young for fear of repercussion. It’s no wonder she never married, she’s so very difficult to be around. What kind of man or woman would want her for a lover, let alone a spouse? Always aiming for queen, she never pushed past her dreadful role as mistress. No one quite knows how our beloved king tolerated her.  Even so, her position provided her with ample power and status, which explained her nasty habit of spending money on such silly, useless things.

How does your garden grow?

Take her garden for instance! At least a hundred feet long, and just as wide as the king’s castle—the size of it alone was enough to make your head spin. Careful now, the young Prince Henry got lost once and never did find his way out of the garden again. The beauty of the garden though, it truly is enough to dazzle. How does Mistress Mary do it?

With cockle-shells, and silver bells,

Well, surely the cockle-shells and silver bells, all lined up in a row, are not to blame. They seem quite useless, really, though a wonderful ringing can be heard throughout the garden.

And pretty maids all a row.

Maybe then, the pretty maids working up and down the rows, tending the garden are to blame for the beauty. That couldn’t be—it’s well known those so-called maids gossip more than anything else! Not a drop of fresh, fertile soil is brought into the garden in the spring; water too, is rare to find. Honestly, what do those wretched girls do all day in there? It cannot be denied that the rose bushes have the biggest blooms you’ll ever find. I guess we’ll never know then, how Mistress Mary’s garden grows…

(Picture of Mary's Garden)

Author's Note: This story is based on the nursery rhyme "Mistress Mary", which is quoted throughout the story in italics. You can find the original nursery rhyme in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897). I did technically follow the story of the original rhyme; however, I expanded upon it quite a bit and changed the tone of the story. I added a bit of sarcasm and overall negativity, as the story mentions a lost--presumably dead—prince inside the garden and Mary's personality is quite unfriendly. I chose to make Mary an unfriendly character mostly because it fit the first line of the version of the nursery rhyme that I used: "Mistress Mary, quite contrary." No one seems to think much about this line, but it seems very clear to me that Mary was a mistress and not a very happy, warm character. I did not actually change this, but rather expanded upon it to make Mary seem more like a real person. I chose the image above because it reflected what I pictured when writing this story very well. I imagine this being just one section of Mary's vast, beautiful garden. My overall purpose for this story was to make this rhyme more interesting and maybe even remind readers of someone they may have known over the years who had a personality similar to Mary—I think we have all known a perpetually cranky, middle-aged woman at some point!