The Princess and the Puma - O. Henry

Plot Summary:

There was once a King and a Queen. They gave birth to a beautiful, talented child whom they named Josefa. She was a wonderful huntress and loved to explore on her pony. There was also a knight by the name of Ripley Givens. He very much wanted to be with Josefa, so when he saw her in the woods one day, about to be attacked by a notorious lion, he jumped in between them. Instead of thanking him, the princess was angry, for she'd been about to shoot it and he'd almost ruined her shot. The knight, not wanting to lose her favor, quickly came up with an explanation. He said that the lion had been his pet, and he'd risked his life trying to save it from her shot. This caused the princess to feel guilty, and so she begged Givens for forgiveness. They then rode back to her house together on a horse and Givens dropped her off with the king. Once she was alone with the king, she boasted to him about her beautiful shot, which had hit the notorious lion. So as it turns out, she had known that it wasn't a pet all along, she'd just gone with Given's story.

Thoughts on the Crafting of the Story:

I really liked the way this story was crafted. It was extremely unique, for it was basically written as a story teller would say it. There were many explanations and funny comments throughout, such as "There had to be a king and a queen of course," which was the first line in the story. He also states some alternate titles for the story in the middle of the first page. He describes things in a very peculiar way as well, for example, when he writes, "It is well to be reasonably watchful when a Mexican lion sings soprano along the arroyos at sundown. The burden of his song may be that young calves and fat lambs are scarce, and that he has a carnivorous desire for your acquaintance." This is a very interesting, unique, and strange way to describe a hungry lion. The plot is very simple, but comical. The story was written in third-person past-tense and has constant interruptions, that significantly enrich the plot. I think that if there had been no interruptions, the story would have been much less interesting, even with the surprise ending. One quote, which exemplifies the humor in this story, is, "'I've always loved 'em,' said he; 'horses, dogs, Mexican lions, cows, alligators-' 'I hate alligators,' Instantly demurred Josefa; 'Crawly. muddily things!' 'Did I say alligators?' said Givens, 'I meant antelopes of course.'" There is also a bit of foreshadowing. For example, while Givens is being attacked by the lion, the author interrupts the scene, saying "the 'rucus' as Givens called it afterward, was brief and somewhat confused." This quote implies there there indeed is an afterward for Givens. Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It's light and funny, and it has to do with what we have been studying in history this year. I hope you get a chance to read it!