"The Hundredth Dove" by Jane Yolen, Summary and Analysis.
The Hundredth Dove
-Jane Yolen (1939)
About the writer and the story:
The
Hundredth Dove is a story written by Jane Yolen, who was born in 1939. She is
the author or the editor of more than 350 books. She writes her stories based
on fantasy, science, fiction, and children's books. In the story 'The Hundredth
Dove,' Jane describes the misuse of power by the people.
The main idea of the story:
This is a folktale that describes the conflict between
heart and mind, feelings, or thoughts. Sometimes, we follow our mind, but at
times, our heart becomes dominant. When we only follow our heads, we might have
to face a great physical and emotional crisis. So, we need to have a good
balance between heart and mind. Here, a fowler/hunter gets a choice to follow
his head or heart, in which he follows his head, but later, he has to regret.
He uses his power to kill a dove following the king's command, which becomes
regretful for him at last.
Summary:
Once there was a fowler (bird hunter) named Hugh, who
lived in the forest and supplied the game birds to the high king of England. He
hunted the birds using his bows and arrows, but most of the time, he used his
silken net to catch the birds uninjured. He would choose the plumpest of the
doves for the high king's table and set others free.
One day, he was called in the King's palace and the king
said that he was going to be married within a week to a beautiful lady who was
sitting beside him. She was neat as a white bird, slim and fair with black
eyes. There was a quiet in her, but a restlessness too. The Fowler had never
seen so beautiful woman in his life. Her name was Lady Columba, which means
'dove', and her beauty was celebrated all around the world. The king told the
fowler to serve one hundred birds at his wedding. The lady did not like the
idea. But the king said that it was his command, and the fowler said it was his
motto to serve him.
The Fowler went back to his cottage and repaired his
silken net to catch the birds. He went to the forest clearing, spread the grains,
and set his net. But when he was catching them, the last one, a white dove,
slipped through the silken net and flew away into the air. He took twenty
gray-blue doves and put them in the wooden cage.
Even
the next day, he did the same, caught twenty doves, and one white dove slipped
away. He was surprised how the white dove slipped away every time. He was
determined to catch it. As he had promised the king, he set his nets for the
five days, and the last time, he had only nineteen doves, which altogether
became only ninety-nine. He again went to set his net on the sixth day, waited
patiently, and finally he got the white dove. Though the dove tried to escape,
he caught it this time. The white dove looked at him in his eyes and spoke to
him in a woman's voice, 'Master fowler set me free then, gold and silver
I'll give thee'.
But the fowler was not tempted; his duty was to serve the
king. Then she told him he would get fame and fortune, but still he was not
tempted. Then the white dove again told him to set free, and he would get the
beautiful queen as his own love. The dove had a golden ring on its leg. As he
was looking at the dove, Lady Columba herself appeared in front of him in his
vision, so neat, so slim and fair. He was very emotional. His heart and head
shook. The dove was looking at his eyes, but he closed his eyes, cried out
loudly, 'Servo', and he twisted the bird's neck.
The next day, he went to the king's palace with a hundred
doves – ninety-nine alive and the hundredth or the last one dead. But unfortunately,
the wedding never took place there. The lady disappeared, and the king could
not marry her.
Feeling great regret, the fowler tore up his tunic with
the motto 'servo', and he gave up hunting forever. He only gave grains to the
birds. Different types of other birds came to eat his grains, but the white
dove never appeared to him.
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