Week 11 Story: The Butcher Gets Married

     Once there was a man whose wife had passed away. He only had one daughter, Crystal, who lived with him. Crystal was a very beautiful young woman and her dad wanted what was best for her. He told her that when the time was right, she needed to marry a doctor. She agreed with him and promised her dad that she would wait for a wonderful doctor to come along.  

One afternoon, a young man came knocking on the father's door. The young man said to him, “I would like to marry your beautiful daughter.” and the father asked him one question, “well are you a doctor?”. The young man told him yes so, the father agreed that he could marry his daughter. The father told Crystal about the young man, Thomas, who is a doctor and would love to marry her. Crystal happily agreed so Thomas and she were married that same week.  

Thomas moved in with Crystal and her father until they could find a home of their own. Thomas would go to “work” every day, but he always came back smelling like a dead animal. Crystal would ask him why he smelled so bad every night, but he never had a good answer. He always promised he would come back the next day smelling better, yet he never did. Finally, Crystal got suspicious, so she followed him to work. 

While Crystal followed him to work, she noticed they were not headed towards the hospital she thought her husband worked at. She saw her husband arrive at a butcher shop, which she finds very odd because he has never mentioned going there before. Crystal watched him through the window and saw him change out of his scrubs and into a dirty butcher's apron. Crystal then realized that her husband is not a doctor, but he works the local butcher shop. Crystal decided she will confront him once he gets home that night.  

Thomas arrived home, once again smelling like a dead animal. Crystal asked him one more time why he smelled like that, thinking maybe he would finally tell her his real job. Instead, he said, “I just sweat a lot at work.” Crystal then confronts him about what she saw that day and that she cannot believe he would lie to his wife. Thomas apologized repeatedly, begging her not to leave him. Crystal told him he needed to leave because she did not want to be with a liar. Thomas leaves sadly, hoping one day his wife will forgive him and love him even though he is not a doctor.  

Butcher Apron

Author's Note:

I got my inspiration for this from the story, The Owl Gets Married. The concept of the story is the same except I had the husband be a butcher instead of turning into an owl. I also did not have the husband die, I just had him leave because I did not want the ending to be too depressing. 

Bibliography: Story source: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).