#mlnb fairy tale

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(Updated with finished drawings September 23rd, 2021)

Well, this is August 2021’s Win a Commission! I had fun adapting Puss in Boots to be set in Old Myanmar! If you’d like to read it and see the rest of the pictures in context with the story, please

Centuries back in what is now Myanmar but was then Burma, there once was a farmer, whose only inheritance to his three children, besides a very small sum of money, was his farm, his water buffalo, and his cat. The division was soon made. They hired neither a clerk nor an attorney, for they would have eaten up all their money. The eldest took the farm, the second the buffalo, and the youngest, named Thant, nothing but the cat.

The poor Thant was quite comfortless for having received so little, especially after the death of their father. They had devoted themself and loved their ailing father most, so this had been quite a nasty shock. "My brothers," they said, "may make a handsome living by joining their shares together; but, for my part, I must live in poverty."

Their brothers weren’t the kindest of siblings. They would let them work on their farm, sure, but they would not make it easy for Thant.

The cat, who heard all this, said to them with a grave and serious air, "Do not be so concerned, my liege. If you will but give me a bag, and have a pair of boots made for me, that I may scamper through the dirt and the brambles, then you shall see that you are not so poorly off with me as you imagine."

Thant did not believe the cat very much. However, they had often seen him play a great many cunning tricks to catch rats and mice, such as hanging by his heels, or hiding himself in the meal, and pretending to be dead; so they did take some hope that he might give them some help in their miserable condition.

After receiving what he had asked for, the cat gallantly pulled on the boots and slung the bag about his neck. Holding its drawstrings in his forepaws, he went to a place where there was a great abundance of hares. He put some bran and greens into his bag, then stretched himself out as if he were dead. He thus waited for some young hares, not yet acquainted with the deceits of the world, to come and look into his bag.

He had scarcely lain down before he had what he wanted. A rash and foolish young hare jumped into his bag, and the Puss immediately closed the strings, then killed him quick.

Proud of his prey, he went with it to the palace, and asked to speak with his majesty. He was shown upstairs into the king's apartment, and, making a low bow, said to him, "Sire, I have brought you a rabbit from my noble lord, the Marquis of Carabas."

That was the title which the cat was pleased to give his master. The cat did not like the actual Marquis, that mysterious Westerner who had so recently move into Burma and bought up many farms. And ever since he moved there, many of the poor, homeless and forgotten by society had disappeared. As well as many, many cats! But Puss noticed.

"Tell your liege," said the king, "that I thank them, and that I am very pleased with this gift." Although the country was largely Buddhist, the royals enjoyed meat dishes from time to time, and were very pleased.

Another time he went and hid himself in a rice paddy. He again held his bag open, and when a small flock of ducks swam into it, he drew the strings, and caught them. He presented these to the king, as he had done before with the hare. The king, in like manner, received the ducks with great pleasure, and gave him a tip. The cat continued, from time to time for two or three months, to take game to his majesty from his liege. Soon Thant was living comfortably, and treated their cat quite well in return. Still, Thant had to work hard to make ends meet.

One day, when he knew for certain that the king would be taking a drive along the rice paddies, Puss said to his liege, "If you follow my advice, your fortune is made. All you must do is to go and bathe yourself in the river at the place I show you, then leave the rest to me."

Meanwhile, the cat took up their savings and hired some robbers to stage the scene.

Thant did what the cat advised him to, without knowing why. While they were bathing, thy soon were ‘attacked’ by some robbers, who pretend-fought them and stole their clothes. The king passed by, and the cat began to cry out, "Help! Help! My Marquis of Carabas is going to be drowned quite soon!"

At this noise the king put his head out of the coach window, and, finding it was the cat who had so often brought him such good game, he commanded his guards to run immediately to the assistance of his lordship the Marquis of Carabas. The guards fought and chased off the robbers, and didn’t really notice that the robbers weren’t really trying to fight back.

While they were drawing the poor Marquis out of the river, the cat came up to the coach and told the king the whole story. The king immediately commanded the officers of his wardrobe to run and fetch one of his best suits for the Lord Marquis of Carabas.

The king received Thant very courteously. And, because the king's fine clothes gave Thant a striking appearance, the king, a slightly shallow man, was infatuated. Thant had only to cast two or three respectful and somewhat tender glances at him before he fell head over heels in love with them. The king asked them to enter the coach and join him on his carriage ride. The king had finally decided to visit the Marquis that day, and Thant, somewhat confused but trying to stick to Puss’s plan, invited him to their mansion.

The cat, quite overjoyed to see how his project was succeeding, ran on ahead. Meeting some people walking to the market, he said to them, "My good fellows, if you do not tell the king that the road you are walking belongs to my Lord Marquis of Carabas, you shall be chopped up like mincemeat. He is in a fine mood indeed!"

The king did not fail to ask the people who owned the road. As they were tricked, the people were thankful Puss had run into them and told them the correct thing to say. "It belongs to our Marquis of Carabas," they answered.

"You see, sir," said the Marquis, "what a smooth and popular road I own."

The king’s eyes gleamed. He was getting an idea.

The Puss, still running on ahead, met with some fisherpeople, and said to them, "My good fellows, if you do not tell the king that all these fish and this river belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you shall be chopped up like mincemeat."

The king, who passed by a moment later, asked them at whose river they were fishing. "It belongs to our Marquis of Carabas," replied the fisherpeople, which pleased both the king and Thant. The king congratulated him for his full rivers, and the idea in his head gained traction.

The Puss continued to run ahead and said the same words to all he met. The king was astonished at the vast estates of the Marquis of Carabas.

The Puss came at last to a stately mansion, in the English style, the lord of which was an ogre, the richest that had ever been known. All the lands which the king had just passed by belonged to this castle. The cat, who had taken care to inform himself who this ogre was and what he could do, asked to speak with him, saying he could not pass so near his castle without having the honor of paying his respects to him.

The ogre, who was the real Marquis de Carabas, received him as civilly as an ogre could do, and invited him to sit down. "I have heard," said the cat, "that you are able to change yourself into any kind of creature that you have a mind to. You can, for example, transform yourself into a lion, an elephant, or the like."

"That is true," answered the ogre very briskly; "I shall now become a tiger."

The cat was so terrified at the sight of a tiger so near him that he leaped onto the roof, which caused him even more difficulty, because his boots were of no use at all to him in walking on the tiles. However, the ogre resumed his natural form, and the cat came down, saying that he had been very frightened indeed.

The ogre laughed. He licked his lips. “It makes eating humans and creatures such as yourself all the easier.”

"I have further been told," said the cat, eager to change the subject, "that you can also transform yourself into the smallest of animals, for example, a rat or a mouse. But I can scarcely believe that. I must admit to you that I think that that would be quite impossible."

"Impossible!" cried the ogre. "You shall see!"

He immediately changed himself into a mouse and began to run about the floor. As soon as the cat saw this, Puss pounced upon him, snapped his neck, and ate him up.

Meanwhile the king, who saw this fine mansion of the ogre's as he passed, decided to go inside. The cat, who heard the noise of his majesty's coach running over the garden bridge, ran out and said to the king, "Your majesty is welcome to this house of my Marquis of Carabas."

"What! my Marquis," cried the king, "and does this mansion also belong to you? There can be nothing finer than this garden and all the fields which surround it. Let us go inside, if you don't mind."

Thant gave their hand and followed the king, who went first. They passed into a spacious hall, where they found a magnificent (and normal looking) feast, which the ogre had prepared for the king - for he had known his majesty was coming by to visit.

His majesty was perfectly charmed with the good qualities of Thant, the new Marquis of Carabas, and seeing the vast estate he possessed, said to him, after having drunk five or six glasses, "It will be your own fault, my Lord Marquis, if you do not become my spouse."

The marquis, making several low bows, accepted the honor which his majesty conferred upon him, and forthwith, that very same day, married the king. And thus the land belonged to Burma once again.

The cat became a great lord, and never again ran after mice, except for entertainment. And forevermore, they made sure the destitute were no longer destitute, and that none were so unimportant, that only a cat would notice their disappearance.

Puss in Boots Explanation

This story took me. So. LONG! I did a lot of artistic research, because I decided to add more detail, and while I do like the result, it was hella difficult. The carriage picture took me (on and off) fourteen days to finish! But despite that, I think the ends justifies the means. This time.

So the reason Puss in Boots is called an ogre-killer in Shrek 2 is because of this tale. Just thought you should know :). Also, originally the human Marquis marries the king’s daughter.

Did you know that before the 1900s, unless you were a royal, most Burmese people only had one syllable names? And usually no family names? Even today they try to keep their full names to just two or three syllables. So while I was picking out the main character’s name (Thant*), I found out that having the cat just go by ‘Puss’ works out well too!

* It means ‘Clear’, and is traditionally a male name. But since Thant is nonbinary, this isn’t an issue! I picked the name because the sources I looked at said it was an older people’s name, which fit because this is definitely set in old-timey Burma

I set this in precolonial Burma (now called Myanmar), just because I wanted to learn a bit more about the place! The British didn’t really reach the area until they captured India, so they were colonized differently. The Burmese monarchy managed to stick around long enough to send envoys of their culture around the world, to France and such, before the British ransacked the country of much of its gold, jewels and art.

The carriage, for example, is actually one that would have only been used by high up noblemen, not kings themselves. Apparently, the King’s carriage was sold for parts, because it was absolutely luxurious and exquisitely, expensively decorated. The carriage you see in the picture is from one of the only fancy Burmese carriages left in the world. It was passed around England for a while, but was ´´´´donated´´´´ back to Myanmar in modern day. Anyways, it's nearly completely gold and despite my best efforts, looks even more fancy than my picture. Also the dragons look better to be honest. So you can only imagine how the king’s looked.

In any case, let’s go on to the art!

The title card is supposed to be a reference to the Puss in Boots movie, because he slices out the ‘P’ via his sword. And Puss has a bobbed tail because a cat I picked up a couple months ago also has a funky tail! Just thought I should include that :)

The second picture, with Puss bowing, has some really funky shoes. Apparently, only royals were allowed to wear the Hamsa Bird, a Buddhist symbol, as shoes. Nowadays you can buy a pair in a lot of places, but not back then. This picture was also the first one I finished, and it made me consider how Puss would balance on his shoes. Without a tail, he’d walk more like a human in stance, but he still wouldn’t have the same feet. Hence, the weirdly round boots,

Third picture, like I said before, took a long time. But I am very happy with how it turned out. I pulled out my transfer paper (paper that makes copying things easier) and everything, so I could make the designs match more. And I’m very satisfied with the perspective and scale for once. The angle is dynamic (making sure I didn’t have to draw more of that carriage lol), the hand reaching out looks somewhat accurate, etc.

Last picture, I tried experimenting with shadows (because I love the trope where the shadow/reflection shows the real creature), and while it looks ok, I don’t think I’ll do it again.

Hope you had fun with this one! It was a shortie.

[pale-horse-writing]

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Win A Commission!

Every month starting on the 10th, I will post illustrations of a (not-obscure) tale/book/movie, a new picture every day. If you guess before I reveal the title, you win a drawing (or we can talk about other types of art*)! All commissions must be pg-13 or lower and non-discriminatory. Guesses, questions and comments are welcome, so please hit me up!

Examples are under the cut. Check out the ones with pride colors!

Here’s an aromantic/no romance list

Queer tales

Here’s the colored versions for the first twenty-two. More later.

The reason these are not colored or shaded (very much) is mostly because I am drawing some coloring books for my little cousins. Here is a link showing a filled out storybook.

(Even after my 366 art challenge I still post a new story on the tenth of every month.)

Repeat winners are welcome!

May 2019 (no winner): Snow White

June 2019 (no winner): Cinderella

July 2019 (Winner: Slonker): Sleeping Beauty

August 2019 (no winner): The Little Mermaid

September 2019 (no winner): Mulan

October 2019 (no winner): Labyrinth

November 2019 (no winner lol): The Princess Bride

December 2019 (no winner): The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

January 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): The Princess Who Never Laughed/The Golden Goose

February 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Beauty and the Beast

March 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Rapunzel

April 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Gumiho: The Fox Sister

May 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Alice in Wonderland

🏳️‍⚧️June 2020 (no winner): The Twelve Dancing Princesses

July 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Crystal the Wise

August 2020 (no winner): Swan Lake

September 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp

October 2020 (Winner: Lilbookworm1996): Coraline (the book version)

November 2020 (Winner: Lilbookworm1996 and boopboopbadoop): Brother and Sister

December 2020 (Winner: Boopboopboopbadoop): The Frog Princess

January 2021 (Winner: Boopboopboopbadoop): Tarzan (Disney Version)

February 2021 (Winner: Boop [just going to write that for short from now on]): The White Snake

March 2021 (no winner): Godmother Death

April 2021 (Winner: a-bisexual-teenager): Shrek

May 2021 (Winner: Hecho-a-Mano, from now on Hecho): Narnia

June 2021 (🏳️‍🌈 no winner this time): 🏳️‍🌈 The Nose tree

July 2021 (Winner: Hecho): The 🏳️‍🌈 Youth who went forth to learn the Shivers

August 2021 (it was late and released in September, 🏳️‍🌈 due to school. Winner: Hecho): Puss in Boots

September 2021 (no 🏳️‍🌈 winner): The Eyrie

October 2021 (Winner: Boop): Peter Pan

November 2021 (no winner): The Man from Snowy River

December 2021 (tortie-cat): Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

January 2022 (none): The Six Swans

February🏳️‍🌈2022 (Nobody🏳️‍🌈oh Well): The 🏳️‍🌈Snow Queen🏳️‍⚧️

March 2022 (Nobody this time): Dealing with Dragons

April 2022 (Boop): The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

May 2022 (Boop): Mary Poppins

June 2022 (Boop): Wildwood Dancing

July 2022: Honeyguide’s Revenge

August 2022: The Whale Rider

September 2022: The Homunculus

October 2022: OTGW: Song of the Dark Lantern

November 2022: The Last Unicorn

December 2022: Lumaaq & Loon

January 2023: The Second Symphony

February 2023 (Kim): John Henry

March 2023 (BMC and Gwen on discord) Nana Miriam

April 2024 (Answeringmysister): Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

May 2024 (amaros-system): The Two Princesses of Bamarre

June 2024 (joemerl, cat-with-no-name & dragonslayer303): The Neverending Story

July 2024 (pathetic-gamer): Bridge to Terabithia

August 2024 (Merphus basically): Napoleon (1995)

September 2024 (Answeringmysister): 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ West of the Sun, East of the Moon

Extra Stuff

*I write and record audio for fanfiction.

Also some practice sketches I remembered to keep that I’m proud of.

Picrew Versions

Here is a post where I show the commissions I’ve done for the winners!

The text is colored according to pride flags applicable in the story ;) and more stories with queer characters are coming! White or Grey of the flag is represented as normal text, Black as bold. Orange stands in for yellow sorry. A queer flag emoji will be put between different flags if applicable.

Peter Pan has a trans character but it’s not really relevant and she’s barely mentioned, so I’m not putting the flag colors on that one.

Disney Princess Coloring Page masterpost here, because they also went into some of the coloring books, they’re somewhat popular, and this post is basically a general masterpost at this point lol.

OTGWtober 2020

ATLA Kuspuk Week 2022

Post about Holes

Derin Stories Fan Art Masterpost

The stealth-ATLA coloring book I helped to create (proceeds go to wildlife funds)

Art Summary 2023 (and the years before)

I have a description of my library shed in the tags here and I want to be able to find it easily

This is for me

List of upcoming stories to help you guess ;).

*Tatterhood (this version has a dog instead of a goat)

*The Acacia Tree (An adaption of The Juniper/Almond Tree)

*Chantha Rasphone 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️(A sequel to the fairy tale Childe Rowland)

[pale-horse-writing]

dancing with a dream