Storytelling Week 9: The Boy Who Laughed at Winter

Once upon a time,
In a land far away,
The warmth would not linger,
Only the cold would stay.

And in this land, there lived a boy.
Owanu was his name.
He was not too fond of the cold,
but in the snow he would linger,
For it did not frighten him away.

Owanu's friends thought,
But what's the matter?
You'll die if you stay in the winter.
But Owanu just laughed, as he always did,
And said no, I will bring back the Summer.

Owanu's friends left, and said their goodbye's
to their friend who had sealed his fate.
But Owanu was true,
He would rid of the cold,
And summer would never be late.

So he taunted the cold
With his hot fire and wood,
And said, "Try, oh Winter cold,
to get me this day."

The Winter was offended
At Owanu's cruel words,
And thought, "Oh this boy's day has ended.
I will freeze him to death, in one second flat,
Then winter will be always in season."

Then the Winter brought up
A storm so very great
That any man would have shivered in fright.
But Owanu just laughed, and he always did,
And tended to his fire deeper into the night.

Owano cried, Winter,
The fire only grows larger!
Your storm is no match for my skill.
So come into the tent,
and fight like a man,
And we'll see which of us will be killed

The Winter, so proud,
Could certainly not turn down
The challenge Owanu had made.
So with a great frozen wind
He flew right on in,
Determined to freeze Owanu.

But as Winter just stood there,
In the midst of the fire,
He felt his nose beginning to tingle.
Then as he looked down
He saw wet on the ground,
And realized that he'd be a puddle!

Winter ran out as quickly as he'd entered,
and cursed the hot fire that burned him.
But Owanu just laughed, as he always did,
Happy he'd weakened the Winter.

Owanu was sure, yes he could win,
He'd beat the bitter cold,
And the heat would move in!
So Owanu, warmed by the fire, went out,
And challenged the Winter to battle again.

The two fought on,
In the bitter ice cold,
But Owanu, so warm,
Grabbed Winter ahold.

The warmth of Owanu,
It just couldn't be beat,
The Winter had to give way.
So Owanu stood proud
In the bright morning light,
And Winter?
He ran away.

Today, we all know
The North, it stays cold,
While the South is where people stay.
This is only because,
Great Owanu, yes he,
Had frightened old Winter away.

The North Wind
Drawing by xLapinasx
Source: DeviantArt

Author's Note: This poem was based off the story "Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind" from American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned (1921). So I've written one other storytelling post as a poem and I really enjoyed it, and I got a lot of great feedback so I decided to do another! In this one, i stuck to the main story the entire way. The story is about the North Wind and the South Wind, and how they are always at odds with eachother. Shin-ge-bis and his friends are out fishing, and the South Wind decides to take a break, so the North Wind steals his chance to move in. The friends leave but Shin-ge-bis stays. That's where my poem picks up, and the story is the same from there! I changed the name of the main character to Owanu, and in the original story they mention how he laughs at everything, regardless of if anything is funny or not, and I wanted to highlight that in my poem by repeating the "Owanu just laughed as he always did." Besides that, the storyline is the same as the original. Hope you enjoyed it!