Raffaelo tore the envelope open almost violently, revealing its contents for us to see.
[Hey, are you guys doing well there?
I originally planned to leave the box myself, but I thought I might actually get caught if I did that. 🙂
The Kingdom of Erdi seems like a really wonderful place.
I’d love to stay here longer, but it’s a shame that I have to keep running away from you.”
“Ugh, then why not just stop running and let yourself be caught for once!”
[Alright, then! Here’s a quiz for you. Since it’s the same kind of box you usually use, you only get one chance to answer correctly.
I’ve adjusted the difficulty to a medium level.
Quiz
A. In the Eastern Continent, there lived a girl named Kongjwi. After her father remarried, she was tormented by her stepmother and stepsister, Patjwi.
One day, the stepmother gave Kongjwi chores to do while she and Patjwi attended a banquet. Fortunately, a fairy appeared and helped Kongjwi dress beautifully so she could also go to the feast. However, while being pursued by a procession of gratitude, Kongjwi accidentally dropped one of her flower shoes into the river.
Later, at the banquet, government officials found the lost shoe and sought its owner. The stepmother and Patjwi falsely claimed it as theirs, but the truth was revealed—the shoe belonged to Kongjwi. She was then married to the magistrate.
However, out of jealousy, Patjwi drowned Kongjwi in a pond and took her place, pretending to be her. Kongjwi’s vengeful spirit later revealed the truth to the magistrate. As a result, the stepmother and Patjwi were punished. When the magistrate recovered Kongjwi’s body, she was miraculously revived, and they lived happily ever after.
B. Cinderella lost her mother at a young age and was mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters.
One day, a ball was held to find a bride for the prince, but Cinderella was left behind as her stepmother and stepsisters attended the event without her.
However, with the help of her fairy godmother, Cinderella was able to dress beautifully and successfully attend the ball. There, she danced with the prince. As the clock struck midnight and the magic began to fade, she hurried home, accidentally leaving behind one of her glass slippers.
The prince, determined to find her, traveled across the kingdom with the glass slipper. Though her stepsisters falsely claimed ownership of the shoe, it was ultimately revealed that Cinderella was the rightful owner, leading to her marriage to the prince.
Question
Among the following stories, which one is most similar in nature to the examples above?
1. A young man from the Eastern Continent lived alone, without family or siblings. One day, he found a small freshwater snail and placed it inside a jar. From then on, strange things started happening—whenever he returned home from work, meals were prepared, and household chores were completed.
Eventually, he discovered that the snail was actually the daughter of the Dragon King, who had been cursed by her father. The young man fell in love with her, and they got married, living happily together.
However, one day, the local governor, who desired the snail maiden, challenged the young man with unfair wagers to take her away. With the help of the Dragon King, the young man won every challenge and continued living happily with his wife.
2. King Oedipus of Thebes received an oracle stating that he must find and banish the murderer of the former king, Laius.
His wife, Jocasta—who was also the former queen—recounted her own oracle from the past. She had been told that Laius would be killed by their own son. To prevent this, she ordered the infant’s death, but the servant tasked with it instead left the baby with pierced feet in the wilderness.
However, it was widely believed that Laius had actually died at the hands of bandits at a crossroads.
Hearing this, Oedipus became unsettled, as he once killed a group of travelers at a crossroads.
In the end, he discovered the horrifying truth: Laius was his father, Jocasta was his mother, and he had unknowingly committed both patricide and incest. As a result, he was banished from Thebes, wandering the lands as a cursed man.
3. A princess was playing with her golden ball when she accidentally dropped it into a pond. A frog retrieved it for her, but in exchange, he demanded to stay at the palace with her.
After getting her ball back, the princess tried to abandon the frog, but he followed her to the palace. Upon learning of the situation, the king insisted that she honor her promise. Reluctantly, the princess allowed the frog to stay with her.
As the frog tried to lie down on the bed with her, the angry princess threw it away. At that moment, the frog transformed into a handsome prince. It turned out that he had been cursed by an evil witch. Afterward, the two left together for the prince’s kingdom.
4. A bear appeared and attempted to eat a farmer. In desperation, the farmer promised to give the bear the top part of a turnip once it had grown, keeping only the root for himself. The bear agreed, but later discovered that the root was the tastier part and became furious.
Later, the farmer grew barley and promised to give the bear the root this time. However, the bear was once again tricked, as the edible part was actually the stalks.
The bear, realizing he had been deceived twice, wept in frustration, but the farmer simply stated that he had kept his promise. In the end, the bear gave up and stopped bothering the farmer.
“Ugh, my head is starting to hurt.”
Arkhangelo pouted and complained,
“How are we supposed to find a common theme among these stories?”
Although Arkhangelo was grumbling, the rest of us were serious, exchanging thoughts about the problem.
“It’s about social mobility,”
Ghieuspe said first.
“The common theme in A and B is rising in status.”
“I think so too. In that case, the answer should be the one closest to that… Wouldn’t it be number 3, since the princess marries a prince?”
“But the princess was already of high status,”
Simone interjected with a serious expression.
“From what I see, A and B share another common trait—they both end with the protagonist marrying a good man and living happily ever after. So, I think the answer is number 1.”
“That makes sense.”
“Oh, looking at it that way, 1 does seem right.”
While the others settled on 1 as the answer, I remained silent. Their reasoning was valid—A, B, and 1 all depicted a woman and a man getting married and living happily together—but something felt off to me.
“A and B share three commonalities,”
I finally said.
“First, as Ghieuspe mentioned, social mobility. Second, as Simone pointed out, marriage between a man and a woman. But there’s also a third factor.”
“And that is?”
“Both Cinderella and Kongjwi had unstable relationships with their parents. Plus, they each lost a shoe, and that lost shoe was the key to finding their true place.”
“But none of the choices mention a lost shoe or anything similar,”
“Still, picking just ‘marriage’ as the answer doesn’t sit right with me. If the answer were simply about a man and a woman living happily together, then both 1 and 3 would be correct.”
“That’s true.”
“Alright, I think I understand now.”
Swallowing my nerves, I entered the answer into the box. The correct answer was…
『2』
As the box opened, everyone’s faces filled with surprise. Among them, Arkhangelo’s eyes widened the most.
“How did you figure that out? There didn’t seem to be any common points with the myth of Oedipus.”
“Alright, let me explain. Listen carefully.”
I cleared my throat and began my explanation.
“Both Cinderella and Kongjwi had unstable relationships with their parents. And after losing a shoe, they would have walked with a limp, right?”
“Ah, so that means…!”
“Oedipus also had an unstable relationship with his parents. He suffered the tragic fate of killing his father and marrying his mother. In other words, limping symbolizes an unstable relationship with one’s parents—it’s a recurring motif in mythology.”
“But why does it work that way?”
“Motifs in mythology often create opposing relationships.”
I pointed to Aurora’s paper and continued explaining.
“Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother is an opposition. Cinderella lacks attachment to her living father and longs for her deceased mother—another opposition. Kongjwi has no living father and longs for her dead mother—that’s also an opposition.”
“That’s an incredible way of thinking about it.”
“I just read Lévi-Strauss’s book, that’s all,”
I said, feeling embarrassed as my face turned red at Simone’s remark. Then, I checked Aurora’s paper inside the box.
『Eiken』
“It looks like Aurora is heading to a city called Eiken.”
“Eiken…?”
“It’s a city farther north from here.”
“Damn it, Aurora…”
I let out a deep sigh. The thought of setting off on another journey to chase after Aurora was exhausting.
But there was no other choice. Right now, finding Aurora was our only clue.
“Alright, let’s head out again.”
