Student Question
Can you provide a summary of "The Hundredth Dove" by Jane Yolen, explaining its moral, its status as a folktale, and reasons behind the king and Lady Columba's decision not to marry?
Quick answer:
"The Hundredth Dove" by Jane Yolen is a folktale that features supernatural elements and a clear moral lesson, characteristic of folktales. The story revolves around the king's plan to marry Lady Columba, demanding a fowler to catch a hundred doves for the wedding feast. Lady Columba disapproves, and the fowler, in his unwavering loyalty to the king, catches the doves but faces a moral dilemma when the hundredth dove, a white one, pleads for mercy. Despite the dove's plea, the fowler kills it, leading to Lady Columba's mysterious disappearance and the wedding being canceled. The tale's moral underscores the dangers of inflexible service devoid of compassion.
The best way for you to understand the details of Jane Yolen's story "The Hundredth Dove" is for you to read the story slowly and carefully, paying close attention to tale's characters and plot. To help you get started, we will look at a few elements of the story.
The piece is a folktale, for it tells the story of a fowler, a king, and a lady in some faraway time and it includes supernatural elements and a strong moral lesson even though the tale itself is quite simple.
The king plans to marry the beautiful Lady Columba, and he orders the fowler to catch a hundred doves for the wedding feast. The lady does not appreciate the idea, but the fowler is determined to serve the king as he always has. He catches more and more doves, but a particular white one always gets away from him. Finally, the fowler catches the white dove, who asks him to spare her in return for riches, fame, and love. The fowler sees a vision of Lady Columba, who seems to be the white dove in disguise. The fowler, however, refuses the white dove's plea. He has always faithfully served the king, and he will continue to do so. He kills the dove. The wedding feast never happens, however, for the Lady Columba mysteriously disappears.
We can see that the lesson here revolves around a single-minded decision to serve that is not flexible enough to adjust for circumstances and for pity and compassion.
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