The Unlucky Hugo - Essay Example

The Unlucky Hugo Once upon a time, in a beautiful there lived a king who had ten beautiful daughters and every onein that city desired to marry them. The king became very famous because of his beautiful daughters and this gave him a great task of making sure that they were safe. To guarantee their security, he employed strong armed soldiers to guard the main entrance to the palace. He also made sure that every window in the room where his daughters slept was secured. The king also ordered two strong soldiers to stand outside the door of the room. However, despite the tight security, the king was very worried by the fact that every morning he could come to the room; he found his daughters’ shoes worn out and looking untidy. “Could someone be sneaking with my daughters?” the king could ask himself several times. This disturbed the king so much and he could not sleep well at night. After figuring out what could be the problem after a long time, he concluded that his daughters always went out for dancing at night with stranger. “How could his happen when I have strong soldiers in my palace? Could they be asleep at night?” the king could fall in a deep thought and ask himself these questions. When the king consulted his wise men, no one including the most experienced, could correctly tell how the shoes managed to get dirty and worn out every morning or where the daughters went every night (Selznick 28). After one week, the king was so impatient to know the truth and decided to make a big announcement to all the people in the city. The king one day said, “Anyone who tells me the top-secrets behind my daughters’ disappearance at night will be free to have one of his favorite daughters for a wife.” Further, the king said, “anyone who fails for three days will be executed.” The first person to make an attempt of finding-out the secrets was a prince in the neighboring kingdom and had tried to marry one of the daughters several times. Before he could start the mission, it was normal for the palace to prepare a big party at night for anyone who attempted the mission in order to get motivation (Selznick 33). The party consisted of a variety of meals and plenty of wine. After the party, the prince prepared himself very well and was ready to begin the task. When it was time for the king’s daughter to sleep, the prince was very confident of finding out the truth and getting one of the most beautiful girls that he lived to admire. The guard directed the prince to the daughters’ room where he decided to stay outside the door keenly and observe everything that could happen that night. However, the prince fell in a dip sleep and failed to spy anything that happened that night, all he saw when he woke up was the dirty shoes that the king talked about. The following day he decided to repeat the mission, this time being very keen than before but he still failed to find out the truth. At the end of the three days, the prince had not found the answer and he was killed just like the king had instructed that anyone who failed for three days was to be executed. The following weeks, several other handsome gentlemen also attempted the mission and were prepared a great party before starting the task but no one managed to find out the great secrets of king’s daughters disappearance (Selznick 77). It occurred that a middle aged and a very creative man had to solve all of the King’s problems by finding out the truth. Unfortunately, the man had lost his wife in a car accident the previous week but his only son known as Hugo had survived the accident. The man was so creative and was working in the city’s museum as a film creator and he also produced other forms of art work such as drawings, curving and very beautiful ornament. He loved his job and worked very hard in order to support his son Hugo. The death of his wife gave him a great challenge as a single parent in raising Hugo (Selznick 64). One day as Hugo’s father was passing by the kingdom, he encountered an old woman and who happened to stop him. The old woman consoled and advised him to move on with his life by marrying another wife. She told him that the king was offering his daughters for free in exchange of a mere task. The old woman assured Hugo’s father that he would accomplish the task since he was a very creative man. At first, Hugo’s father was not willing to take the task because he feared the execution upon failing to accomplish the mission. However, the old woman advised him not to take the wine offered at the party. The woman also advised Hugo’s father to pretend to be asleep in order to easily spy everything that could happen that night. She also gave him a magic coat that would make him invisible at night (Selznick 12). Hugo’s father was very confident that he could finish the task, so he left for the king’s palace. As usual, the king prepared a big party for the honor of Hugo’s father. He was given expensive gifts and other materials that he needed for the task. Wine was in plenty and the eldest daughter served him with a calabash full of wine. But he secretly poured all the wine through the window without the daughters and anyone noticing and did not drink it. In the evening, Hugo’s father was taken to the daughter’s room main door where he secretly wore the magic coat and then pretended to be asleep. The daughters waited until they were convinced that he was asleep then they woke up and dressed ready to leave the room. They were very excited but the youngest daughter was very suspicious that they would be caught that week. She, however, kept it to herself because if she said, it would kill the excitement that the other girls had (Selznick 30). When all the daughters had dressed and ready to leave, they made sure Hugo’s father was still asleep. The eldest daughter was the one to lead the others. She pulled her bed from the normal position and then clapped twice. This was a magic move where a door opened on the floor immediately. Hugo’s father saw all what had happened and stood to follow them. They could not notice him because he wore a magic coat which made him invisible. Hugo’s father followed them down the stair case to the underground city. In the course of following them, he accidentally stepped on the long dress strips of the youngest daughter, but she ignored consoling herself that it was a nail that had caught the strips (Selznick 41). The stair case led to a very beautiful underground city that was made up of flowers decorated with silver. Hugo’s father plucked a few of these flowers to present to the king as evidence. Back in the king’s city, another prince from a neighboring kingdom was also secretly working on how he would accomplish the mission. He did not reveal it to the king first because he did not have enough evidence. Fortunately, he discovered that the girls had been adding sleeping pills in the wine which they used to give the soldiers before escaping for their night dance. The prince was very assured that he was the best in the mission and that he was not going to be executed. He decided to go to the palace but became disappointed upon discovering that Hugo’s father was already working on the mission and, therefore, he could not get the opportunity. He claimed that Hugo’s father had stolen the idea from him but since nobody seemed to bother about his claims, he swore to revenge without disclosing how he would do it (Selznick 55). For three days Hugo’s father followed the daughter to the underground city. The daughters danced until late morning hours but they were careful not to miss the hour when the sleeping pills they add to the wine would become inactive to wake the soldier. It this hours of the morning, the daughters’ shoes were normally worn out and dirty and, therefore, they were forced to leave. Hugo’s father was careful such that whenever they got back to their room, he was always pretending to be dead asleep (Selznick 60). At the end of three days, the king summoned Hugo’s father in the table room. The king asked whether he had the answer to his big problem. He explained to the king very well such that the king almost collapsed. He also presented to him the silver decorations he had picked from the underground city as evidence. The king got annoyed and called the daughters asking them whether they used to escape at night to go to the underground city. The girls confessed when they saw the silver decorations as the evidence of their adventure. After the king discovered the truth, he kept his promise and Hugo’s father chose the most beautiful daughter as his wife, who happened to be the youngest daughter. A big wedding was, therefore, held but unfortunately in the following day after the wedding, the city museum was reported to be gutted down by fire that happened to kill all the workers including Hugo’s father (Selznick 91). After the king heard the news he was very shocked by the fact that Hugo’s father had died a day after the wedding. It is at this instance that he recalled the prince whom he did not give a chance to accomplish the mission, and after the prince discovered that Hugo’s father was working on the mission, he promised to revenge himself. The king consulted his wise men on how they could find the truth of the matter. The wise men advised the king to send the elder daughter whom that prince admired as gift to him but with the intention of making the prince reveal to her what might have killed Hugo’s father. At first, the eldest daughter refused to move to the prince but later she agreed for the sake of her youngest sister that Hugo’s father had married. On arrival, the prince got surprised but later a senior messenger lied to him that Hugo’s father did not complete the task well. The messenger further explained that since, the prince was the last to show up to do the task; the king had accepted to reward him with the eldest daughter even if he did not take part in the task. The prince was very happy, and made a big party to welcome the new wife at home (Selznick 72). At night while the couple was in bed, the newly wedded wife pretended to have hated Hugo’s father through disgusting talks about him. She also pretended to hate her father, the king, by referring him to a dictator. The prince supported the wife by confessing that he also hated the king. He also confessed how he bribed the museum electrician to fix electric wires in a way that could cause fire and burn Hugo’s father to death. The prince also revealed that he never liked the way Hugo’s father had been succeeding in his business as a film creator and, therefore, he planned the death of his first wife, the Hugo’s mother, by bribing a mechanic to fix a faulty part on the engine. He further revealed that his intention was to kill the entire Hugo’s family (Selznick 83). The target audiences for this story are the young kids of 13 years because it uses simple language that kids can easily understand. The kids would find the story interesting because it uses attractive words such as very beautiful city and girls, flowers with silver decorations, the magic coat and strong armed soldiers. The story has also employed direct words said by the king which are very exciting to children. For instance, “anyone who fails for three days will be executed.” This draw kids into the world of imagination and they put themselves in the shoes of the main characters. Work Cited Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. London: Scholastic, 2008. Print. Read More