Week 9 Story: The Candy Store Queen

Image of lollipops by DDguy. Web source: Wikimedia Commons. 

There once was a girl name Posie. She was a successful warrior, and had completed many quests. Because of her accomplishments, the leaders of the land built her a beautiful home right next to the Candy Store Queen's factory.

Posie was extremely happy. She was able to do whatever she wanted and live in peace. One day, the town leaders summoned Posie to their court. They had an important mission for her.

"We must ask you to complete an important task," said Esme, the town selectwoman.

"I would be happy to do anything for this place that I love so much," Posie replied.

"As you know, the Candy Store Queen is set to debut her new collection of magical candy within the coming weeks. She will be serving some of the candy at the town feast and saving the rest of for healing supplies. Many people want to get their hands on this candy for themselves, which is why we need you to guard the factory," Esme explained.

"Of course. I will do this task with honor!" Posie proclaimed.


What Posie did not realize was the power the candy held. The first row of shelves had candy that promotes health and prosperity. The second row, had candy that slowed down the aging process. The last shelf only had one small basket of lollipops that gave people eternal life. These eternal candies were typically reserved for town leaders and not given out the the public at the town feast.

While Posie was guarding the candy, she gave into temptation and ate one of the health-providing candies. She felt so wonderful, that she decided to try one of the candies that slowed aging. Before she knew it, she could not even stop herself from consuming piece after piece of the magical candy. It was intoxicating.

When the time came for the town feast, the Candy Store Queen send her fairy helpers to carefully remove the magical treats from the factory. They were shocked when they arrived and found only a half of an eternal life lollipop sitting on a shelf.

They searched the factory, but Posie was nowhere to be found...


Author's note: This is a retelling based on the story of The Queen-Mother of the West. In the original telling, the story is about a Saint (who is Posie in my story) guarding a peach garden for the Queen-Mother (who is the Candy Store Queen in my story). In the original story, the different rows of peaches had different powers, which were the same ones I featured in my retelling. My story concludes with the fairies finding a half-eaten lollipop instead of a half-eaten peach like in the original.


Bibliography: The Queen-Mother of the West from "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921). Web source: The UN-Textbook.