Jasmine as Pocahontas. Lineart by Mellasfenixxes on devientart, coloring by me on FotoFlexer
Switch #1: Pocahontas and Jasmine
Let us immerse ourselves in a world where trees can talk, carpets can fly, and genies dance and sing. It is in this world that we find two princesses very different from each other, separated kwa time and distance. This world is about to face a drastic change, although nobody knows it. Because those two princesses are about to switch lives, switch stories, and they won’t even know it.
JASMINE
Virginia, the New World
"Steady as the beating drum
imba to the cedar flute
Seasons go and seasons come
Bring the mahindi, nafaka and kubeba the matunda . . ."
It was a bright and clear siku in a peaceful village of native American. They’re warriors had returned, and all was well. But for the chief, Powhatan, something was missing- where was his precious daughter, Jasmine?
Princess jimmy, hunitumia sat atop a cliff not far from the village, pondering her fate. She knew her father would want her to marry soon, but she couldn’t figure out who he would choose. She hated being so powerless. She wanted to be able to decide her own fate for once.
“Jasmine! Get down here!” Jasmine’s friend Nakoma called from her mtumbwi, canoe at the bottom of the cliff. “Your father’s back!”
Jasmine stood up and called to her animal friends, Meeko the racoon and Flit the hummingbird. “Flit, Meeko, her that? Father’s back!” She began to run down the cliff, but Meeko and Flit were running . . . up? Meeko motioned for her to follow, and she did so, cautiously. When they reached the top, he pointed down the cliff.
“What do wewe wa- Oh no! I am SO not jumping off of that. wewe can get yourselves killed if wewe want, but I am going down normally, thank wewe very much!”
Meeko shrugged. Then he noticed that Flit was trying to eat the pile of berries he had put right kwa the cliff’s edge. As jimmy, hunitumia was about to walk over it, Meeko jumped in and attacked Flit. This caught jimmy, hunitumia off guard, and she Lost her balance, causing her to fall off the cliff! After scrambling to regain composure midair, jimmy, hunitumia finally just let herself fall and hoped for the best. Luckily, she put her hands mbele in time, and she gracefully slid into the water.
Nakoma sat in her canoe, waiting for jimmy, hunitumia to come up. She had just seen the crazy girl jump of a cliff, and now she was nowhere to be found! “Jasmine, this isn’t funny! Really, I’ll leave! C’mon, seriously Jasmi-” PLOP! Suddenly Nakoma’s mtumbwi, canoe was overturned. She lifted her head up, and who did she see but her mischievous friend. “Don’t wewe think we’re getting a little old for this?”
“Nope,” jimmy, hunitumia alisema with a grin. Then she splashed Nakoma, and expertly dodged her pal’s splash as well. “Aren’t wewe the one that’s been telling me to lighten up lately? I really do have to stop worrying so much- even Meeko and Flit are concerned!”
“Still stressed about the whole marriage thing?” Nakoma asked as they turned the mtumbwi, canoe over and hopped inside.
“Yeah, but it’ll be all right,” jimmy, hunitumia responded, starting to row. “Well, at least I wish it’ll be all right,” she said, suddenly looking a bit worried. “I just wish I had zaidi of a say in things like this. I’m sure my mother would’ve let me choose.”
“Well, wewe can go talk to your dad about it right now, if wewe feel like it,” Nakoma said, trying to cheer up her friend. Then she smiled. “Look! There he is!”
Sure enough, when jimmy, hunitumia looked up, she saw her father standing among their people. He saw her too. “Ah, there is my beautiful daughter,”
“Father!” jimmy, hunitumia greeted, happy to see her father salama and sound.
“Follow me. We have much to discuss.”
Jasmine gulped. Could he have decided who she was to marry already? She followed him reluctantly, not sure what to make of this. As they entered the hut kwa the river, jimmy, hunitumia stopped. “Father, what is it?”
“I have something I want to give you,” she said, pulling something out of a pot behind him. It was a necklace, and he fastened it around her neck.
“Mother’s necklace,” jimmy, hunitumia said, shocked.
“It suits you.”
“Father, what is this all about? Why are wewe giving me this?” jimmy, hunitumia was suspicious- the mkufu was her father’s most prized possession, and he wouldn’t give it up on some bila mpangilio whim. Something had to be up.
Powhatan sighed. “Someone has asked me for your hand in marriage.”
“Who?” jimmy, hunitumia asked, trying to keep her composure.
“It was Kocoum,” he responded. “I believe he is a worthy suitor. A warrior, a man of great bravery.”
“But father,” jimmy, hunitumia alisema as they exited the hut, “He’s so, so serious. So boring! How could I ever be with someone like that?”
“He has proven his worth on the battlefield many times,” Powhatan began.
“I don’t care if her shot one hundred deer with one arrow. I am not a prize to be won kwa skill! If I am ever to be won, it will be kwa love.”
“Jasmine, wewe are young, and will lead our people someday. wewe need to start uigizaji like it. I just want wewe to be salama and happy. Is that so wrong?’ he asked, looking out on the river.
“As the river cuts his path
Though the river's proud and strong
He will choose the smoothest course
That's why rivers live so long
They're steady ...
As the steady beating drum”
“Jasmine, wewe are proud any young, and are just beginning to cut your path. All I want for wewe is the smoothest course. Please, just think about it.
“Fine,” she alisema as he walked away. She picked up a stone and skipped it across the water. Then she notice two otters playing nearby. They splashed her kwa accident, and she giggled. Meeko and Flit decided to stop attacking each other for a moment to see what was up.
“He wants me to be steady, like the river,” she told them. Then she looked back at the play fighting otters. “But the river isn’t steady at all!”
“What I upendo most about rivers is,
wewe can't step in the same river twice
The water's always changing, always flowing . . .”
To Be Continued.
Just around the riverbend . . .
