The day her life changed (Part 1)

I’m doing my best to write the next chapter of Peculiar Relationship in my limited spare time. In the meantime, I present to you a series of posts that I wrote quite a while ago. First of all, many thanks to the admin of the Facebook page, William Albert Andrew (el príncipe de la colina), for giving me the permission to post their pictures here on my blog. Thank you, my friend! ❤❤

I’ve already explained several times what an epilogue is, and I read somewhere that an epilogue sometimes serves as a teaser trailer of the sequel, giving readers a glimpse of the main characters’ near future.

On the other hand, a prologue, placed before the first chapter, provides the background information of the story. If an epilogue is like a teaser to the sequel, then a prologue is like a sneak peek into the story itself. In most cases, a prologue ends with a paragraph that rouses the readers’ curiosity to keep reading. 🙂

In Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS), there is a prologue too, and the last few lines of which mention Annie’s adoption by the Brightons as follows (CCFS Vol 1, P. 11):

わたしたちは、あそこにいる——–。
アニー と　わたし。
わたしの人生が大きく変わったとき。
アニーがブライトン家にもらわれていったあの日……。

The direct translation is

We, in that place (i.e. Pony’s Home).
Annie and I.
The time when there was a significant change in my life.
The day when Annie was adopted by the Brightons…

Right after these few lines, Candy in her 30s closed her eyes and began reminiscing. It’s like Candy was taking the readers with her for a time travel. That’s the end of the prologue, and the first chapter began by talking about how Annie hid herself, not wanting to leave the Pony’s Home for different reasons. Candy found Annie and convinced her to go with her new parents, etc.

After Annie left, Candy went up Pony’s Hill alone to cry her eyes out until she realized she sounded like a wolf. It was when she chuckled, feeling amused, a boy appeared and remarked,

そうだよ、笑ったほうがかわいいよ、おチビちゃん

The boy said, “There, you’re prettier when you smile, little one“. This line gets repeated again and again throughout the story of Candy Candy.

Anyway, the rest is basically the same as shown in the manga. After the mysterious boy disappeared into thin air, six-year-old Candy wondered if this had been a dream, but she soon knew it wasn’t because she still remembered the boy’s voice saying the above line. Then she thought,

王子さまみたいなひとだったな……。

This boy looked like a prince to her. 🙂

Note that Candy had never seen any Scottish kilt in her life, so I think it had nothing to do with the Scottish costume when Candy thought the boy looked like a prince. I figure little Candy meant he was very good-looking and charming, like a prince in a fairy tale. 🙂 In fact, on P. 30 of CCFS Vol 1, little Candy described her Prince on the Hill using a very positive adjective, すてき “suteki”, (click the link below if you like) which means lovely, beautiful, dreamy, cute, superb, etc.

すてきな人だった。丘の上の王子さま——–。

If you remember, Candy used the same adjective twice in a row for Albert in the manga (when she didn’t yet know he was actually her prince). See Love Triangle (Part 7) for your interest. 🙂

Anyway, when little Candy found a shiny silver badge and picked it up from the ground, she recalled the boy’s handsome face and thus named him 丘の上の王子さま (Prince on the Hill). Since then, she went to Pony’s Hill day after day hoping to return the badge to the boy, but he hadn’t appeared again.

Before Chapter 2 ends, it says (CCFS Vol 1, P. 30)

アニーが去った日。丘の上の王子さまと出会った日——–。

The day Annie left (being adopted) was the day Candy encountered Prince on the Hill.

Remember what was written at the end of the prologue? That Candy’s life underwent a profound change the day Annie was adopted? Here, it was written that it was also the day Candy encountered her Prince on the Hill. 😉

So, what change, really? 😛

Yes, little Candy met a handsome teenage boy that day, and he vanished before she got to ask his name. However, what was so significant about it? 🙄

I’ll continue in Part 2 of this series. Please stay tuned. 😀

For now, the picture shown here is the inside front cover of Volume I of the Candy Candy novel, the novelization of the manga version of Candy Candy, published by Kodansha in three volumes in 1978-1979.

The text on the picture is:

「わらったほうがかわいいよ、おちびちゃん！」
丘の上の王子と会ったその日のことを、キャンディはわすれなかった。

The first line is basically what the Scottish boy said to the little girl as mentioned above. He said,

“You look prettier when you smile, little one!”

The second line is:

Candy did not forget about the day she met Prince on the Hill.

In short, similar to the manga version, both CCFS and the old CC novel begin by little Candy meeting the Scottish boy dressed in kilt. 🙂