* A tale told lightly ... for hero or heroine

 A tale told lightly: Butterfly Lane

Once upon a time, two isolated children grew up, gathered their tools and set out, away from the home fires to test their mettle on life's journey. One set out on a well-trod road toward fame and fortune. The other picked a weed-dotted path following a bright butterfly.

Each journey twisted and turned, bending this way and then that and then back again. As the setting sun was glowing a pumpkin pink, their paths met and they sat awhile and talked.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"Well enough," she replied and rose to go on her way, but then turned and asked, "Did you find the Grail?"

"No," he said. "A time or two I thought I saw it, but it was always just out of reach. You?"

"No," she said. "I was sure I found it a couple of times, but it was smaller than I thought it would be and heavy, so, I left it beside the road."

"Where you headed now?" she asked.

"Down the road," he said.

"Wanna go together awhile?" she asked.

"Sure," he said. "Which way?"

Just then a bright yellow butterfly flitted out of the forest and onto a narrow, poorly marked lane. They looked at each other, nodded and followed the butterfly.

*********

A book found at random offered new clues.

The Heroine's Journey, for Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture by Gail Carriger 

Gail Carriger is the pen name of Tofa Borregaard, an author of steampunk fiction and an American archaeologist. She was born in Bolinas, an unincorporated community in Marin County, California, and attended high school at Marin Academy

*****

“Essentially the Heroine’s Journey is different from the Hero’s Journey in five significant storytelling ways (also known as the Five Key Ingredients).

Caveat: The terms heroine and hero are not gender limited.

1. PURPOSE The goal or focus of the journey is different. A hero is usually concerned with defeating an enemy or retrieving a boon of great import–think classic video game quests.

A heroine is looking for reunification with someone who was taken from her. She is concerned with networking, connecting with others, and finding family.

2. APPROACH A hero acts on the offensive most of the time. He is active in his pursuit of his goal and will kill or (in the case of Odysseus) trick his way to victory.

His enemy is stasis.

A heroine goes about achieving her goals through communication and information gathering. She is not a conqueror. She is a builder and a general–she sees the skills and strengths in others and knows how best to apply them. She is a delegator, which is great for storytellers because it’s easy to build vibrant, supportive, extremely appealing side characters. Also, this humanizes the protagonist, who is self-aware enough to know what she is good at and when someone else can do it better.

Her enemy is loneliness or isolation.

3. STRENGTH A heroine’s definition of strength is materially different from that of the hero. A hero must eventually go it alone; the journey usually climaxes with a one-on-one defeat of his enemy. For him, asking for help is a sign of weakness. He must shed the restrictions of civilization and family in order to succeed on his own.

A heroine is the opposite. Requesting aid is a sign of strength. It does not diminish a heroine to seek and receive assistance on her journey. In fact, the more companions she has, the stronger she is. (And if that concept makes you wince, perhaps you might consider your own personal definition of what strength means and how the narratives around you have influenced that.)

4. POWER As a result of all the above, when a heroine has her most powerful narrative and iconic moments, these will occur with others. They are usually characterized by intense communication and unity in the context of sex, romance, friendship, or familial relationships.

When the hero is at his most powerful, he is alone, because his quest is one of self-reliance and solitary achievement against overwhelming odds. His iconic moments will be ones of intellectual or physical superiority over someone else.

5. ENDING A hero, because of his need to self-isolate, has sacrificed too much for his goal, so the end of his journey is bittersweet. Iconography often depicts him alone, with the slow pan-out sequence and a sense of profound pathos. He has either grown too powerful to fit back into the world he has saved, or he has changed too much into a solo version of himself and can no longer exist in a group. Poignancy typifies the end of a heroic narrative–lonely death, hard drinking, a hermit’s existence.

The heroine is more likely to get a happy ending, surrounded by friends and family, with an implication of continued safety.”