Week 12 Story: Battle with Khara

As the battle around him, Rama looked around him and instantly spotted Khara. Khara was sitting on a horse riding into the battle swinging left and right. He was slicing Rama’s men to bits. Rama decided that was enough and turned around. 

He looked at Sita and said, “I do not know where this battle will go but you must go and be safe. I will come find you at the castle. Now hurry!”

Sita looked at him and nodded, then proceeded to run back into the castle and had the guards barricade the door.  Rama then put on his helmet and got on his horse and charged down the hill towards Khara.

As he neared Khara he yelled, “We are going to finish this Khara!”

He then proceeded to jump off his horse and tackle Khara to the ground. Khara and Rama both rose quickly to their feet and drew their weapons.  Khara struck right and left swinging widly while Rama tried to parry each blow. Unfortunately, he missed a few and was struck twice, once on his arm and another on his leg drawing a lot of blood. 

Rama grimaced and yelled, “You got lucky, Khara. Now it’s my turn!”

Rama lunged and started slashing left, right, up and down. He never swung the same way twice so that it would confuse Khara about where he was going. He landed a multitude of hits and after swinging he looked at Khara.

Khara could not believe what had just happened. He thought he had this battle won but as he looked down he saw blood gushing from the cuts on his body and fell to his knees.

He cried out, “Rama, strike me down if you must in hate, but know killing me will never bring back the ones you lost.”

Rama was about to swing his sword down to behead Khara when he realized he was right. 

He stopped himself short of beheading him and said, “Today, Khara, I spare your life and you now are indebted to me. Whenever I call on you or your army you must answer the call.”

Khara looked started and nodded in agreement. Now since the battle was finally over after 15 long grueling days, Rama raced back to the castle and was reunited with Sita.  From that day on word of his mercy spread throughout the land.

Rama. (1816)

Na. Source: Wikicommons

Author's Notes: 

I wanted this story to go a different direction than the original. In the original one Rama sent a flaming arrow and destroyed Khara. With this one I wanted it to drag out a while but instead of Khara dying, he was spared.  I think it is more impressive to show mercy to people who don't deserve it than to kill.

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Battle with Khara. Battle with Khara

Reading Notes Part B: Battle with Khara

For Part B I decided to choose the story Battle with Khara. I actually liked that this story did let us know what had happened in the story before it so that way I wouldn’t be lost. There really is not a whole lot of positive things to say about this story because it is rather short.  What I will say I like is that Rama does protect the ones he loves and defeats his enemy.

I hate how short the battle is. Why not make the battle between the main two people last longer than shooting a flaming arrow? When I read that line I was thinking, “That’s really the whole battle?” There needs to be more sustenance so that way anyone who reads this story can feel like they aren’t wasting their time. I just do not understand who a story that has led up to a big confrontation can end in such a little fight. Heck, it was not even a fight, all Rama did was fire a flaming arrow and catch Khara on fire, where’s the fun in reading that sentence. This story was such a letdown. Sometimes short stories are ok but in this case a longer one would have been preferred because it lacks a powerful punch.  I thought judging by the title of the story it would have to do more with Khara than with Rama and boy was I wrong. It seems weird that Indians don’t have their stories focus on bad guys but just on the good. If we got to know more about the bad guys and why they were doing what they were doing then the story would flow smoother. At first I thought I was going to write my story on part A but now I have a strong feeling I will focus on this one.

Rama Fighting Demons (1916)

Chitra Ramayana. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Battle with Khara. Battle with Khara

Reading Notes: Part A Rama Goes into Exile

For Part A I decided to read about Rama going into exile.  I thought that this was a great story. It showed how loyal everyone was to Rama, not only that but that his wife was going to share in the punishment that he was facing.  The loyalty that follows Rama is strong, with the fact that his brother and wife are insisting on doing his punishment with him. What I really enjoyed was that, at the end of the story, even though he had been banished he promised to come back and honor the person who banished him.  Like, who does that, because I know if I came back from banishment I would want to see the person who sent me away die and I wouldn’t stop until they were hurting or dead.  I guess this why everyone thinks that Rama is a just and equal god.

One thing I was wondering is that if he is so powerful and mighty, why doesn’t he just destroy the people who put him into exile? I wonder if it is because he is showing the rest of his nation that he is just like everyone else and that not even he is above reproach? There is really not a lot to dislike with this story.  Rama knows that he has done something wrong, even though we aren’t told what if we haven’t read the stories before, and he takes his lumps like a man.  The only thing that I wished this storied included was a brief summary of what happened in the story before it so that we knew why Rama was being exiled again.  Overall, I felt this story was a great one and very strongly written. I think I might end up writing my Week 12 story on this.

                                  Rama and Sita. (September 17, 2013)

                                        Myknow3. Source: Wikipedia

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Rama Goes into Exile. Rama Goes Into Exile

Week 11 Story: The Stupid Monkeys

Backstory

A long time ago there lived a group of three monkey friends named John, Chester, and Ray. They were known around the monkey village as the three stooges.  The reasoning for this nickname is because they could never complete a task they were given without screwing it up.  The most recent job that they had messed up was bringing back wood to the village so they could roast their bananas. Instead of bringing back wood, they pretended to sword fight and ended up breaking the sticks into tiny pieces that could not sustain fire. Ever since they were young they were the outcasts of the society and no one paid any attention to them.  Lal the other monkeys thought they were just failures but unbeknownst to them, they strategically did that so that they wouldn’t have to be counted on to do anything important. That is how they wanted to live their life.

Bananas and Freedom

One day they were walking along the trees and noticed a huge cache of bananas just hanging in a tree.  They all looked at each other and decided that that if they brought it back to the village that they would be considered heroes and treated as such.  They also agreed that if they were able to do that then they probably wouldn’t have to ever do any other task that the village asked of them.  So, John climbed to right above the bananas and started to pick each off one the bundle connected to the tree.  He started throwing them to Chester and Ray who started to have a competition to see who could catch and then carry the most bananas. Eventually, the tree was picked clean and they proceeded to make their way back to their village. When they arrived and all the other monkeys saw all the food they carried, they went wild.  They were going crazy over having an abundance on bananas to eat.  John, Chester, and Ray were proclaimed hero’s and from that day on they were never asked to do anything for the village.  They proceeded to live their life and be lazy for the rest of their days.

Three Monkeys. (No date)

iirliinnaa. Source: Pixabay

Author’s Note:
I wanted to make this story a little bit longer than the original.  I wanted to monkey’s to be lazy yet cunning not just lazy. It made sense to have to have them just want to live their lives and no be counted on. Having the three friends always mess up the tasks they are given was a cunning ploy by them to not have to do work.  It is the sign of intelligence, especially when they realize if they bring the bananas back they won’t have to do another task for the village.

Bibliography: Babbitt, Ellen. The Stupid Monkeys. The Stupid Monkeys

Reading Notes Part B: How the Monkey Saved His Troop

Since I complained so much about how Monkeys were treated as idiots and buffoons in the world, I decided to read a story that talks about how a monkey saves his troops.  What I love about this story is that it is showing monkeys off in a good light finally.  The monkey does not seem stupid or lazy.  This monkey is able to help the chief save his men from being destroyed by the enemy by finding out what they are doing and where they are planning to attack. I like that the monkey is given a large task and is able to succeed in that task. It seems that this is not the first time the monkey has been asked to help humans out. It seems he/ she is very good at his/her job. What I love about this animal is that it seems to have no hesitation when I comes to helping out humans. This shows how selfless the monkey really is.

One thing that I am wondering about is why are humans relying on animals to help them survive? I wonder if that is because they view animals as gods and that by having them in their stories as saviors then they will be rewarded? In past stories we see animals talking and that makes me wonder why the monkey and the king are not talking together. It just makes the monkey seem primitive but that it knows exactly what the king is saying.  That makes no sense at all. If an animal cannot speak then there is no way it should understand what humans are asking it. Overall, I think the story is pretty good, but it does have some flaws in it like any story typically would. I might consider writing my story about this but I am not sure how I would change it.

Archers. (May 22, 1918)

Joseph Fawcett. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography: Babbitt, Ellen. How the Monkey Saved His Troop. How the Monkey Saved His Troop

Week 10 Story: The Monkey and the Crocodile

There once was a young crocodile named Marty. He was the runt of his family and his older brothers always made fun of him because he could never seem to bring dinner home to the family.  On top of that there was also this monkey that lived up the bank that constantly made fun of Marty and made him feel inadequate. 

One day Marty’s mom, Dorothy, called him over and said, “Marty, I need you to go out and get dinner for us, your brothers and father are away hunting for gazelle.”

Marty replied, “Mom, what should I hunt for?”

His mom replied, “Just enough to feed us hunny.”

Marty then wagged his tale and went off in search of food for them.  Along the way up the bank to where the deer where he heard a voice call out to him.

“There goes that little runt, Marty. Says he is a crocodile but can never catch anything.”

Marty looked up and there was Damon, the wise cracker of the monkey’s, laughing at him. Marty grew mad just thinking about all the times Damon had called the other animals to laugh at Marty when he couldn’t secure dinner for the family.

 An idea formed in Marty’s head he thought, “If I pretend like i am giving up on hunting and pretend to cry maybe I can lure Damon down and we can eat him for dinner.”

After Marty had formulated this plan he proceeded to act it out.

He cried to Damon, “you are right, I am the worst hunter, so I give up! You win Damon, are you happy!”

Damon, upon hearing this, was shocked because he did not think that crocodiles would take jokes so seriously. He then proceeded to sing down to the lowest branch of the tree that he was in and looked at Marty.

He said, “We are just messing with you Marty, but if you want to give up why not just live on land. I’m sure the other animals will have use for a crocodile that can’t hunt.”

He then proceeded to laugh loudly and as he roared his head back he noticed that Marty winked at him.

He thought, “That is odd, why is Marty winkiiiiinnnngggg…”

Marty jumped out of the water and snatched Damon out of the tree as Damon was deep in thought.  With one powerful bite Damon was dead, no longer able to taunt and heckle Marty. When Marty returned home his father, brothers, and mother were all there.  Once they saw that Marty had Damon in his jaws they cheered for Marty had finally become one of them. That night a grand feast was held with the family heaping praise on Marty for killing the most annoying monkey in the jungle.

Monkey. (December 4, 2015)

Saidkarimail. Source: Wikicommons

Authors Note: 

I wanted to change up this story. In the original the monkey gets the best of the crocodile.  With this one I wanted the crocodile to turn the table on the monkey and get the last laugh.  I think having Marty being bullied by the monkey makes everyone feel for him and want him to finally get a kill.  This story isn’t as long as ones that I usually post because I want this one to be short, sweet, and to the point. It is serendipitous that that kill would be the Monkey. The lesson of the story is that karma will come around and bite you on the butt.

Bibliography: Babbitt, Ellen. The Monkey and the Crocodile. The Monkey and the Crocodile.

Reading Notes Part B: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata

One thing that I thought was interesting for Part B that I did not address in Part A was the fact that the characters in the stories are different than the ones I read about in Mythology and Folklore. What I mean by that is that each person seems to have emotional ties to whoever is going through a journey.  Generally, when reading a story, it focused on a major protagonist and then it had secondary characters who stood in the background mostly.  With Part B, the characters that I thought were background people are coming to the forefront.  I thought that was interesting because it allows us to get a better view of these people who we might not have considered important in the beginning. On top of that they all have backstories which I think is ingenious. By allowing them all to have backstories it gives us characters we can more easily relate to and cheer for. I do enjoy the fact that multiple stories are told through this novel. It gives us a chance to further expand our knowledge about Indian folklore.  These stories will help us be able to write better story books that everyone would be to understand.

Still one thing that I dislike and probably never get over is the fact that the characters names are hard to announce. Most people would not think that is a big deal but to me it is. When you cannot say the character’s name it is hard to generate a response to what they are going through. Going forward I hope the authors can keep one straight narrative and not split into 10 different ones. That would be very helpful, so I am not confused about what I am reading. Overall, thought Part B was a great read.

Devavrata. (1923)

B P Banerjee. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata

Reading Notes Part A: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata

For the reading part A I chose The Myths of Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabhrata.  This was a very long and sophisticated reading.  For one, I feel that I still do not know how to pronounce the names still and with the inclusion of different gods and goddesses I still don’t know which one does what.  I do feel like the stories that are shown throughout the first part of Mahabhrata are good stepping stones until Part B is reached.  It seems like the trials and tribulations that the characters go through in Part A can easily be related to real life.  That to me is what I find fascinating.  Whenever I am reading a story for this class I can always sense a connection between what is going on in my person life/real world and what they were describing back then. It seems that the Indians type of storytelling was sort of foretelling the future because in a eerie way, some of the stories relate to what is happening in the world.

While there is a lot to praise to there are also some negatives.  One negative is that while the stories are good and just, there seems to be a lot going on.  What I mean by that is that there seems to be an overabundance of characters and journeys that are happening. Now, while this might good sometimes, here it is bad because it is hard to remember all the people’s names.  There also seems to be a lot of twists and turns that occur during the stories that might be a little unnecessary. Some parts of Part A are a little slow and seem to make me lose interest which is not the best because then I want to read something else. Overall though, I felt like the characters and the journey that each one went on during Part A were done very well.

Pandu. (1690)

NA. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata

Week 7 Story: Raiding at Night

Backstory

There once was a young man named Jake. Jake had been at odds with the young prince named Sadik who ruled his lands ever since he learned that Sadik ordered the execution of Jakes Family. The reason for this execution as because the young prince’s father was having affair with Jakes mother.  Jakes mom used to be a healer for the kingdom and one day, after treating the king for back pain for over a year they kissed.  One might ask, “What led to this kiss?” well you see, the King and his wife had not been happy in their marriage for some time and the Julia, Jakes mother, provided companionship and happiness he had never known with his current wife. As the two saw each other in secret, one day, their relationship was discovered by the Kings wife.  Unable to take the heartbreak that she had suffered, she wrote a note to her son telling him everything and then proceeded to jump form the highest point in the tower into the moat.  As Sidak grew up he harbored a dark plan to get his revenge for his mothers’ death.  One day when he was 17 he led a small contingent of his most faithful soldiers into Jake’s town and proceeded to slaughter everyone.  Jake was out tending to crop when he heard his mother scream out. He raced back towards the house and as he peered through the window he saw Sidak sticking as word through his moms’ heart.

Sidak said, “All the pain you caused me, You were the reason my mother took her life, so now I take yours!” As Sidak and his men left the house Jake jumped through the window and cradled his mom vowing for revenge no matter what the cost.

Later

A few years later Jake kept hearing about all the awful things Sadik had done to other families in the area that Jake lived he decided enough was enough.  He decided that on the night of the 13^th he would sneak into the castle and murder Sidak so that he could harm no one else.  As night came, Jake made an appeal to the God of Safety, Paul, asking him to protect him long enough to get revenge for the death of his family.  As night came Jake crept slowly through the cover of the brush towards to castle.  He noticed right away that there were not hardly any guards on patrol so he hoped that it would be an easy in and out job.  As Jake came upon the main gate he realized that it was locked and as he scanned the outer wall he saw that he would have to climb up the sides of the tower to reach Sidak’s room. Jake held his breath and began his climb to Sidaks’ room.  A couple of times while making the climb he slipped and it seemed like all hope would be lost, but somehow he regained his grip and footing and continued to climb. Eventually, he reached Sidaks window, and he softly opened it as to make no noise.  Soon he came to the bedroom where Sidak lay sleeping.

 Sidak sensed something was up and suddenly woke up alert as Jake lunged at him screaming, “This is for my mother!”

As Jake was trying to strangle Sidak, Sidak pulled out a knife from under his pillow and proceeded to stab Jake in the stomach.  Crumpling to the ground, Jake could barley stand, but he suddenly felt the power of Paul surge them him and he made one last lunge at Sidak. As the grappled Jake was able to grab the knife and plunge in into Sidak’s throat. As both fell to the floor Jake knew he was dying but he felt at ease knowing he had avenged his mom.  Sidak on the other hand was in tears and blood was pouring out of his mouth and neck wound.  As morning came the neighboring cities surrounding the kingdom had heard about what had happened.  Jake was proclaimed a martyr for the oppressed. All around there were uprisings using Jake as their hero, when the people went to war with unjust forces.

V for Vendetta. (March 4, 2015)

WolvesOfTheTwilight. Source: Wikicommons

Authors Note: For this story I wanted to just have two characters to focus on.  I wanted there to be a good and evil character.  In the original story we are given two characters who are after revenge and it does not end well for either of them.  With this story I wanted Jake to know the cost of getting revenge and even though he does die, the oppressed people in surrounding kingdoms know what he has down and they too rise up and fight back.  The moral of the story is that evil will never win.  I wanted to give a God a little part because this story was really only about vengeance.  In the end vengeance can consume you and will most likely lead to your death. Often when vengeance is talked about, there are always negative repercussions.  Sure, this is true in this story but it also shows that vengeance can signal that people who are being opposed can change that and take back their life.

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. The Night Raid. The Night Raid

Week 6: The House of Fire

Once upon a time there was this mischievous little kid only named as Luke. He was known around the town of Errandale as a trickster and a bully.  No one knew who his parents were, he was often seen running around town in the same clothes he had on the week before.  Nobody ever paid attention to him, he would usually bully the little children were playing outside.  All the time he seemed to get away with whatever mischievous little thing he was doing. All his tricks seemed harmless until one fateful day.

The Day of The Fire

Luke was wandering around one fateful Autumn day when he came across what he thought was an abandoned farmhouse at the edge of town.  Now, Luke had seen this farm house a couple of times and he was always intrigued by how tall a fire would be if the building somehow caught on fire. Now unbeknownst to everyone in town Luke loved playing with fire because he was a pyromaniac.  That same Autumn day Luke was walking by the farm house he decided that night he would set it on fire.  He waited until the sun went down then went with his little lighter and stared to gather some dead leaves. He stacked the leaves and dry twigs he had gathered outside the barn door at both ends.  When he though the coast was clear he proceeded to light the brush, he had collected on fire. As the fire started to engulf the building he suddenly heard screaming and coughing from inside the barn.  He started to panicky because he though that no one was inside and that it was just abandoned.  Without thinking Luke made his way to the side of the barn and as he was trying to find a way in he saw that there was a couple of rotten boards.  He ran over to them and started to kick them out and eventually they broke.  He crawled through as fast as he could and when he was inside he saw that a family of four had been living there.  He rushed up to the father and told him that he had a way they could escape.  Luke led the family through the boards and out to safety. 

As the family started to hug one another the father asked Luke, “Where is your family son?”

Luke couldn’t reply because he was a mute, but he started to right out in the dirt that he was an orphan and his family had been burned to death by an evil with.  The old man thanks him profusely and give him a long hug after learning what had happened to his family.  He then proceeded to ask Luke if he would like to live with them for the rest of his life and Luke’s eyes teared up.  No one had ever been nice to him and people had always treated him with disgust.  He finally found somewhere he belong and from that day forward, Luke acted like a model citizen and never caused any more trouble.

Barn of Fire. (NA)

NA. Source: Pexels

Authors: I took this story from The House of Fire. I changed a considerable amount.  I wanted this story to be way different than what was shown in the original.  I didn’t want anyone to die and I wanted to give the main character a sad backstory that explained why he was the way he was.  In the original story the people inside the house that caught fire and I wanted Luke to be able to save them in this one. It gives his character a kind of redeeming quality that was missing. I know Luke never tells them he set the fire, I wanted to leave that up into interpretation for the reader to decide if he ever told them.

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. The House of Fire. The House of Fire

Reading Notes Part B: The House of Fire

There is so much to say about this story.  When I first chose this tory to read I thought it was going to have a different ending completely.  Usually when I ready myths or folklores, they have somewhat of a decent ending. I am trying to remember the last story that I read that had the evil villains succeeding and I am drawing a blank.  What was even more shocking was that men wished harm to a woman and children.  That is usually very frowned upon in any culture and I don’t believe there are many stories that deal with that.  I remember feeling happy when I thought the wicked captain and his man died in the flames. Unfortunately, that feeling went away once an innocent woman and her children perished by the flames that somehow reached where they were staying.  It also blows my mind that the prince and king could celebrate so freely for the deaths of what they thought was the queen and her sons. It just really shows how heartless those two men were and how they were not fit to be royalty. Even though the main targets of the evil plan lived, the queen’s son was directly responsible for the deaths of innocents. It makes me wonder how he is going to feel after knowing what he did.

I was wondering why they needed to have the children and mom die in the first place.  I feel that it really didn’t serve any purpose for the theme of the story. I guess a purpose of them dying would be to let others know that even though you are trying to beat evil, sometimes there are tragic consequences. Also, this story shows that a false narrative can cause a domino effect that maybe hard to come back from.  Overall, I did enjoy this story, it just stunk that a woman and her kids died for no real reason.

Purochan. (1968)

Ramnadayandatta Shastri Pandey. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. The House of Fire. The House of Fire

Reading Notes Part A: Drona's Revenge

This story is a lot more interesting in regard to the battle sequences that happen.  The overall descriptions that are going on throughout this story just seem to reinforce the idea that Indian mythology is all about the details, even if they are small.  It seems that all the stories that I have read up until this point are the most intricate and detailed that I have ever read.  They want us to know who each character is and who we should be focusing on.  With this story it lets us know right away that we are dealing with Drona and his pupils.  The overarching theme to this story seems to be that sometimes battle is necessary to combat the trials of evil the invade a good land. Like many other stories that I have read across the last two semesters, the battle sequence does not last long.  One thing I have always been curious is why is that? I have been researching and cannot seem to find an answer about why the battles we read about are not gory and detailed letting us know the horrors of battle.  It would seem that this story, like most of the ones that I have read care more about the politics that happen after the battle.  While that is all good and well it is rather boring, and I think most people would agree. Sometimes it is hard to try to figure out who the good characters and evil ones are.  The reason I say this is because it sometimes seems that the ones we considered to be good end up being the ones that are the most hated.  Overall, I did really enjoy this story.  I feel like I say that a lot but I do go through some stories that are rather boring and I only like to write notes on the ones that can hold my interest like this one.

Drona. (August 15, 2107)

Mughal. Source: Wikipedia

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Drona's Revenge. Drona's Revenge

Week 5 Story: The Divine Archer

John was leading his troops into battle against his ex-best friend Devin.  John and Devin had a falling out a long time ago over John marrying Devin’s ex fiancé.  John couldn’t help it though, when he saw Rachel, he felt an instant connection with her.  Devin had been ok with the marriage for a while but as time had passed a deep seated hatred had started to eat away at him until it eventually consumed him.  Almost 5 years to the day after John had been married, Devin decided that enough was enough.  He told his army to gear up for war, they were going after John.

Present Day

John’s men seemed to be more skilled and proficient at fighting, while Devin’s men seemed to be struggling.  In John’s heart he knew he should stop the fighting, but he was afraid that if he did then Devin would try to sneak attack him.  As John was fighting he came across Devin.  

John yelled, “Devin, stop this madness! There is no need for us to fight.  We were like Brothers once.”

Devin responded, “Yes we WERE brothers, but now I have nothing but anger for what you did to me!  The only thing that will cease this anger is your death.”

John knew that unless he did something the battle would only end when everyone was dead.  So, John, being the respectable and manly man that he was, he laid down his sword.

He said to Devin, “Strike me down if you must, but your anger will always linger.”

Devin looked at him with hatred in his eyes but lowered his sword.

He said, “You maybe right…”and then he proceeded to swing his sword at Johns head. As John saw the sword heading toward him he closed his eyes. The next thing that either of them knew, the sword broke in half on John’s neck.  Devin stared in disbelief as he looked at the hilt of his sword. 

When John opened his eyes, he looked at Devin with sadness and said, “Hate will never beat the light Devin. Now go home and leave all this anger behind you.”

Devin was so startled he had no idea what to do. As soon as John spoke to him something inside of him let go of the hate and he just crumpled to the ground in tears. 

As John walked away from Devin he said, “I will always be here for you my friend. If you decide you ever want to talk more amicably.”

Rama and Ravana fighting. (February 28, 2018)

Gita Press Gorakhpur. Source: Wikicommons

Authors Note: I wanted to tell the story of Rama fighting Ravana. Even though Rama is victorious, I wanted this story to show compassion and that violence and death are not always the answers. I also wanted to change the backstory of why the two were fighting. I also wanted there to be some dialogue to show John (Rama) as a objector to the fight and one of the most compassionate people. Devin (Ravana) represents the anger that festers inside someone if left uncheck.

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. The Divine Archer. The Divine Archer

Week 3 Story

Long ago in the town of Chile, there lived a prince named Ryan.  Ryan was known throughout the land as the son of King Hugh. He was often known as the troublemaker of the family and the comedian.  He was often sent away on what he thought were “important missions,” but in fact were just errands that his family had wanted him to run. One day his father required him to go away to the town of Cyprus.  So, as Ryan headed off he thought to himself, “I must be the luckiest man alive, my dad always sends me on important missions for the kingdom.”  This time though, unbeknownst to Ryan, his father had sent him away so that he could deal with the evil witch Blake, who was trying to take over the kingdom.

After being on the road for a few weeks Ryan eventually came back to Chile.  What he saw shocked him, there were houses on fire, some that had been burned to the ground, crops were decimated, and the castle looked like it had been at war. Ryan dropped everything that he was carrying and rushed toward his home to see what was happening.  When he arrived all, he saw was carnage.  There were dead bodies everywhere. Some of the soldiers that he had known all his life were laying on the ground covered with cuts and dripping blood. As Ryan entered the hall, he saw his father slumped on his throne lifeless with a pool of blood around his feet.  Ryan eventually reached his father and stood in despair, he cried out, “What has happened here!”  His mother appeared from a concealed comparing in the wall behind the throne and told him that the evil witch Blake and her minions had stormed the castle while was away and destroyed mostly everything.  She went on and said how his father tried to fight them off, but he was eventually overpowered and then stabbed.  As Ryan was listening to this he burned with an intense rage and hatred for this witch and vowed to end her life.

Ryan hastily left the castle and went on search to find the witch.  As he was wandering around the town, he heard people scream out, “Have mercy on us ol’ witch. Please spare our lives.” Ryan went to investigate the noise and what he saw made him shudder.  Standing before him was the most grotesque witch he had ever seen in his life.  Words couldn’t even begin to describe what she looked like.  Eventually the witch turned back to her victims and started inflicting torture. As Ryan was creeping up behind her he realized that he did not have a weapon to slay her. He noticed out of the ornery of his eye that there was a little knife by the edge of the burnt down house he was creeping behind.  He grabbed it and then made his way toward Blake.  As soon as he was in position he lunged at her and stabbed the knife right through her throat. Blood was gushing out and the witch turned around and looked at him in shock and then fell down dead.  Ryan was praised as a hero and eventually took possession of the crown and became king of Chile.  Every month on the day that he was father and the towns people were murder the kingdom holds a celebration of life to remember those who had passed.

Bharata fainting at his fathers Cremations. (January 28, 2018)

Reitberg Museum. Source: Wikicommons

Authors Note: I felt for this story I kind of wanted to give some more backstory about what had happened while Ryan was away form the city. In the original story all that we know is that Bharata returns and his father has been killed.  With this new story I wanted to portray how he was killed, and I wanted the main character to get exact his vengeance on the one that destroyed his family. I also excluded the brother from the story because I feel that he added no real value. I also wanted to give the story a happier ending than the mysterious one that was given.

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Bharata Returns. Bharata Returns

Week 2 Story

A long time ago in the city of Calcutta there lived an intriguing child named Johnny.  Now Johnny was known all around his city as the boy would would get freaked out by anything and usually try to cause a panic.  One day when Johnny was in school his teacher was telling them a story about how the Earth first started breaking up.  As his teacher was talking she said, “And Jimmy heard a giant crash and when looked behind him, the Earth started to open up and swallow the houses whole.” Now this story genuinely freaked Johnny out because he was always afraid that he would get swallowed by the Earth.   After a week or so went by Johnny almost completely forgot about the story.

One day Johnny was napping under a giant apple tree when he was awoken when he heard a loud “crash!” noise.  Remembering what his teacher said Johnny got up and took off running for the town screaming, “The Earth is opening up! Run for your lives!” At first the people thought he was kidding because he was known to have pulled pranks like this in the past but when they saw the terror in his eyes they realized he must be telling the truth.  People soon began to grab items from there house and follow Johnny as he made his way through town. Eventually, the whole town was following him, and they made their way to the adjacent town of Derk.  When they had arrived safely in Derk, the mayor of the City Dwayne, called out to the masses, “What is the meaning for all of you people entering my town!”  One person spoke up and said, “I heard that the Earth was opening up and swallowing our city whole!” When asked where this information came from the people started to respond saying they heard it from this person who heard it from another and so on.  Eventually it was traced back too little Johnny boy. Johnny told Dwayne what he had heard and told him about the story his teacher had told him.  With a great laugh, Dwayne told him, “It is just a story boy, lets go back and see if the Earth has opened up indeed.”

So, Dwayne and Johnny made the long trek back to Calcutta and the tree where Johnny heard the noise.  When they arrived, they found that the Earth had not opened, just that the apple from the tree had fallen off and been getting cut open by a sharp rock. Dwayne went over to the rock and ripped it from the ground, but when he did that they Earth started to open and he looked at Johnny with fear in his eyes and then was swallowed up.  Johnny freaked out and ran as fast as he could and could hear the earth swallowing everything in its path.  As he made his way back to derk the people of both towns could hear him yelling out, “The Earth is coming to eat us!” When they all went to see him, they saw the earth just devouring everything behind Johnny as he ran toward them.  About 30 heard from t eh town the earth stopped swallowing everything in its path and Johnny and the rest of the towns people were safe.  Johnny was labeled a hero and his heroic deed of evacuating the town was remembered long after he was gone.

Earth opening up. (March 28, 2008)

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography:

Author: Babbitt, Ellen C. The Foolish, Timid Rabbit. The Foolish, Timid Rabbit.

Authors note: I wanted to make the characters human and give a little backstory about why Johnny was afraid the earth was opening. I also thought that it would be a good idea that instead of having the earth not open and swallow everything, that instead it does. I thought it would be kind of comical to have Dwayne, the mayor, pick up a rock that destroys the town. It was also imperative that I make it seem like the boy who cried wolf too many times, but the final time he was correct and not lying.  The moral is kind of like sometimes what people say is the truth even if it doesn't seem like it.