Story: The Beautiful Maiden

There once was a beautiful maiden who lived deep in a forest. 

She was often very lonely and would long for company.

One night while dusting her cabin, the young beautiful maiden could not help but sneeze.

"Ah..Ah..AHH Choo..!"

A goblin, who lived near by, heard the sneeze and went

 to go investigate the loud noise in the quiet forest. 

"Is anyone there?!" yelled the goblin. "Helloooo! I have not met or seen anyone for many moons in this forest."

The maiden became very afraid when she heard the harsh voice of what she knew must be a goblin. She had remembered the tales her father used to tell her as a child about goblins eating people up when sneezing and not saying, "God bless you."

The young, beautiful maiden did not want to be gobbled up by a goblin, so with no one around to bless her she said, "God bless me!"

The goblin heard this proclamation from the east of him so he headed that direction until he ran into a cabin he had never noticed before because it was so well hidden in the brush. 

"Hellooo!" said the goblin again, hoping he had found the source of the noise. 

The maiden, inside the cabin, was frozen still. She had not intended for the goblin to come closer to her after saying, "God bless me" but for him to go away!

Unsure of what to do, the maiden said, "Okay, Mr. Goblin, you have found me because of my sneeze but please do not eat me. I have said, "God bless me!"

"Silly girl. I'm not here to eat you! I am just a lonely goblin cast here to the forest because people in the town were too afraid of my appearance. I have not had a friend or even a traveler pass by in many moons and I am very lonely, ma'am. Please keep me company for a while."

Breaking her trance, the maiden finally moved toward a window to look out at the goblin. 

He was indeed not very nice-looking but the maiden, longing for someone to talk to too, took a chance and invited the goblin in her cabin for tea. 

"Okay, goblin. I will make some tea for us while we have a nice chat, but if you eat me up the Gods will not be very pleased with you because I have said God bless me as I am supposed to when one sneezes."

"I wish no harm on you ,fair maiden. Thank you for your kindness."

The goblin walked in the cabin and sat at the maiden's table while she prepared a pot of tea. 

"Fair maiden, please if I may ask, what is a young, beautiful and kind maiden like yourself doing in such a dreary and lonely forest?"

"Well, sir, I was living with my stepmother and half-sister in town while my father was away at war. Every day when my stepmother, half-sister, and I would walk through the market the townspeople would sing their praises of my beauty and kind heart. My stepmother grew very jealous because she wanted her own daughter to be the most beautiful girl in town, so one day in a jealous fit she bade me off to the forest in hopes the townspeople would forget of me and my beauty."

For years after that day, the goblin would visit the beautiful, young maiden at her cabin and they would have wonderful conversations over tea. 

One day, out of the blue, the maiden suggested to the goblin, "Let's get married!"

The goblin taken aback by what she said sputtered over his tea, "Wh.. wha.. What did you just say?! Ma'am, you do not want to marry an ugly ol' goblin like me. What would the townspeople think?"

"Oh, goblin. Who cares what the townspeople think? They have cast us aside and have forgotten about us by now for no one comes to visit.  You are the kindest heart I know and I wish to marry you." 

The goblin finally agreed to wed the beautiful maiden and on their wedding day, upon the first kiss, the goblin turned into a handsome young man.

They were both surprised at this revelation but continued to live happily in the cabin in the woods for a few years until one day they decided they had been cast aside from the townspeople for long enough. They packed up their most prized possessions and walked into town after a day and half journey. 

Upon their entrance into town, the townspeople were stunned by their beauty and instantly remembered her as the beautiful young girl who stunned them when she was small. 

The townspeople rejoiced she was back and the couple lived happily ever after in the town. 

Author's Note: In my story this week I decided to combine multiple tales from old India into one story line along with a little hint of the American version of Cinderella. In the Indian tale, "The Goblin and the Sneeze" a goblin haunted a house just outside of the city and would gobble up anyone that would sneeze outside of the city unless someone else said, "God bless you" and the other person must answer back, "the same to you." The ending of this particular story probably had the happiest ending, in that the boy persuaded the goblin to turn vegetarian so he no longer ate people who sneezed.  Most of the other Indian tales did not have such happy endings and someone typically ended up dying or being fooled. With the Walking Dead (spoiler alert! Do NOT click on the link unless you watched the latest episode or simply just do not care) being on this week and a lot of the other stories I have been reading I felt like it would be a nice break to have a happy ending for once. Since I wanted a happy ending, what better to turn to for inspiration than a Disney-fied princess story. That is where I got the inspiration for the beautiful maiden and her evil stepmother.

P.S. If you would like to listen to some music while reading I've embedded Hans Zimmer "Time" from the Inception sound track into my post for your listening pleasure. If you have never heard of him I suggest you look him up! I enjoy studying while listening to the Hans Zimmer radio station. No words to distract me but often soothing. 

Bibliography: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India. W. H. D. Rouse. Illustrated by W. Robinson. 1897. 

Picture: Cabin in the Woods. Sheila Sund. flickr.

Story: The Prom Barter

"You knew I was going to wear those shoes tonight, Vinata!" shouted Kadru, her sister, from the other room.

Kadru, the eldest by only a few minutes, flung her sister's door open and stormed in the room. "Give them here," she shouted, motioning with her hand to hand them over. "I told you, they look better with my dress; besides you'll be taller than Kash if you wear them."

Kadru knew her sister was right about her being taller than Kash, her prom date, if she wore them but the last thing she wanted to do was admit that she was right.

"Fine, wear them for all I care.... I'll...just wear..." Kadru slowly inched towards Vinata's closet where she kept her shoes, "your Jimmy Choo's!" She grabbed the shoes quickly and rounded the corner of her door before Vinata even registered what happened.

"Hey! I was going to we.." Vinata stopped mid- sentence because she knew she could not wear two pairs of shoes and she had already taken her sister's. She had intended to wear her favorite Jimmy Choo high heels to prom but when she saw Kadru's she became jealous and wanted hers instead. Now Kadru not only had the prom date Vinata wanted but she had her favorite high heels too.

Vinata had always been jealous of her older sister. Even when they were children and people would tell Kadru how pretty and proper she was. Then all through grade school and into high school Kadru had always gotten better grades than Vinata and was praised by the teachers. Their senior year of high school, Vinata thought, "This is going to be my year." She had had a crush on Kash since freshman year and she had a plan to get him to ask her to prom. Then, just weeks before prom when Vinata was getting nervous about whether Kash was going to ask her or not, Kadru went running up to her and shouted with excitement, "Kash asked me me prom!!Ahhh!!"
Vinata couldn't help but show the disappointment on her face. Turns out Kash had taken advantage of his friendship with her to only get closer to the beautiful Kadru.
Of course Kash's friend Bobby asked her to prom the next day and when nominations for prom king and queen were announced the couples were to face off.

"The boys are here, Kadru!" Vinata shouted. As Kadru walked down the stairs she said to her sister, "How about we make a wager? Whoever loses prom queen tonight has to do the other's chores for the rest of the year."
Knowing the one thing she had more than Kadru was friends, Vinata said, "You have yourself a deal."

Once they reached the prom destination with their dates, Vinata started to dance and encourage her friends to vote for her for prom queen.

Kadru knew Vinata had more friends than her but being the more cunning sister she visited the voting station where a lower classman transfixed by Kadru sat. Without hesitation, the young boy let Kadru cast multiple votes for herself and she had him destroy the rest of the votes cast.

When the results were read at the end of the night and they announced Kadru and Kash as prom queen and king, Vinata could not believe her ears.

Now she must do double the chores for the rest of the year but Vinata knew one day things would fall in her favor.

(Banquet Hall)

Author's Note: In the original tale of King Janamejaya's Snake Sacrifice, King Kashyapa married two sisters by the names of Queen Kadru and Queen Vinata. They both took such good care of him, he granted both of them a wish. Kandru, the eldest, wished to be the mother of a thousand snakes and the younger sister, Vinata, wished to be the mother of two sons who were equal in strength to the thousand snakes. They both laid eggs and waited for them to hatch. When Kandru's eggs hatched, Vinata grew jealous and impatient because her eggs had not hatched yet. In haste she broke one of her eggs open and the boy inside was not ready to be born so he cursed his mother Vinata for being impatient.
Kadru then made a bet with Vinata that the horse's tail that rose from the sea foam when the gods were granted immortality was black. Vinata knew the tail was white for a fact so she agreed to the bet. When they went to see for themselves though, the tail was black and Vinata was enslaved to her older sister for the next five hundred years. Turns out Kadru had her snakes sneak to the horse before the sisters and had them cover the white tail to make it look black.
I wanted to follow the same story line somewhat but set in the modern times. I chose to have two quarreling sisters over prom in my story instead of quarreling about the strength of their children.
I think prom is a little more relatable since most people take part in that high school tradition. Also, even if one does not have a sister (like myself) I could imagine how annoying it would be to have my mind set on an outfit and for it to not be there when I went to look.

Bibliography: Tales from the Indian Epics. C.A. Kincaid. 1918.

Story: The Football King

"There is NO WAY we are winning the game this week!"

"Bhima! Calm down. Saying it isn't going to help anything."

"Well, you know it's true, Arjuna! Yudhishthira is our only quarterback on the team and now he's hurt. Who's going to quarterback in Friday's game?? You?!?"

"You know I'm a receiver, Bhima. Just calm down; I have a plan."

"Please enlighten me then because if we don't win this game it's over for us."

"Bhima, for crying out loud. I understand the situation we're in! That is why I'm going to do something I never thought I would have to do..."

Bhima gave Arjuna an incredulous look and Arjuna began to explain his plan.

"You see, I'm kinda adopted. I never met my biological father and my mom got remarried when I was really young so I always just called him dad."

"Arjuna... I'm sorry about your biological father not being in your life and everything but how is this story going to help us win.... The game is in two days!!!"

"Hear me out! Gosh, you're so impatient, Bhima. Every time I ask my mom about him she just says he was some kind of "Football King" and that he lives at the top of Mount Scott now."

"You're father was the Football King and you are just now mentioning this?!?!"

"Well... yeah. I didn't think it was that important or true actually."

"Arjuna! Everyone knows about the stories of the Football King and how he would save teams even if no one had them favored to win. No one has heard from him for about eighteen years, which makes sense because he must have disappeared about the time you were born! He owes you, Arjuna- for walking out on you."

"Okay, I'll go check it out. Pray I'm back in time for the game Friday night or we really will have a big problem."

"Good luck, Arjuna! Be safe."

(Football Field by Daniel X. O'Neil)

Arjuna set out towards Mount Scott hoping to make it by sunset. By the time he reached the bottom of the mountain he was already tired from the day's activities but knew he needed to trudge on because his team was depending on him.

In the first thirty minutes of the climb Arjuna ran into multiple people hiking and camping. As the mountain became more and more steep he began to see less and less people until he had not seen anyone for at least an hour.
Arjuna noticed a few yards ahead the steep incline began to level off and he knew he must be nearing the crest. As he climbed over the final giant boulder in order to get to a clearing at the crest, he spotted a man in a fishing hat, sitting in a chair leaning back next to a pond like he hadn't moved for hours. It was a peculiar scene, seeing a pond so large a top of such a steep mountain but Arjuna did not question what he saw.

(Pond)

"Oy!" Arjuna shouted. "I do not wish to disturb you, but I am in search of the Football King. Do you know where I can find him?"

"I'll tell you this, boy," The fisherman started, "if you can catch the fifty- pound bass from this here pond I will tell you all you want to know about the Football King."

"You have yourself a deal." Arjuna was an experienced fisherman since his step-dad had been taking him fishing since his earliest memory and knew he would be able to complete the task given the right tools.... just hopefully the fish were biting today.

No more than twenty minutes later, Arjuna had his first bite and pulled in the fifty-pound bass on his first attempt.

The fisherman was amazed by what he just witnessed and asked, "What do you wish to know about the Football King?"

"Where can I find this so called Football King?" Arjuna asked. "I am his son who he left before even having a chance to meet and now he owes me."

"It is me, son. I am the Football King and your father," the fisherman proclaimed. "I wanted so badly to be a part of your life but I was cursed and if I had stayed you would never have been able to play football. Not until the day you would come looking for me is the day the curse would be lifted. Now everyone will know you achieved your skill yourself and not because your father is the Football King."

"Father, I have made the trip to find you because my team is in trouble. Our quarterback, Yudhishthira, got hurt in practice and he is our only chance of winning so we can go to Nationals."

"I see. Tell Yudhishthira to wear these pads on Friday night and he will be stronger, have more agility and most of all be healed of his wounds."

The Football King produced shining, golden shoulder pads from thin air that were light as a feather but stronger than the weight of a thousand- pound man.

"Thank you, father." And with that Arjuna rushed back to his home field just minutes before the Friday night game began.

"Yudhishthira! Come here! I have something for you from the Football King."

Yudhishthira slowly lifted the shoulder pads over his head and his throwing arm was miraculously without pain. He could feel his strength and agility racing through his veins as he stood up and shouted, "This is our stadium, boys! Let's send them packing!" and with that the team rushed the field.

Authors Note: 
In the original version of the Indian Epic, Yudhishthira is worried about defeating Prince Duryodhan without the help of any of the gods. This is when a sage by the name Vyasa tells Yudhishthira to tell his brother Arjuna to visit his father, the god Indra. Arjuna gladly takes on this quest to find Indra to get celestial armor from him. In light of football season I thought it would be fun to make the Pandava brothers in the original story into a different kind of brothers and put them as star players on a high school football team (think of small town, football is life kind of brotherhood). In the original tale, Arjuna is also gone for a very, very long time (long enough for his brothers to think he died on his journey). I shortened his journey substantially to only about two days and instead of Arjuna physically fighting to talk to his father I liked the idea of a fishing challenge.
Of course I kept to the football theme and instead of golden armor like in the original epic, Arjuna was presented with golden shoulder pads.
One more thing to point out is that in the original story Arjuna kept the armor for himself but in my version Arjuna gave the shoulder pads to Yuhdhishthira.

Bibliography: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata- The Princes of Elephant City by C.A. Kincaid.

Story: Duryodhana's Final Fight

"It's over Duryodhana! Come out, come out wherever you are!", sang Yudhistira.

"It despairs me that you acted so greedy cousin; and have gotten your friends and family killed in this unnecessary war."

Yudhistira and his brothers had all gathered near an old abandoned house where they knew Duryodhana fled to after his uncle had been killed in battle. At that moment Duryodhana knew he had lost not just a battle but the war.

Inside the old, dilapidated house Duryodhana was pacing back and forth in front of a crumbling fireplace. "This did not turn out as I foresaw. After I lost Bhishma nothing seemed to play in my favor. Maybe I should have listened to my father and just gave my cousins the small parcel of land they requested..... Who am I kidding?! They did not and still do not deserve any of my kingdom!"

After a few minutes of waiting for Duryodhana to come out of the dilapidated house, Yudhistira and his brothers became impatient.

"You can hide no more Duryodhana", shouted Yudhistira, "The war is over and your time has come!"

Duryodhana went bursting through the front door making it fly off its hinges. He bursted out, "How dare you disgrace me by saying I am hiding! I simply needed to collect my thoughts and figure out what I have to fight or live for anymore. You, the Padavas have taken everything from me. Not an ounce of desire runs through my bones to have my kingdom anymore."

"You brought this upon yourself!", Yudhistira exclaimed, "I even sent Krishna for a final attempt at peace days before the war began! You are an arrogant one though and refused my offer."

"No the matter!" Duryodhana shouted, "This war is not over for me. I will fight you one by one. Right here, right now, toe-to-toe."

"My track record for betting with you is not very good but I will make one final offer to you,Duryodhana. Pick one of my brothers or I to fight and if you win we will give you a parcel of land to live on, unbothered. If you lose, you will die and we will let Yama do with you what he pleases."

(Final battle between Duryodhana and Bhima)

Duryodhana chose the youngest of the brothers, Bhima to battle.

"I finally get to test my skills on others besides the soldiers  who we just slayed in battle." Bhima eagerly waited for Duryodhana to put on his armor and the fight began.

The fight was evenly matched and what seemed like days later Bhima finally outwitted Duryodhana. In an arrogant moment, Duryodhana got distracted for just a few seconds and Bhima sent his sword crashing down on him.

In that moment, with Bhima still panting over him, Yama descended down from a cloud where he had been watching and waiting to take his next guest to the after world.

Authors Note:
My story begins after Duryodhana has lost the war and everything worth living for.
I kept it very close to the original in that the Pandava brothers find Duryodhana hiding after the war. In the original epic they find Duryodhana under water in a lake where he "Needed the water to cool the fire that is still raging within [him]." Similarly he also has a final battle with Bhima. In the original epic story though Bhima smashes him in the thigh and fatally wounds him.
I wanted to still portray Duryodhana's stubborn attitude even in his moment of death in  my story. That is when I decided to keep to the more original story line instead of completely twisting the story around. The gods still intrigue me so I even made Yama a small role even though he is not in the original story.

(Duryodhana found in the lake)

Bibliography: Narayan's The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.

Story: The Fishing Trip

"Hey Dad! Car's all loaded up. Let's go!"

You see, every year since my mom left us my dad and I go on an annual fishing trip. At first I think it was more of a " I'm sorry this happened to us but now it's me and you against the world" kind of a trip but now it has turned into our thing. The big annual fishing trip to the Ganges River!

The drive is really not that far but I say "big" because my dad happens to be the king of a city called Hastinapura. As the only son I am the heir to the throne and having both the king and heir to the throne gone to the wilderness is stressful for my father's advisors.
Every year the advisors to the throne come up with some baloney excuse as to why we should not go but every year my father and I head to our favorite fishing spot on the Ganges against their will.

This year is different. My dad is usually the one pushing me out of the door so we can get a full day of fishing in but this year I practically packed the car all by myself. I also have noticed the staff attempting to make as little contact with him as possible, even avoiding his eye, as if they are afraid if he catches their glance he will fire them or something extreme.

I guess he has been rather moody and gloomy lately but I have been so busied with matters in preparing me to become king for when my father decides to step down that I have hardly noticed.

"Dad! Did you hear me? Daylight's awaistin'!"

"I heard ya, I heard ya. I just have to finish signing a few more letters and I'll be ready."

The car ride to the Ganges seemed longer than usual.  The limited talking and the no listening to music made the car ride drag on. The silence was a killer.

River Ganga at Hersil Town from Bipin Gupta

After a few hours of fishing I couldn't take it anymore. "What is eatin' at ya, Dad? Even the staff are afraid to glance your direction these past few weeks."

"I will get over it in time, son. I simply want something I can't have."

"What is it??"

"I've fallen in love with a woman but her father will not allow her to marry me because I already have an heir to the throne."

This information took me a few moments to digest considering it has only been my dad and I for so many years and I have never heard him talk of another woman besides my mother.

"Well, does she make you happy, Dad?"

"She does indeed, but you are my son and prince of Hastinapura. You are the future of our dynasty."

"Father, you have sacrificed so much for me. Let me step down as heir to the throne and the next son you father will be king"

"Son, I would never ask this of you in a million moons!"

"My mind has already been made up. I will visit the maiden's father tomorrow and hash out the fine details."

Authors Note:
In Narayan's Mahabharata, how and why prince Davavratha steps down from the throne is skated over I felt like. I wanted to bring that story to a more modern-day father-son fishing trip to really understand the relationship of king Santanu and his son Davavratha. In Narayan's portrayal, king Santanu instantly falls in love with a beautiful fisherman's daughter while hunting in the woods. The fisherman was willing to let his daughter marry Santanu but only under the condition that her son would be Santanu's successor. Santanu knew he could not accept this condition and left them.
Davavratha, noticing his father's gloomy state of mind, questioned him and when he found out the reasoning went behind his father's back to the fisherman to make the negotiation for his father. Davavratha agreed to never have children of his own and from then on took the name, Bhishna.


Bibliography: The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic by R.K.    Narayan.

Story: The Sea to Lanka

"Do you know how infuriating it is Hanuman!?" Rama yelled furiously throwing his hands up. "Sita is so close but we are no closer to saving her than we were when we did not know where he had hidden her".

You see, Ravana, a ghastly man with ten heads was a very jealous man and when he heard of Rama's great triumphs and strengths he wanted him dead. When Ravana seeked Rama to take care of him himself he became distracted by the beautiful glow of Sita. Ravana became so distraught with love for Sita he completely forgot about Rama and his triumphs and snatched Sita without a thought.

Ravana and Sita painting from Wikimedia

"You will be my Queen in the city of Lanka" Ravana exclaimed to Sita as he approached his castle. Ravana never thought someone would not want to live a life of luxury but Sita refused everyone and every fine meal. After a while Ravana became tired of her antics and sent Sita off to a garden on the outskirts of Lanka.
"Finally", Sita sighed. "Maybe Rama will have a chance of finding me now."

Sita knew Rama had to be searching for her and that he had to pick up on her trail she tired to leave on her journey to Lanka.

"Sir, please." Hanuman trying to calm Rama down,  "let me call upon Nala and Nila, they can construct us something to get all the army across the ravaging sea and this will take us to Lanka where Ravana has hidden Sita".

"Fine, fine the sooner the plans take place the sooner we get to Sita", Rama replied impatiently.

Nala and Nila built the city the monkey clan lived in and were known far and wide for their architectural techniques.

"Sir Rama, a bridge only makes sense!"Nila said exasperated, he had been arguing with Nala about what type of structure to make for the sea crossing for hours now.

"I'm telling you Nila, a boat will move much faster than what the army can walk!"

Tired and ready to start building Rama interrupted the two, "We will build a fleet of ships! and this is how we will cross the sea to Lanka and retrieved my dear Sita who has been waiting on me long enough!".

Nala and Nila, intimidated by Rama's loud outburst nodded politely and left the tent to begin work on the ships for the army.

Nala and Nila proved the rumors true and provided Rama with a beautiful  fleet of ships suited to carry him, Lakshman and the monkey army across the tossing sea.

The trip across the sea to Lanka was a difficult one with the crashing cold waves and and strong Northward winds. The Ocean God, Varuna, was relentless and sent gigantic waves almost overturning the ships.

Rama Conquers Varuna by Wikimedia

The fleet reached Lanka after five days at sea and Rama announced, "we make camp here, on the shore! And in the morning, we fight!!"

The army cheered and hollered so loudly Ravana heard them in his Kingdom while watching musicians with his wife and knew the battle was to begin.

Bibliography: The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould. 1911

Authors Note: In the story Nala and Nila build a bridge across the sea to Lanka and the Ocean God, Varuna agrees to make the trip for the army as easy as possible. I thought it would be interesting if everything went wrong for Rama instead of in his favor and see how he would handle the situation. I really enjoyed the idea of having a story about Nala and Nila to see deeper into their characters and learn more about who they are.

Story: Sita's Imprisonment

"why, oh why did I beg Rama to go and fetch the beautiful golden deer that caught my eye! I see now it was nothing but a ploy to draw him away from me and now I have been abducted and do not know the well being of my loving Rama".

Sita had just reached Lanka after what felt like days of flying upon a carpet that Ravana had taken out from under her feet. Ravana's deception had taken Sita by surprise but she did not go with him without a fight, which had taken Ravana by surprise.

Ravana expected the ploy to draw Rama and his brother, Lakshmana, away from Sita the most difficult part of his plan but in fact that part was easiest of all. Rama's wish to please Sita in every way made Ravana want Sita even more than before. Ravana truly believed Sita would be happier with him in his kingdom of Lanka where she would be showered with jewels and flowers not in this unforgiving forest where old men and creatures could creep up on her.

Now that Rama and Lakshmana were busied with the ploy of the golden deer, Ravana knew his road to make Sita his bride was clear. As soon as Sita saw Ravana she knew his intentions were not good, "back Ravana!" she yelled, "Rama will be back any time soon and he will not be forgiving when he sees you near me"!

"Silly, beautiful Sita. Do you not see Rama cannot even catch a deer for you. I can provide you thousands of golden deer if you please. Come be my Queen in my kingdom of Lanka".

"You ugly, hastefull beast! I will never have a desire to be with you in your Kingdom".

At the sound of Sita's words Ravana grew angry and could not contain himself. He went to grab Sita but when he reached for her, she hit his hand away with a force much greater than he expected. Sita began to retreat to the cabin Lakshmana had built but as she stepped on the entrance rug it began to rise.

"You have a heavy hand by beautiful Sita but not even the strength of Rama could escape the confines of my magic".

For days Sita traveled on the floating carpet unable to escape its confines but realizing even though she might not be able to get off the carpet she could drop things. Sita began slowly dropping jewelry her beloved Rama had given her in hope he will find them and follow them. Ravana took her over KishKinda, the land of monkey's, over mount Matanga and across the ocean into his kingdom of Lanka.

"I must not put you with my other maidens, you may cause harm to them with your strength and if you outwit them they will not sing praise for you. Until you have learned to love your new home of Lanka you will stay in the Ashoka Vana".

Sita in Ashoka Vana by wikimedia

Sita replied, "I will stay where it is the furthest away from you, Ravana!".

Ravana left Sita in solitude and had servants check on her from time to time to see if she was ready to join him in his Kindgdom of Lanka. After months of solitude and no sign of her beloved Rama, Sita contemplated death often.

Then one day she heard a clash and the sound of fighting and she knew, her Rama had come to give Ravana what he deserves and fight for his Sita back.



Authors' Note: From Narayan's version of the Ramayana, Ravana hears of Sita's beauty from his sister who has been mutilated by Sita's husband, Rama. Ravana devises a plan to lead Rama away from his wife Sita in order to abduct her. Ravana's plan ultimately succeeds and thus a war begins to win over Sita.



Bibliography: Story is based on Narayan's Ramayana

Story: The God of Fire

I'm not sure how it happened. It is kind of a whirlwind of events and all of a sudden I find myself here with Vayu, the god of wind, and Yama, the god of death. All day long I light candles and burn incense. I am the God of Fire! I should be out hearing the prayers of my followers and answering their sacrifices. Instead, I am here in Lanka serving under the dreadful Ravana.

You see, it was not always like this. I was a God honored by many. Humans would perform ceremonies and sing hymns all in appreciation of the fire I created to make their weapons, cook their food and keep them warm. One day I was alone with my thoughts, situated somewhere between the Sun and the Earth, when I heard a large ruckus from somewhere to the East. This loud situation was very out of the ordinary for the space between the Sun and the Earth is very quiet which is why I went there to be with my thoughts.

By the time I reached the commotion I realized there was an army of hundreds of soldiers. The most decorated officer announced, "I have come to take those willing to serve Ravana in his kingdom of Lanka." Vayu, the god of wind, insisted to the officer, "You must have been sent to the wrong place for we are gods and do not serve a single human or god but serve the rich and poor, from high to low, East to West and North to South." The well trained army remained expressionless and motionless as the most decorated officer spoke, "This is no longer a request but an order from King Ravana. He must have comfort in knowing he has gods in his kingdom he can trust to do their job correctly." In this moment Vayu, the god of wind, sent a gushing wind toward the army in hopes of knocking them down and making a getaway but the wind gust had no effect on the army and they stood their ground.

A Watercolor Painting of Ravana from Wikimedia Commons

In the short moment after the gust of wind there was a small whistling sound and in a moment's notice the army jumped into action. Multiple events happened at once. First my hands were down at my sides unable to move, second, a tornado began to form in the near North and third, I began to move without moving my feet. As the tornado ripped through and blew away a few of the soldiers causing confusion I channeled my efforts but could not make fire. During this time is when I realized they had to be practicing some sort of black magic to curtail our powers until we were with King Ravana in Lanka where he reigned.  

After a day and a night's trip we reached Lanka where we were greeted with flowers, garlands and music. It is quite an unnatural feeling, as you can imagine, involuntarily being taken but accepted with open arms of cheer. Not until this moment when I looked back at the end of the procession did I notice Yama, the god of death. He is a quiet man that hopes to go unnoticed until the right time. I yelled out, "Yama! Old friend!" and tried to move closer but the army kept us far apart and after a sensation went through me I could no longer shout.

The procession seemed like it would never end but when it did we were standing in front of Ravana. "Old friends! How kind of you to come when I am in such a troubled situation. You see, the streets are full of unwanted garlands and flowers after I walk down them and need to be blown off. Our city is without light and needs to have candles lit throughout and someone to burn our incense. I am most troubled by not knowing what time it is and need to be notified of every hour that passes in the day." At this moment I realized he wanted us to do petty jobs for him because he did not want to share us but wanted all the praise us deities get for himself. With an army as big and strong as Ravana's protecting him, an escape was impossible, so here we are today: Vayu, Yama and I in the very place we do not want to be serving the King least loved from the Sun to the Earth.

          

Author's Note: In the Ramayana by R.K. Narayan, Soorpanka runs to her brother, Ravana, for help in the city of Lanka where he reigns supreme lord. Here in this city Ravana has enslaved several gods to do petty jobs such as sweep the halls, light the lamps and keep the time. This particular passage in the Ramayana about the gods being enslaved, though just a short paragraph, intrigued me. 

The first thought that came to mind while reading was, how did they get to Lanka? That is when I thought of writing a story about how gods could wind up under the control of the evil demon, Ravana.  In telling the story the way I did I really wanted to show the reader how heartless Ravana is. I wanted there to be no doubt that Ravana is the antagonist throughout my stories. 

In the original story of The Ramayana: Book 7, Uttara Kandam Ravana wages war on the gods. He takes them prisoners of war and places himself above all the deities. In the story I have written the gods possess magical powers to attempt to break free from Ravana's capture. I chose the story to be told from the point of view of Agni, the god of fire, to better understand the situation he, Vayu and Yama have gotten into.     

Bibliography: The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic. Written by R.K. Narayan in 1972.

Week 1 Story: The Mountains in Labor

There once was a small town nestled under a large mountain. The soil surrounding this mountain was very nutritious and the farmer's reaped crops so great they had enough to feed their families and even sell some to buy fine things. These farmers did not even have to practice crop rotating and rest their soil for a season like their ancestors and surrounding farmers had to. When word about the magical soil under the large mountain made its way through surrounding towns, these farmers also wanted to reap great crops from the magical soil. These farmers gathered up their shovels and plows and flocked to the small town nestled under the large mountain. 

When the surrounding farmers made it to the small town they demanded farming land under the large mountain. The farmers in the small town were not willing to give up or split their land with the magical soil. After many negotiation attempts a fight broke out among the farmers. 

Mount Mayon in Albay, Philippines by Tomas Tam

The farmers became so preoccupied with fighting each other they failed to notice the sleeping mountain awoke with their loud arguing. The ground began to trimmer as smoke billowed from the mountaintop. Still no one had noticed the mountain becoming more and more angry as the fighting grew louder and louder. With one more giant tremor the farmers finally noticed the smoke and ground shaking. The farmers became fearful and promised to share the land in peace but it was too late. The mountain sent hot lava oozing down its sides burning the bountiful crops. 

The soil was now unable to be farmed which forced the small town under the mountain to move to the surrounding towns. Farmers from all over heard of the story about the magical soil under the mountain that awoke in anger and was told from generation to generation. This story warned young farmers to not become greedy with ones bountiful harvest because one never knows when a disaster will occur and find oneself in need of a helping hand. 

Authors Note: In the original short fable, the countrymen noticed the mountains quivering and rocks sliding down the side and all became very worried. As they sat and waited in anticipation to see what doom would come none never did, as a a little mouse crawled out of a crack that was formed from all the commotion. The country men then decided "much outcry, little outcome". As I thought about what direction I would like to take my tale I wanted to take a different approach and try and convey a new moral to the story, one about greed. I thought the title was still fitting since the farmers in my version labored the soil from the Volcano.  

Bibliography."The Mountains In Labor" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs.Web Source