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Week 4 Storytelling - A Hero's Guilt

There once was a young boy name Arthur. Arthur was born into middle class family during the medieval times and grew up within the city's walls all his life. Arthur's family owned a bakery shop near the central castle which was heavily guarded by ironclad knights. Arthur had always found knights to be extremely interesting and took to becoming a page and entered apprenticeship under a well respected knight of the city. As the years passed Arthur progressed into a fine knight and became well respected all across the land. He defeated many great monsters in his time and traveled the land far and wide to offer his services. One day, he received a letter from a king in a faraway land pleading for Arthur the Great to rid them of a foul demon wreaking havoc on his lands. Arthur accepted the request and sailed to the faraway land quickly. Upon arrival, Arthur was met with a young boy the king had sent to show him the lair of the demon. As Arthur approached the lair he began to hear a deep roar, a sound no human could make. He gripped his sword tight and braced for battle. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours. The two parties appeared to be in a standoff and Arthur grew restless. He poked his guide with his sword and ushered him towards the demon’s lair. As the guide was pushed further toward the darkness the demon launched out of its dark dwelling and attacked the boy, and fiercely devoured him. Arthur knew he would be next and began to run. He ran to the outer opening of the demon’s layer and sealed it shut with as many rocks as he could carry. He quickly collected his bounty from the king and left quickly. He tried very hard to forget that time. Arthur never picked up a sword again and into his old age he retold his great feats to his grandchildren. All, except one, that would go on to haunt him every night. The young boy’s life that he sacrificed so easily as mere bait would never cease to haunt him and in his grief made him take his own life.

Author's Note: This story is loosely based off the story of Dasaratha's grief over killing the young boy in the forest, and having it haunt him in his sleep. I wanted to take a medieval spin on the folklores we’ve been reading in class to change things up a little bit.

Arthur and the Demon

Week 4 - Reading Diary B

This section of the book overall has been quite boring. Kaikeyi makes Dasharatha fulfill two promises that he owes from long ago. She makes him crown Bharatra king and exile Rama for 14 years. Many things are done to prevent Rama from leaving Ayodha, however is to no avail. Dasharatha receives very much guilt from having to do this and dreams about a time when he was younger and accidentally took the life of a boy in the forest. He is found dead the next morning by Kausala.

Week 4 - Reading Diary A

This story starts off in a much different tone then the first story. Sita is about to kill herself because Rama has exiled her for things people have said about her. Its interesting to get to read a kind of prologue to the first story. We are given more details about life before Rama was born. And more details about his early life. The story also speaks of how Ravana was born and some of the early battles he encountered while trying to enslave the gods before Rama was born. The story switches between the past and the present. The present being when the twins recite the story of the past and then retelling it al the way until Rama and Sita's courtship and marriage.

Week 3 Storytelling - Spiteful Betrayal

A young boy grew up in a village where becoming a warrior is what was customary of his village. The village had various schools that taught the ways of the warrior so they could protect their village.  His older brother was always the top of his class. Passing every test with ease. All the fellow villagers knew his brother as a prodigy, every instructor praised him and he was always in the top of his class. Soon the older brother began working side by side with the officials of the village in order to provide elite protection strategies against neighboring enemies. As the young boy grew up he adored his older brother. The young boy was always the top of the class however, he could never compare to his brother. This made the young boy angry. As he became older his brother’s continued success drove him to extreme measures. The young boy had grown cold in age with spite in his heart. Although he would protect the village, his ways were extreme and harsh. When the young boy became of full age as a warrior he was given the task to help strategize a defense against a neighboring village with his brother. The young, now spiteful man had devised an ultimate defense plan however it came with dire costs and risk.  When the young spiteful man presented the plan to his brother and fellow consorts, nobody agreed but his brother. The idea was a suicide mission, however it was the best insurance of victory. The plan implied that the brother would lose his life in the defense however it was the most necessary actions to be taken. Nobody agreed, except the young spiteful man’s brother. The next night when the company would set out for scouting, the older brother was nowhere to be seen. The younger brother knew that his brother had already executed the plan himself without any help. The younger brother knew he could have came up with a better plan however he sent his brother into death without a hesitant thought. The spite had consumed him to make an extremely rash decision, however it was much too late. 

Authors Note: I based this story on the prompt from week 3 about Vali and Sugriva. The main theme is over the controversial betrayal of Sugriva when he left his brother in the cave. It was an extremely tough decision but overall was for the better. I left a lot of the details about older brother’s intentions behind giving up his own life to open to interpretation. Similar to how I felt when trying to figure out Sugriva’s justification. Did the younger brother's spite push his brother to give up his own life, or did the older brother do it on behalf of the village? 

Betrayal between two short story characters

Week 3 - Reading Diary B

The part where Rama is allowed to build a bridge with the help of his comrades and other animals reminds me of when Noah is building his ark in the Bible. Finally a full out war begins between Rama and Ravana's parties. Rama defeats Kumbakarna and Mahodara. His brother Lakshmana defeats Indrajit, Ravana's son. Eventually Rama and Ravana engage in a multi day battle that ends with Rama sending his Brahmastra into Ravana's heart. Rama returns to Ayodha after 14 years of exile to reclaim his rightful place from a very gracious Bharata who is about to commit suicide if Rama does not show up.

Week 3 - Reading Diary A

I'm not surprised at all that Ravana succeeded in kidnapping Sita. It was the most natural way for the plot to go. It was also very obvious that Jatayu would not save Sita in order for the plot to proceed further. So far the surprise factor has not been too high in this book. Maybe because I already know bits and pieces of the story from the past. Finally Hanuman makes a notable appearance in the story although I don't understand the whole theme behind Hanuman initially disguising himself to Rama. Hanuman is a very popular Hindu deity and one that I have seen pictures of a lot since I was a kid. I understand that Sugriva had to seal the cave in order to contain the demon, however he did it so easily considering his brother was inside. This causes a giant feud between the two brothers which ends with Sugriva fleeing to a mountain his brother's accursed self cannot go. Vali takes Sugriva's wife and son as well. Rama feels bad for Sugriva and helps him kill Vali by hiding in a tree and shooting Vali with an arrow. As time passes, Sugriva does not make do on his promise to build an army to find Sita. Lakshmana goes to visit Sugriva and he realizes the error of his drunken stupor and apologies to Rama. Sugriva eventually amasses a large army to help search for Sita. Hanuman and Angada