Week 15 Story: The Battle of Lanka

Depiction of the Battle at Lanka. Source: Wikimedia

The Indian Storybook: Rama's Quest, by Richard Wilson

Ravana stood on the ramparts of his city walls on the eve of what would be the most important battle of his life.  He looked out onto the sea and saw the vast monkey hoard that was coming to take his life, spear-headed by the dreaded Rama.  He looked back on the day he had captured the thing that seemed had ultimately sealed his fate.  It was Sita, the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.  When he saw her in the forest that day, it didn't matter who she was with, she had to be his.  Little did he know she was married to Rama, one of the strongest men in all of the world who had been exiled to the forest by a vengeful queen. 
As he pondered this, one of his councilmen came to him with a plan to convince Sita to abandon hope for Rama and marry him while he still had the chance.  They would conjure up a fake head of Rama and convince her that he was killed in a night raid on the city to save her.  When they carried out this plan it worked quite well, leaving Sita utterly devastated.  Before Ravana could carry out the rest of his plan, he was called to the front lines by one of his generals.  Rama's army was here and decimating Ravana's forces. Ravana had to think up something quick if he was to even save any of his army or his generals from getting wiped out on the first day of battle.  He had some of his magicians conjure up a flying chariot and magic arrows.  One of his Rakshasa allies took these up into the sky and rained down on Rama's forces, injuring Rama and his brother Lakshmana in the process.  It seemed like Ravana's magic weapons had won them the day as Rama's forces panicked with their two leaders badly injured, but then came the Wind, a powerful deity that breathed new life into Rama and Lakshmana.  With this new burst of energy Rama's forces once again began to pummel Ravana's army as Ravana could only watch as his fate was truly sealed. 

Author's Note:  I decided to tell this story from Ravana's perspective to give a new look at how this battle played out.  It's interesting to see how the scene looks from the losers perspective and I think it adds a lot to the story overall. 

Reading Notes: Indian Storybook, Rama's Quest Part B

The battle at Lanka. Source: Wikimedia

The Indian Storybook: Rama's Quest, by Richard Wilson

The Battle Begins:

Ravana looked out at the coming army from the ramparts of his city walls in Lanka.  He ponders his coming doom and has an idea.  The next day he goes to Sita and tells her Rama came in the night for her and was slain.  He then had one of his magicians bring her a fake head of Rama.  When Ravana leaves one of Sita's guardians tells her it was jsut a trick and not to worry about Rama because he is still alive.  While this was going on, Rama's monkey army had nearly wiped out Ravana's army.  One of the Rakshasas used magic to fly up in a chariot and rain magic arrows down on Rama and his army.  Rama and Lakshmana get injured in this attack.  Things seemed lost when the god of the wind came to their aid and gave them words of encouragement that revived them to full strength. 

Reading Notes: Indian Storybook, Rama's Quest Part A

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana in the forest. Source: Wikimedia

The Indian Storybook: Rama's Quest, by Richard Wilson

Rama's Exile:

Things were going well for Rama when the King grew old and wished to give control of the kingdom over to Rama.  One of the kings wives was angry with this however and wanted her son Bharata to be chosen as king.  The old king gave into her wishes and even let her convince him to send Rama into exile for 14 years.  When it was time for him to leave Sita begged to go with him so she was sent into exile.  Lakshmana joined them as well.  They were forced to wear bark clothing and had to leave with not much of anything to bring with them.

Famous Last Words: A Reflection On Week 14

It's Summer Time. Source: PublicDomainPictures

Reading for the Week:  I really enjoyed my reading this week.  It was fun to read more Jatakas and I think they are the most enjoyable of all of the stories I have had to read for the class.  They are short, sweet, and to the point and have a creative spin to all of their lessons.  It was nice going through and seeing a bunch of different author's takes on the stories and how they differ from one another. 

My Best Writing for the Week:  I think my best writing was in my Storybook project because I think I made my last story more clear and specific.  I think a good writing strategy is to just sit down and write what's on your mind and edit it later.  You may end up writing more than you need and you can trim it down to what you really want to say when you revise.

Other People's Writing:  I read a portfolio this week from class that had a really excellent layout for its stories and had nice emphasis on certain lines and dialogue.  It made their story have more impact and makes me think I should add some similar elements to my website. 

My Other Classes:  My other classes are all coming to an end an they all have final projects that I need to finish up.  It will be challenging, but I can get it done if I manage my time right.  The nice thing about this is most of those classes don't have finals, so it will be a pretty relaxing finals week this semester. 

Plans for Next Week:  I really hope to finish up this class strong next week and get all of the points I need to make an A in the class. It looks like I should just be able to do it if I do all of the regular weekly assignments. 

Week 14 Story: The Quail and His Farmer

A quail. Source: Wikimedia

The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India, by W. H. D. Rouse.

There was once a lazy quail that lived on a farm.  He would lounge around all day while the farmer worked and when the farmer was finished, the quail would meander around the field collecting food that had been churned up by the farmer.  It was an easy laid back life and the quail had nothing to worry about in the world.  One day, the quail decided that he no longer wanted to pick scraps from what the farmer would dig up during his work.  The quail wanted to taste fresh and new food instead of the same old stuff all the time.  He decides that he will go into the forest in search of fantastic new delights for him to feast upon.
He set out from the farmers land with a smile on his face and a skip in his step, thinking of all the delicious foods waiting for him in the forest.  On his way there he happened to be spotted by a great falcon.  The falcon sees the easy unsuspecting meal and decides to capitalize on the quail's situation.  The falcon swoops down and grabs the quail with his mighty claws in an instant.  Before the quail knew what was going on, he was up 100 feet in the air in the grasp of the falcon.  The quail started to scream out about his plight and what had led him into this situation.  If he hadn't been greedy and stayed on the farm, he would be just fine.  The falcon hears this and issues the quail a challenge.  The falcon wanted to prove that no matter where the quail was he could capture him.  He lets the quail go on his farm and tells him to prepare himself.  The falcon then flies up into the air and begins his nose dive towards the quail.  Just before the quail was to be captured again, the farmer stepped in and batted the falcon away.  The farmer was apparently quite fond of the quail and did not want him harmed.  When the falcon recovered from the blow he flew off in fear of being attacked again.  The quail never realized the farmer cared for him so much and was ultimately overjoyed that he now realized how good he has it on the farm.  The quail decides that he should never forget this lesson and be happy with the life he has, while he has it.

Author's Note:  I decided to give the farmer a roll in the story and to make the quail's lesson that much more apparent about appreciating what you have.

Reading Notes: The Giant Crab and Other Tales Part B

A falcon lunging at prey. Source: Pixabay

The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India, by W. H. D. Rouse

The Quail and the Falcon:

There was a quail who lived on a farm and would live easily off of things the farmers plow turned up.  The quail got bored of the the food the farmer turned up and decided he would search for food in a nearby forest.  While the quail was in the forest it was spotted by a falcon who immediately swooped down and grabbed the quail with its claws.  The quail begins to cry and say the falcon would never have caught him at home.  The falcon hears this and lets the quail go at his home to prove to him that he can catch him anywhere.  The falcon charges at the quail, but the quail dodges and the falcon runs straight into a clod and kills itself.  The quail is again happy and decides that he should stick to what he knows.

Reading Notes: The Giant Crab and Other Tales Part A

A field mouse. Source: Pixabay

The Giant Crab and Other Tales From Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.

There was a mouse that had a great amount of hidden treasure in a hidden hole in a field.  The farmer who owned the land the mouse lived on would be nice to the mouse and give him cheese sometimes even though he didn't know about the treasure.  The mouse wanted to repay the farmer so every day he would give him a golden sovereign and the farmer would buy meat in town and give some to the mouse.  The mouse soon got very fat.  This attracted a lazy mouse who wanted to eat him.  The mouse agrees to give him the meat the farmer would give him and soon the mouse became thin.  The farmer asks him what is wrong and the mouse tells him his situation.  The farmer gives him an ink vile to hide in and when the mouse refused the cat the next time the cat ate the ink vile with the mouse and died.  The mouse crawled out of the vile and lived happily with the farmer the rest of the his life.