2:00 am. What do you picture when you think about 2 am? What you see in your head is exactly what the Hastinapura Palace courtyard looked like on this chilly February night. The town and palace were pitch black and silent. King Hastin was out after a long night of well.. whatever you do at 2:00 am. He came through the courtyard with his carriage and six horses. Too tired to bring the horses back to the stable, he got out of the carriage and went to bed in his castle.
The only other creatures awake at this time were the palace dogs. After a lifelong spell of obedience to their king, they were itching to break the rules for once.
One of the palace dogs whispered, "This is our chance to have a little fun. Lets go chew up the leather straps and harnesses of the king's carriage."
The dogs tip-toed into the courtyard, tore up the straps, then slid back into the shadows.
Morning, well, later morning came around and the king woke up. He ventured into the courtyard to see the carnage. He yelled, "Who did this?!"
A man, who was part of the royal guard, said, "I saw some dogs sneaking across the courtyard last night. It was probably them."
In utter rage, the king exclaimed, "I want all of the dogs in the city put down before sundown!"
There were over 700 dogs in the city.
The leader of the city dogs, Arjuna, heard about the king's demand and said, "I will find a way to fix this."
Arjuna knew it was unfair that 700 dogs were sentenced to death for the offense of a few. He began to investigate. As he walked around the city talking to different dogs, he realized that the palace gate is always closed. At this moment, he knew exactly who committed the crime.
Arjuna walked through the streets and up to the palace gate. The king's men who were out to kill dogs left him alone because they could see his character through his eyes. They knew he was full of love and innocence.
The palace gate keepers let him through the palace gates for the same reason.
Arjuna stood before the king in the throne room and testified for all of the city dogs. He said, "Your highness, the palace gates are always closed. There is no way any city dogs could have entered the palace courtyard last night because the gates and walls are too high. The palace dogs must have destroyed the straps and harnesses to your carriage."
The king, realizing his mistake, apologized to the dogs of the city. He also began to show kindness to them. This kindness was unlike any kindness the king had shown before.
The palace dogs, with their tails between their legs, came into the throne room. King Hastin said to them, "You served me well for years, how could you go against me like this?"
The palace dogs were too embarrassed to respond.
The king then banished them from Hastinapura for life.
Author's Note
This story is a retelling of The Guilty Dogs by Noor Inayat. I really enjoyed the original story and wanted to stay as true to it as I could. The original story however, did not name any of the characters. To make the characters a little more personal, I gave them names. I used the names King Hastin and Arjuna from the Mahabharata even though their personalities in this story are much different than their personalities in the Mahabharata. King Hastin was a good king, and Arjuna was not a dog but a great archer and the central character in the Mahabharata. I guess that is why I chose the name Arjuna over the other character names from the Mahabharata. He possessed the heroic quality that I wanted the leader of the dogs to have.
Bibliography
The Guilty Dogs from Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat
King Shantanu and Ganga from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie
Image information: All personal pictures of my dogs
Image information: All personal pictures of my dogs
Braden,
ReplyDeleteI thought this story was super cute. I didn't read the original story, but I can definitely tell you did your research before writing as the traditional characters and themes are present in your version. I love your pictures of dogs throughout the story because it makes the story really come to life. I also like how the dogs have logic and voices in your story. Sometimes I think this is what my dogs are thinking when I am away, and they chew up one of my items.
Braden,
ReplyDeleteI thought your story was very creative and unique. I also had a good laugh while reading it. I feel like every dog has a personality of their own, so reading your story really brought that conception to life. I also like how you explained the relationship between the dogs and King. It explained why he was disappointed in their actions.
Braden,
ReplyDeleteYour story was so cute and I love the pictures that you added with it. I hope that is your dog, so cute! Your story was great, but it was slightly choppy. I feel as though some sentences were switching from thought to thought without a constant flow. There were also some punctuation errors. Otherwise, it was such an adorable story. I am so glad you did one over dogs, my heart is full haha.
Hi Braden! Although I have not read the original Jataka tale that this story is based on, I thought it was a fun read with a great message regarding how we should not be so quick with our judgement until we fully understand the situation. There were several editing errors involving accidental words and missing punctuation; by proofreading a little more carefully and eliminating these mistakes, your story will have a more professional appearance. Overall, nice job!
ReplyDeleteWow this was a great story. Super relatable for anyone with dogs. Sometimes dogs will go years without incident, only to destroy something randomly. I'm sure they have their reasons, they just can't tell us. I wish someone would invent a dog translator one of these days.
ReplyDeleteHi Braden!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this story. It was very simple and to the point, but was descriptive enough for the reader to get a good image of what was going on. My favorite part though is that you included pictures of your dogs. They are just so dang cute and I think it's so clever and funny that you incorporated them into your story.
Hello Braden! The picture of dog lured me in to read your story! I like how it made the story relatable to dogs. It was great and simple to understand what you were writing about. I have two pets and love any stories that involves animals! I like the dialogue you presented because it made it easier to follow along! Good job!
ReplyDelete