Week 7 Story: Framed

Updated Story

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

Drona in Command from Mahabharata, Epic of the Bharatas by Romesh Dutt

King Shantanu and Ganga from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie

Image information: All personal pictures of my dogs

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part D

Drona in Command

The Pandev warriors were struck with fear when they heard that Drona was leading the Kuru forces.
Drona was out to get Yudhishthira and even vowed to bring him back as a prisoner to Hastina.
Arjuna, Yudhishthira's brother, would not allow for this.  He is faithful and virtuous.
Arjuna prepares to fight Drona.
Drona was Arjuna's and Yudhishthira's teacher.
Arjuna does not really want to fight his teacher, but he will do whatever it takes to protect his brother.
Other chieftains under Yudhishthira gathered around him to protect him.
Then the battle begain.
A warrior named Abhimanyu dragged a man named Paurava by the hair as he rode in a chariot.  This sight was compared to a lion dragging away its meal.
Arjuna knows there is no one better with a sword and a bow than his teacher.
Despite this he will fight for his brother.
Abhimanyu went forth and fought Jayadratha.
All men watched as the two battled.
Jayadratha pierced Abhimanyu's armor but his sword broke.
Weaponless he ran back to his car and escaped death.
Shalya was there to rescue him.
Then all of the fighters went at it.  Mace to mace, sword to sword.
It was a brutal battle.
Blood was shed and thrown everywhere.
The warriors looked like tigers, lions, or eagles fiercely fighting with reddened paws.  The paws being their weapons.
It appeared no one was winning.  Each side was just beating up on the other.
The heroes of both sides came closer together as the battle went on.
Drona was making easy work of the men that tried to fight him.
The twin brothers finally met Drona.
Drona ended up capturing Yudhishthira like he planned.
Drona went on to slay many noble warriors.
Despite Arjuna's promise to protect his brother even to his death, he was unable to chase down and attack Drona.

Laying down ones life for another is one of the greatest demonstrations of love one can show.  Many men died for Yudhishthira.  He was greatly loved.

Bibliography

Drona in Command  Mahabharata, Epic of the Bharatas by Romesh Dutt
Image Information: Lion vs. Tiger: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part C

Bhima and Hanuman

Bhima was getting lotus for Draupadi when he found a monkey along his path.

The monkey was immovable.

Bhima tried to lift up its tail with all of his might but could not do it.

On his path, just for fun, Bhima killed elephants, lions, tigers.

He even was able to pick up dead elephants and use them as a weapon against other animals.

This monkey was no normal monkey.

Bhima demanded that the monkey to reveal his identity.

The monkey said he was Hanuman, fiend of Rama.  He told Bhima some memories he shared with Rama.

Bhima repeatedly asked Hanuman to show his full, huge figure.

Hanuman eventually did it.

He said, at the beginning of time there was no performing religious acts, no malice or pride, no sin, and no gods or demons.

There was no caste system as everyone was a Bhramin.  All were created equal.

He said that men became divided when men wrote the sacred books.

He said this books were made in passion and feeling.  They distracted people from the truth.

When they fell away from the truth, evil came.

Disease and selfishness came about at this time.

True virtue was lost.

Now evil, famine, disease, sloth, and anger prevail over what is good.

The Brhamin became religious leaders.

The Vaishya became the farmers and business people.

The Kshatriya were the worriers.  Their job was to protect.

The Shudra was the working caste.

The fact that Hanuman is never to leave the Earth until the Ramayana is no longer being told gives endless possibilities of stories.  Where was he during during the Roman Empire, the British Invasion of India, WWII?  Tracking Hanuman through this times in history could be really cool.  I could even write a story about Hanuman in the present day.

Bibliography

Bhima and Hanuman from The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie 

Image Information: Hanuman in his total form: Pixabay

Reading Notes:The Guilty Dogs

The Guilty Dogs

This is my third Jataka tale to read as extra credit.  I just love these stories.

A king, in a chariot pulled by six white horses, enters a city.
He returned the horses to the stables.
He left the chariot and harnesses in the courtyard of the city.
It was a rainy night and everyone was asleep.
Some dogs saw the leather harnesses in the middle of the courtyard and got excited.
They were going to play with them.
They sneaked quietly into the courtyard, chewed up the harnesses, and left before anyone even noticed they were there.
The stable keepers where furious when they found these shreds of leather that were once harnesses.
They were scared to tell the king what had happened.
They told the king and accused the dogs of tearing up the straps.
The king told the stable keepers to kill all of the dogs in the city.
There were 700 dogs in the city.
The leader of the dogs said that the guilty dogs should be killed but the innocent ones should keep their lives.
Nobody could kill the leader dog as he approached the king's gates because of the love that was in his eyes.
The guards even let him through the palace gates.
The leader dog spoke on behalf of the dogs of the city.
He asked the king why so many innocent dogs should pay for the crimes of a few.
You see, the only dogs that the king was going to let live was the royal dogs.
The leader dog argued that the dogs of the city could not have entered the palace gates.
Therefore, it must have been the palace dogs that chewed up the harnesses.
The palace dogs were then brought before the king at the court of justice.
When they were given food, they ate.
When they ate, pieces of leather fell out of their mouths.
The palace dogs were proved guilty.
The city dogs were given rich food and were cared for for the rest of their lives.

Bibliography

The Guilty Dogs from Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat
Image Information: A Guilty Dog: Flickr

Week 6 Lab: Testing Twine

Using twine to create a small story was a ton of fun.  It added a lot of excitement to they story writing process.  I could definitely see myself using Twine to create a story this semester.  One thing that I really love about it is that it gives the reader a change to determine the outcome.  If they do not like the outcome, they can go back and chose a different one.  In some ways, it is like telling more that one story at the same time.

It could also use twine to create a game to play with family or even a biology study tool.

Disney Murder Mystery  Check out my Twine here!

Image Information: Cinderella's Castle: Flickr

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part B

The Pandavas Victorious

The Pandavas were very powerful.
Yudhishthira was the eldest son and was ready to perform his Rajasuya sacrifice.
This would display that he was incredibly powerful.
Krishna who was an avatar god of Vishnu came to Indraprastha and let the people there know that there was one more rajah that needed to be destroyed.
The name of this rajah was Jarasandha who ruled over Magadha.
Jarasandha had unmatched bravery and strength.  No human nor god could kill him with a weapon.
He had two mothers in a miraculous birth.
To go take out Jarasandha, Krishna, Arjuna, and Bhima dressed up like Brahmins and went to Magadha.
They brought Jarasandha flowers.
Krishna was the only one who spoke.  He said the other two were observing vows and wouldn't speak until midnight.
When midnight came the two revealed themselves as warriors.
Jarasandha was confused because he had never done anything against them.
The three challenged Jarasandha to a battle unless he let all of the other rajahs free from his dungeons.
Jarasandha does not let them go because he plans on sacrificing them to Shiva.  He made a vow to do this.
Bhima then broke Jarasandha's back with his knee.
The word got out to Yudhishthira that Jarasandha had been slain.
He sent four armies to reach all of the rajahs in the world assure their loyalty to him.
These rajahs were tracked down.  They all joined the Pandava force.
Krishna gave a lot of money and an army to Jarasandha at the ceremony.
Arguments soon broke out between the rajahas about who was the greatest.
Bhishma said that Krishna was because he was the reincarnation of the creator god.  Therefore, Krishna was everlasting and unable to be understood by man.
Another rajah named Shishupala said that Krishna was neither of the things.
Shishupala hated Krishna for taking away his fiance a little while back.
Krishna slayed Shishupala in front of all of the rajah's.  He threw a discus that severed Shishupala's head.
All were amazed at this great show of power.


Bibliography

The Pandavas Victorious from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie
Image information: Krishna Playing the Flute: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part A

King Shantanu and Ganga

King Bharata had King Hastin who had King Kuru who had King Shantanu
King Hastin built the great city of Hastinapura.
King Shantanu was a good king. He was just.
He married the goddess Ganga.  She was goddess of the Ganges River.
There were 8 celestial beings called the Vasus who were cursed to human form by the sage, Vashishtha.
They came to Ganga and asked her to be their human mother.  They wanted to be cast into the Ganges river so that they could return to their celestial from.
Ganga became their human mother.  Maybe could write about adoption of some sort.
There were strings attached though.  Ganga would only do what the Vasus wanted if 1/8 of each of their power was given to her real son.
This would mean that her son would have the power of a full Vasus.
Her real son was to be alive for a long time but never have any offspring.
King Shantanu was walking along the Ganges when he saw Ganga.  He fell in love and asked her to marry him.  She said yes, as long as she can leave him if he ever becomes harsh or asks her to do something she doesn't want to do.
She gave birth to a son and immediately threw him into the Ganges River.
Shantanu was horrified but was afraid to speak because she could leave him.
This happened with 6 more babies.
The 8th baby was different though.  King Shantanu finally spoke up in rage.
Ganga revealed who she was and why she cast the Vasus into the river.  Then she left with the 8th child.
She returned years later with their son Devavrata.  She dropped him off and never came back.

Ganga was smart in her plan of marriage.  She knew King Shantanu was moral and would not stand for what she was doing.  Here scheme gave her an easy way out of the marriage.  I am curious though why she brought Devarata back to Shantanu.  I do not know her motivation for her wanting him to have the power of the Vasus either.  Maybe I will see by the end of the epic.

Bibliography

King Shantanu and Ganga from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie
Photo Information: Ganges River Sunset: Pixabay