Once upon a time there was a princess, her name was Sita. She was to be married to the prince from the neighboring kingdom, Prince Rama.
They have grown up together and have been in love since they were little so they were very excited about the marriage ceremony.
It was the night before the ceremony, and Sita was sitting outside on her balcony looking at the stars when a demon, Ravana, appeared. He confessed his love for her and she freaked out. Ravana, witnessing her freak out, decided he couldn't live without her and kidnapped her.
The next morning when Rama found out what happened he went out to go rescue her. During his adventure he ran into a man named Sugriva, who's family had been exiled from his kingdom. After hearing of Rama's loss, he agreed to help him find Sita because he knows the pain and feeling of loss.
As Rama and Sugriva went on their way through a forest, looking for Sita, Sugriva found Sita's jewelry that she had thrown off when Rama was dragging her through the forest. After realizing that Sita was close, Sugriva went and assembled a huge search party to help Rama find Sita.
During this search party, an old man approaches Rama saying he thinks he found some clues about Sita and Ravana's whereabouts, so Rama follows this old man deep into the forest. Then, out of no where, the old man transforms into Ravana and he challenges Rama to a duel. Rama agrees, and at that moment Ravana transforms again, but this time he transforms into a big dragon.
Rama and Ravana battle it out, there is fire and blood. Eventually, Rama defeats Ravana.
The gods were so pleased with Rama defeating the demon Ravana they granted him one wish, and since Rama defeated Ravana before he was able to find where he was keeping Sita he asked the gods for her location. After finding out where Sita was being held, Rama and Sugriva went to go rescue her.
After getting settled back in to the swing of things, Rama and Sita were married and Sugriva was his best man. Rama also lifted the exile on Sugriva's family so he could be happy again too.
And they lived happily ever after...
Ever After - Web Source.
Authors Note: In the original story, Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, and Rama did go on a long, twisted journey in order to get her back. I decided this would make for a good fairytale story since Ravana can transform and because Sita was a damsel in distress. I changed how Sita is rescued and that Rama made her perform a test to make sure she was still pure. The gods did grant Rama a wish for defeating Ravana, but he wished for something else. Sugriva did help Rama find Sita, but his family wasn't brought back from exile.
Bibliography
Title: The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic
Author: Kamban / R. K. Narayan
Year: 1972
Hi Chelsee!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I just wanted to say wow! I am so glad you decided to recreate this story in a more positive way. I was not too thrilled with how Rama acted when he finally got Sita back. When I was reading, I was wondering how exactly Rama defeated Ravana? I know you said he had transformed into a big dragon so it must have been a pretty tough fight! I also was wondering if you decided where exactly Ravana was keeping Sita while he battled Rama? He probably had to have a bunch of people guarding her so she did not run away! Also I really liked how you brought Sugriva’s family out of exile. That made me really happy. He definitely earned some kind of reward for helping Rama in such a troubled time. I would be interested to hear how all of them lived together for the rest of their lives.
Chelsee,
ReplyDeleteI found your story incredibly easy to follow along with. I enjoyed that you took a story that was originally dark and not cheery and turned it into a fairytale. Not only was this creative, but it made for a much more positive read. It is also definitely something different, especially when you have read the original before.
I actually went back and read the original story of your retelling in order to be able to give you best feedback I possibly could! Thus, I would maybe add more detail to your author’s note so this is not necessary for people who are not like me and do not want to go back and read a whole story to read another. This author’s note is key to giving meaning to the retelling you have created. I also found a few minor grammar errors, mostly just dealing with a lack of commas in places where they were necessary.
But overall, I found your story to be awesome and had a hard time finding things that needed to be improved. Looking forward to reading more of your work!