Vayu was once a mighty god that gave life to the Earth and all of it's inhabitants. Before Ravana's reign of terror, Vayu was one of the most important. Now, he is only a lowly servant that is in charge of keeping the Demon King's marble palace spotless from dust. Unlike his dear friend Agni, Vayu was optimistic though while working for Ravana for he had a great secret. Everyone in the three worlds (human, god, and demon) knew that when Ravana was granted his boon by Brahma, he only asked for protection from gods and powerful beings. He did not request to also be resistant to monkeys nor humans. What Ravana did not know about his swift servant is that he fathered a monkey named Hanuman. Hanuman was a devotee of Vishnu and his human reincarnation known as Rama.
(Vayu)
When Vayu sensed Ravana coming for him in the mountains, to take him as a servant, he quickly left clues that only a monkey could find. His only mistake is that he scattered them too far apart from each other, and monkeys are notorious to have a short attention span. Hanuman was able to find all the information he needed about Rama, but he never found the clues that located the city of Lanka in case they ever needed to find Ravana there.
Back to modern day, as Vayu was swirling dirt around the main courtyard, a large commotion was coming from the entrance of the palace. There was a woman screaming, and it was a voice that Vayu had not heard before. He quickly made himself invisible and made his way to where the noise was coming from. He saw a slender woman fighting Ravana's grasp, yelling about how her husband was going to come after him. Could this be?! Has the time for the gods be set free come, and the world rid of the Demon King?! Vayu was overcome with excitement and went to see his closest friend Agni.
(Agni)
"Agni" called Vayu, "We shall be set free at last, for Rama has finally made Ravana his target!" Agni was a cautious individual, hated gossip, and didn't believe anything unless he heard it with his own ears or seen it with his own eyes. Agni said, "Vayu, I now accept my undesirable position as the palace's lighter. Leave me be, and don't fill my head with ideas!" Vayu smiled at his dear friend's response because he could tell that Agni was at least a little interested. "I am telling the absolute truth my friend, I swear" said Vayu, "As soon as the sun sets this evening go to the King's chamber and when you light his lamps look out the biggest window and you will see a beautiful human woman. This is Sita, Rama's wife." "Rama.. Rama?!" called Agni, "Oh the prophecy must being coming true!" With that Agni went off to see Sita for himself and Vayu to tell the other servant gods. The kingdom began to quietly stir. The gods were not worried about alerting Ravana for he stayed alone and locked in his private chamber, tormenting himself over Sita's beauty.
Author's Note:
I decided to create a short story about two of the many servant gods that Ravana had in his court. I feel that they are merely mentioned, and not given the recognition they deserve. I followed the prompt provided in the Week 2 Storytelling Ideas, then added some extra information about Vayu. I knew that Hunaman would be an important player coming up, and thought it was interesting that Vayu was his father, so I decided to mention that here. Since Sita's capture hasn't officially happened in this week's assigned reading, I decided to leave these details out.
Bibliography:
Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.
Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.
Your story is very detailed and educational. I honestly learned a lot about Indian mythology. I also loved how you focused on Vayu, who is briefly mentioned within this week’s readings. I believe that he got maybe two sentences within Narayan’s Ramayana. I think it was really creative that you created an entire story out such a small part. Furthermore, you also kept very true to the plot.
ReplyDeleteHi Liza! I enjoyed the twist you put into your story about the Hanuman. I put the Hanuman as one of my four potential topics for the storybook. I enjoyed how you added ito your story how monkeys have a short attention span! I also thought your approach was very unique in talking about the two servant gods that Ravana had.
ReplyDeleteHello! I really enjoyed your story! I like how you explained and expanded on the relationships between the characters like Vayu and Hanuman as well as Vayu and Agni. The tension and anticipation in your story was great! The way you incorporated dialogue as a way to increase tension and drama as well as explain the situation was an excellent technique. I wish that the story continued onto describe the eventual conflict between Rama and Ravana from the servants’ points of view, but it makes sense to stop where you did since we haven’t gotten to that part of the readings yet. The simplicity of your sentence structure was excellent, and aided in the flow and pacing of the story, which I really enjoyed. I especially like the images you used in your story because it helped build the scene and setting, as the artwork is beautiful. Excellent job, and I look forward to reading more of your work!
ReplyDeleteIt was such a great idea to elaborate on Ravana's servants. I didn't even realize I wanted to know more about them until I read your story. You had such great detail and character insight, especially with the relationship between Vayu and Agni. I also really liked your use of direct dialogue. That added a lot of depth to the characters. You did an excellent job illustrating Vayu's excitement at the possibility of Rama setting them free. Your story was very creative and fun to read.
ReplyDeleteI think the only suggestion I have from a reader's perspective would be to maybe add some more background information in the second paragraph. It might be helpful if we knew more about why Ravana was coming for Vayu, what Vayu expected Hanuman to do with the clues, and why he thought it would work to leave them in the first place. I think that might help the flow and dispel any questions the reader might have.
I see that you connected weeks 2 and 3 storytelling, and as I started reading the week 3 story, I was lured into this one :) I am a bit OCD about reading and watching everything in order, lol. I think it is really neat that you connected your stories. Is this going to be part of your project, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteI especially liked that you brought in an obscure character who was minimally detailed in Narayan's Ramayana, and completely gave him life. You did an EXCELLENT job creating his personality and displaying it through his thoughts in this story. I could see everything happening, felt like I was truly listening in on Vayu's thoughts, and it tied in perfectly with Narayan's Ramayana.
One grammar correction needed: "monkeys are notorious to have a short attention span" - should be "monkeys are notorious for having short attention spans".
For easier reading, I would separate dialogue out into their own paragraphs. For example:
"I am telling the absolute truth my friend, I swear[.]" said Vayu[.] "As soon as the sun sets this evening[,] go to the King's chamber and when you light his lamps[,] look out the biggest window and you will see a beautiful human woman. This is Sita, Rama's wife."
"Rama.. Rama?!" called Agni, "Oh the prophecy must being coming true!"
I loved that you tied in monkeys having short attention spans, Vayu left clues only a monkey could find and Hanuman never finding the clue that revealed where Lanka was. Clever! Excellent work :)