Week 14 Story

Lying Man

Once upon a time there was a golden circlet that the gods made to give powers to humans that deserved it. The gods said if you didn’t lie, didn’t steal, and didn’t kill you were worthy of this circlet to wear upon your head.

There was a proud man that felt himself above all others. His self-righteousness had no bounds and he thought himself the only person to truly be worthy of these circlets. The man decided to approach the gods and to tell them of his greatness and that he was most worthy of the circlet. When he got to the gods alter, he was asked to step forward and say his name. The man stepped forward and said, “My name is Donald Trump and I am worthy of these circlets.” “I have a yuge respect for others, so I never lie, steal or kill.” Trump explained. The gods then bestowed the first circlet upon his head.

Then Trump saw the next circlet on the alter. The gods then said, “To be worthy of the second circlet the person must be humble, must not lose his head at the height of fame, and must earn his wealth honestly.” Trump thought to himself, smiled, and said, “I of course meet all of these qualifications. I am the humblest person, I never lose my head even though I am the most famous person, and all my wealth has been earned honestly.” The gods then placed the second circlet upon his head.

The third circlet seemed to shine the brightest and Trump so wanted it. “What do I have to be to get the last circlet?” asked Trump. The gods said, “You must be kind hearted, respecting of others, and most of all must value others above yourself.” Trump said, “I have all of these of course. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t. Place the last circlet upon my head.” Then the gods placed the last circlet upon his head.

Trump felt a burning in his head he never felt before. He cried out to the gods, “Please take this pain away I meet all the qualifications….” “You have lied before us and shall live in pain for the rest of your days. Also, all your hair shall fall out and you shall forever stand out.” From that day on Trump had to wear a toupee and was orange.

Author’s Note: The original story is about a man that thought himself greater than he was. The gods had wreaths they would bestow upon men’s heads if they were worthy and met the qualifications. So, the man lied and said he had the qualifications that the gods were asking for. In the end he suffered greatly for his lies. When reading this I thought of Donald Trump so decided to go with a satire story about it. I also included why he looks the way he does. I changed up a bit of the qualifications but kept much of the story the same. I also changed the consequences to orange skin and balding.

Bibliography: The Man Who Told a Lie by Marie L. Shedlock

 

Medieval Circlet 3 by Madonna of Veveri

Week 11 Story

Fowler and His Quail

Once in a kingdom far away there was a very greedy and spiteful king. The King did everything he could to make as much money as possible at the expense of his people. He had many different jobs in his kingdom that would draw in much wealth but the one that brought in the most was that of the Fowler. The Fowlers in the country hunted down Golden Quails. They did this because the quails would lay golden eggs that were of much worth. The Fowler was always treated by the King quite well and he would always catch a plentiful bounty for his King. One day however the King decided he did not have enough wealth. When the Fowler came to his throne room to have his bounty appraised by the Valuer he was told that they were worth much less than the going price. The wicked Valuer agreed to lower the price so that he could bring in more money for his family.

The Fowler went home with his bounty refusing to let them go for that price. He then went to the kingdom next to his and sold them for the original going price. He decided to never go to the King with his bounties again. The king caught onto this and decided to hire his own personal Fowler. When the Fowler arrived he went to work catching the Golden Quail for the king. He did this until there was barely enough quails to go around. The Fowler would soon be out of work. He decided to make a deal with the quails. He went to the leader of the quails and told them of a way that they could be free if they worked together. He told them they were to poke their heads out of the net and fly away to the nearest tree. They would make sure the net was caught and they would fly away. For this information the quail allowed the Fowler a few eggs from them as payment. For the rest of the Fowler's days he was well taken care of by an honest king and his quail.

Author's Notes: I decided to put together A Measure of Rice and The Quarrel of Quails. In A Measure of Rice the Valuer was an honest man that was pushed out of his job by a greedy king who wanted him to lie to take more money for himself. In The Quarrel of Quails a Fowler would catch the quails until the wise old quail instructed the other quails to work together to escape by flying into a thorn thicket and fly out of the net. They did this until one time the quails got into an argument because one of the quails stepped on another's head. So they were captured and all sold off. I decided to make it to where the Valuer in my story was evil as well as the King. Also I decided to make the Fowler out to be a good honest man trying to make a living. He is the one who advised the quail what to do. 

Bibliography: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

Northern Bob White Quail by Brian Stansberry

Week 10 Story

Corpious

There once was a great kingdom in the east that was ruled by a very wicked king named Demetrius. Demetrius was concerned with absolute power and wealth and wanted as much land as he could get under his control. The people hated what he had done to their once great nation. They were all struggling to make ends meet just wanting to survive. One day when the great king was on the road headed home from his latest hunt a great rumbling shook the earth and said to him.

“You shall be slain by the child of your beloved brother.”

Demetrius didn’t know what to do for he loved him almost as much as the money and power he had accumulated. When Demetrius got home he finally got the courage to do what must be done and ordered him and his wife to be thrown in prison for the remainder of their lives. He pleaded with him to let her go for they had done nothing wrong. Eventually his brother started having children with his wife. Each time he would go to see the new child and would cut each of their heads off. When it got to the 7^th child Demetrius decided it was enough. The killing had to stop here and he must kill the couple so he could end this nightmare. On the 8^th child the gods intervened and spirited the male child away to the womb of another woman. Demetrius came down to the dungeon none the wiser and killed both of them. The child however grew in the womb of his new mother giving her life many blessings. His new mother knew in her heart that he was destined for greatness and that he was truly an Avatar. She loved him so much and named him Corpious. She found out he was an Avatar when he scared away a giant snake with his flute playing saving his friends from the grip of death. Corpious would go on to change the world.

Author’s Notes: I decided to stick closely to the videos on Krishna by Epified. I only changed a few things such as the king killed the children by banging them against the bars of the cell. Also he did not kill the 7^th child for that child was spirited away to a different mother’s womb. The eighth child, or Krishna, was walked out of the jail by his father while the entire town was sleeping. I made it to where Corpious was transferred to a different mother’s womb and both his parents died.

Bibliography: Krishna Series by Epified Tv (India)

Cowherd Prince-Gopal Krishna by Infinite Eyes

Week 9 Story

Drama in Hastinapur

“I must tell you scribe that I am most looking forward to imparting a bit of my life onto that paper of yours”, said Bhishm.

“What would you like me to write o great undying Bhishm?” asked the scribe.

“I think it best to start with how I came to be here as well as what has happened so far. I believe it very important to keep records of things such as this, don’t you?” asked Bhishm.

“O-Of course your majesty”, exclaimed the scribe loudly not wanting to seem at all unsure.

“That is good to hear, for I fear there will be a lot to write and I believe it best to get started”, said Bhishm.

“It all started at my birth. I was born to the King Shantanu as you well know and my mother was a river goddess. Thankfully for me I was not killed like my other siblings, as my mother had wished it. You see she had made a promise to free the eight celestial spirits. I guess in her mind this was achieved by murdering all eight of her children. I for one don’t quite understand it but that is the case. Anyway, I eventually grew up and was by the banking of a river shooting arrows into the river to tame it, as I did quite often. It just so happened that this time that a man came strolling by and was astounded. To my surprise this man just happened to be my father! We only found this out after much talking he and I. he took me back to the palace where we were a happy family. One day my father met a lovely fisherman’s daughter and wanted to marry her. Her father said no so I set out to see that she did marry my father. It was at this time that I vowed that I shall never take a wife, this seemed to please her and make her come along with me to the palace. Upon arrival my father was saddened by what I had done, but was appreciative and blessed me saying my death came at my choosing. This leads to me not being able to bear children but also not being able to be killed. This came in handy when I fought off god like being for twenty one days. We both grew tired of fighting since neither of us could kill the other. O, did I mention this being was sent on the behalf of one of the princesses I brought to the palace to marry my brother? I probably forgot to mention that. Now I just look after their children in the palace. It seems that there is always some sort of drama happening around. I’ll have to have you by weekly so that we might go over the newest dramas to hit our fair city. Thank you so much for your time. “

“It was my pleasure sire”, said the scribe as he quickly left the room.

Authors Note: I decided to do another story about a man spinning his tale. This time it was about Bhishm. This is simply a retelling and I did not change anything from the actual story. I also thought it would be cool to make it to where he was the voice of reason in the palace with all the crazy stuff going on. He would kind of talk about what was happening with the scribe so that it could be recorded for history.

Bibliography: The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution by EpifiedTv (India)

Ashtapad Hastinapur by Pratyk321

Week 7 Story

Peace Fallen

There sat a woman on the bank of a river looking up at the sky. She was weeping uncontrollably as her hands held fistfuls of her clothes. Draupadi wondered where her life went wrong to end up like this. What decisions did she make that could have possibly led her to be destitute and so alone. She was treated like a queen and now she was to live in the wild in exile. It was all because of that stupid dice game that was played she thought. “Why was I thrown into the bet as if I was a mere animal or piece of property? What’s worse is the winners didn’t even play fair they cheated! And now I am to be without a home and without all of my things living in these miserable conditions on a farce of a game? What is the fairness in that! Curse the gods for making this so, where those who do wrong get rewarded and those who are good get punished. The worst thing of it all is the way I was treated in the court room. To be taken in front of all those men and then having Duhshasana try to strip me bare still gives me nightmares. To feel his meaty hands on my body ripping at my clothing, trying his best to take it off still give me chills down my spine. I wake up some nights grasping at my throat as if I’m being strangled by the memory. As I sit here looking up at the moon cursing those who did me wrong I wonder if my prayers will ever be heard and if I shall ever be restored as I once was.” A few moments later a messenger ran up to Draupadi and said, “I have news, I have news, Duhshasana has fallen in battle to the hands of Bhima.” At this Draupadi released a sigh of relief as she let her body relax to the earth. She let out a breath that she had been holding for a while as if calm had come over her. A tear streaked down the side of her face as she said, “At least now I know my prayers are being heard. Someday I shall return home and finally have peace.”  
Author's Notes: I decided to do a what would Draupadi be thinking as she was in the forest wandering. I knew she would be praying to be restored and have the things she used to, and I assumed she would want revenge. I then tied that into the death of Duhshasana the man who had tried to take her clothes off. I decided that his death would give her a bit of peace at last. 

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

Draupadi Humiliated 

Week 5 Story

Archer of Death

There once was a great king that lived in the mountains. This king had four sons but only one was truly destined for greatness. Gregory was out in the garden tending to the plants and flowers just as his mother asked him to when a messenger was sent for him to report to his father’s throne room. When he arrived, he saw a man on his knees before his father with his head bowed. He approached his father and asked what he was there for. No sooner had he asked that his three other brothers arrived in the throne room. The king said loudly to his sons that they were to go on a very important mission. The king said that this man before him was plagued by demons and furies. He then told his sons that they were to go and defeat a great number of furies and demons. The sons looked at each other then at the king and bowed to the king before reporting to the armory. They were each given a bow to combat the enemy they would face. Once they said their goodbyes, they were off to fight the demons. After a couple days on the road they ran into one of the demons and Gregory grabbed his bow, aimed and fired at the enemy. The demon fell from the sky, dying before it hit the ground. The man they were assisting looked at Gregory and said he was truly amazing and nicknamed him the Archer of Death.

               The group continued into a new city that they had never been to in the Ganges called Ulkin. In this city the king was currently looking for a suitor that was to marry his daughter. Gregory while exploring the city entered the gardens they had. He had always loved a stroll the garden. He enjoyed the smell of life and the different colors of the plants. Never had he seen such beautiful bushes and flowers. While walking through the garden he ran across a woman that was dressed like royalty. He was in awe and instantly fell in love when their eyes connected. He new he needed to do whatever necessary to be with her. One of his brothers came up to him and whispered in his ears that this woman was Elveera and that she was the princess. Hearing this Gregory was so pleased that there was a chance of marriage for he had heard of the test for her hand in marriage. Gregory approached the throne room seeking to win her hand. The contest was simple, he needed to successfully pull on the bow string of the kings bow. He grabbed the bow and pulled with all his might snapping the bow in half. The king was furious that he had done this and told him that since he had no respect for his bow, he was not going to be able to wed the princess. Gregory went away ashamed and sad; never before had he thought of his strength as a curse.

               When he got back to his campsite a messenger road in and told him that the princess had been kidnapped. The king offered to forget his transgression if he would but save his daughter from the Demon King. Gregory swelled with happiness at a chance to win over his love. He agreed and set out to find his love with the help of many loyal friends he had met along the journey. One day one of the messengers came and told him where the princess was being held. Gregory in that instant grabbed all the belongings he would need and rode out to meet this great evil that had taken Elveera. Upon arrival he was greeted by a man who said he was the king’s brother and that he would side with Gregory. Gregory was glad to have more help and inquired about her exact location. He sent his brothers to rescue her while he defeated the king. The Demon King roared a loud roar and rushed Gregory yelling that Elveera was his and was to be his wife. Gregory stood his ground and didn’t flinch in the face of oncoming danger. He grabbed his bow and pulled back as far as he could and launched an arrow that soared true and struck its mark. The Demon King stopped and looked down finding the arrow buried deep into his chest he realized he had been bested. Gregory stopped standing over the king offering a few words of respect before running to find his future bride. Elveera wept with joy at being able to leave the Demons kingdom. She also felt great appreciation and expressed her feelings to Gregory telling him that she loved him from first sight. Gregory's heart swelled at this and upon their arrival home they were both married.

Authors Notes: I changed several things from the original firstly the names of the characters. Then I changed how instead of Gregory (Rama) getting to wed Elveera (Sita) because he pulled back on the string breaking the bow. I made it to where that disqualified him, and he needed to further prove himself. I also cut out Elveera’s (Sita’s) point of view at first sight allowing that to come up later in the story. 

Bibliography: The Divine Archer, F.J Gould

 

 

Archer Sketch by Firkin