Week 15 Microfiction

Microfiction: Fragile

Author's Note: This is another story where I wanted to take a song and create a story from it. This song is also a bit of a sadder tone like my last song microfiction. The song is very good I highly recommend it. I did the six word, and 100 word stories.

Again I have included the song to listen to while you read.

Fragile

Even though we're done, thank you.


Fragile

I don't know if you remember the me when we first met, but I was a mess. I had given up on love, but giving up does not change the pain I felt in my heart. I was closed off from the world, but no one was willing to try to reach the real me. Meeting you was the best thing to happen in my life, you taught me to love.  You taught me to feel happy again. Because of you, I will never be afraid to open up again. Thank you for all you have done for me.

Week 14 Microfiction

Giant's Awakening

Author's note: I wanted to take the story that I used for the storybook assignment and rewrite it in short forms. I really find it interesting to rewrite stories in more restrictive formats. I already wrote a long-form rendition of this story, but I want to stay truer to the source material.

Giant's Awakening

Hundred foot man, woken by elephants.

Giants's Awakening

The giant was feared even by the gods. Tricked into a life of slumber, he rarely awakens. The times he does awaken are truly disasters, his hunger leads him to eat all in sight. One day he was needed by his brother. His strength was needed for a battle of revenge. His brother was humiliated by Rama in battle. The giant was forced to sleep, but he was still an intelligent man. He tried his best to talk his brother out of battle, but the giant was still a loyal man.

The Awakening of Kumbhakarna

Week 13 Storytelling: Kans and Devaki

Kans and Devaki

Source

Whispers in the Mind

When a member of the family is to be married we hold a feast so all the family can meet their significant other. This tradition is old, but we have decided to keep it going. This is how we ended up at this point. I, as the current head of the family, had to host. We finally got to meet the bride to be, but for me, it was not a completely happy occasion. The first time I laid eyes on Devaki, the woman marrying into our family, I could hear a whisper coming from the back of my mind. This whisper felt like an itch at the back of my mind at first, but that feeling would not last for long. I pushed the sound away and continued to welcome the guests into my house. 

After a while we got the feast started and all of the family started celebrating. Every time I locked eyes with Devaki I could hear the whisper return, and every time it whispered it got louder. I tried to hide in the kitchen but after a while, Devaki came into the kitchen to check on me. Apparently, I was in the kitchen so long that some of the guests thought I might be sick, and she offered to check on me. 

That is when I finally was able to make out the whispers, "Her child will be the one to kill you." 

The whispers pressed in from the back of my mind, and at this point, the whispers were deafening. I could see Devaki speaking, but all I could hear were the whispers. The only thing I could say for certain at this point I that her child would be the one to kill me, and I could not let that happen. The moment my hands wrapped around her neck the whispers all stopped at once, but I did not kill her. Her husband stepped in before then. I had to make sure the whispers would not return so I decided that I would make sure their kids would not kill me.

Whispers in the Mind

Author Note: In this story, I wanted to tell the story of how Kans was told that Devaki's eighth child would kill him. These kind of prophecies are normal within Indian epics, but I wanted to tell the story of receiving a prophecy as if it was a horror story.

Week 13 Reading Notes B

Reading Notes: Krishna and the Gods Part A

Source

One day, within a prosperous kingdom, the king has a son. All is not prosperous with the birth however, there are many bad omens.  The king asks wise men to tell him what all of these omens mean. They tell him that his son will work with the powers of evil, and oppress the followers of Krishna. This quickly became evident when Kans as a child would strangle people he met. He eventually overthrows his father, gathers armies of demons, and becomes a powerful ruler over a terrible wasteland. The gods took action- they went to the strongest of the gods and asked for help in stopping Kans. He tells them to be born as mortals and that he will follow suit in time.

During a feast, Kans is told that Devaki's eighth child will be his downfall. He grabs Devaki and throws her to the ground, yelling at her. Vasudev convinces Kans to allow them to continue living but that Kans can do whatever he wishes with any children they have. Kans kill all of their children before they are born. Before having a seventh child, Dewaki prays to Wishnu, the mightiest of the gods. She gives birth to the seventh child, and Wishnu takes the child to another house to be raised. Kans comes looking for the seventh child- they tell him the baby died before it was born. He doesn't trust them, so he locks up both Devaki and Vasudev. Eventually, the gods come and free Devaki and Wasudew from their prison.

Krishna is born to the Wasudew and Devaki amid trumpet sounds and nature collectively celebrating. Krishna's godly form is presented to his parents. He tells them that he needs to be taken away to another city so that he can one day put Kans to death. Then he makes Wasudew and Devaki forget his godly form, but they remembered his message. Krishna puts guards to sleep, opens the door, and frees Wasudew from his handcuffs. They swap Devaki's eighth child with a baby girl. As Kans goes to kill this baby girl, the gods intervene and inform Kans that Devaki's eighth child will still kill him.

Krishna did everything possible to make the people of Brindaban love him. He put out forest fires and defeated evil an evil serpent that plagued the land. In doing this, Krishna became more popular among people than Indra. Indra became jealous and sent torrential rain to destroy the city. Krishna protected the city by holding a mountain over it. Indra comes down and worships Krishna. The people of the city realize who Krishna truly is. They also worship him. Yet, he wipes their minds so he can continue to live in peace and secrecy.

Krishna and Balaram went to the wrestling grounds. A great elephant blocked their path. They tell the rider to move the elephant or it will die. The elephant goes to attack Balaram, who swats away the elephant's trunk. The elephant attacked in pain and fear. His tusks passed right through Krishna. The brothers battled demons, warriors, and wrestlers, defeating all of them. Kans, in fear, told his men to go kill Ugrasen, Wasudew, and Devaki. Krishna killed his men on the spot. Then he jumps towards the throne. Kans tries to defend himself with his sword, but Krishna ultimately grabs Kans by the hair and splatters him across the ground. He defeats all of Kans' brothers. He then performs funeral rites for Kans with the many widows of Kans.

Rukmini was so beautiful that word of her beauty traveled throughout the land. Krishna falls in love with the idea of Rukmini. She then hears great stories of Krishna from a traveling bard. she starts to pray that Krishna may become her husband. Her two brothers each propose husbands. The first proposes Shishupal. The second proposes Krishna. The first brother is outraged and claims that on Shishupal is fit for Rukmini. When Rukmini finds out she is to marry Shishupal, she sends a messenger to Krishna, asking him to come to marry her. The older brother and Shishupal plot to get rid of Krishna once he arrives in the city. Their schemes don't work. Yet, when Krishna gets Rukmini into his chariot and he raises his sword, Shishupal flees. In fact, no bloodshed occurs. Krishna and Rukmini are married.

Week 13 Reading

Reading Notes: Alternate Ramayana 

Ramayana as told by Krishna Dharma

Two Kingdoms existed. The kingdom of Koshala, the capital being Ayodhya, was ruled by Dasharatha, the father of Rama. The other kingdom was Mithila, ruled by Janaka. The capital city Ayodhya flourished and the king, Dasharatha, was able to relax in his palace. The palace was guarded by a thousand powerful warriors, and he was served by eight sages along with two priests, Vashishtha and Vamadeva. Even with all of this prosperity, the king was saddened because he had no son. Dasharatha decided to proceed with a horse sacrifice to get him a son. Kaushalya, the king's main wife, slew the horse after it was prepared for sacrifice. Offerings were also presented to the gods. The gods promised that the king would have four sons.

Ravana, the king of Lanka had exhibited piety that led to Brahma, the creator god, to bless him with protection from gods and devils. Ravana the oppressed all the gods, and they sought help from Vishnu. Vishnu said that Ravana could be hurt by monkeys and humans. The gods should go to earth and take on the form of apes. Vishnu would be born in four parts as the four sons promised to the king. The four sons being Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrughna. The child Rama was the most beautiful. 

Rama and Lakshmana did battle with a rakshasi. Rama took off her arms with arrows, and Lakshmana took out her nose and eyes. The devil went invisible and using sound alone Rama shot a final arrow to kill the devil. Rama was then given celestial weapons. Later on, he used these weapons to slay a group of devils that attempted to attack some sages. Rama and his brother explored the city and their looks were commented upon by the masses. The next day they decided to collect flowers and ended up finding the Garden of King Janaka. They admired the fruit trees, flowers, and peacocks. With the sound of bells, Rama knew that the woman he would love approached. It was true with one to look at him and Sita, King Janaka's daughter fell in love. They parted and Sita prayed for their love to flourish. To win the hand of Sita, Rama had to draw the bow of Shiva. Many had attempted, but none had succeeded. He unsurprisingly was able to draw the bow. He used so much force that the bow broke. He had won Sita's hand in marriage. Rama married Sita, but his brothers also married Sita's sisters. All the brothers would be married to Janaka's daughters.

The king Dasharatha decide he had to decide on an heir among his sons. He sought to make Rama his heir, but he asked his advisors and lords underneath him for their opinion. They all were of the same mind, the wanted Rama, the eldest, to be the heir. They said he exhibited great values and would be a great king. The King's youngest wife, the mother of Bharata, had in the past saved the King's life and had been promised two favors in the future. Convinced by her slave, the hunch-backed Maharajah, who hated Rama; the queen sought out the king and asked for her favors. She wanted her son to be the heir and for Rama to be sent to exile. This news, when given to Rama, was told to him by the young wife for the king was so grief-stricken that he could not speak. Rama was more than willing to accept the new orders to maintain his father's honor. Rama told the news to others, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman. They both decided to follow him, and many of the villagers had similar thoughts. They could follow Rama to the jungle. In the castle, the king sought to give him many things to make his exile easier. Rama refused and asked only for bark, a spade, and a basket. Rama and Lakshmana quickly put on the bark, but Sita who had lived only in comfort would not wear the bark.

Rama atop His Chariot