Week 7 Story

 

Image Source Desert scene. 

Long ago, a group of  animals from the  safari desert were gathered around the sand dune.

“We have to find a way to find some water or all of the animals could suffer.” said the camel.

“Okay, then how about we send the snake up that sand dune to see if he can see any water holes” the fox said.

The snake took off for the large sand dune and scanned the desert looking for a water hole. He squinted and saw what looked to be an area of trees indicating water was near them. He reported back that he indeed saw a water hole, but he would go individually to make sure he was correct. He slithered over to the trees and saw a gleaming pool of water. As he got closer to the bank, he heard a voice call out to him.

The voice demanded to the snake, “Answer my question, and you will be able to drink from my waterhole.”

The snake was too thirsty to listen to the voice so he ignored it and began to drink it anyway. The snake took one sip then rolled over dead.

The sand cat wondered what was taking the snake so long, so he sprinted over to the area abundant with trees to investigate. He saw the water and felt his mouth begin to dry up. The voice called out to him just as it did for the snake. The sand car ignored the voice and raced over to the water to take a large gulp. He too passed away by the water hole.

The camel was curious if the two animals had found the waterhole yet, so slowly but surely, he made his way over to the trees. He saw the two animals dead by the waterhole and sorrowed over them. The voice called out, “Answer my question and you shall drink from my waterhole! Ignore me and pay for the consequences!”

“Who goes there? Reveal yourself or else,” the camel said angrily. He drew his sword and scanned the pond for the voice. As he was looking at the pond he could not resist the way it sparkled in the sunlight and went over to take a sip. He immediately fell to the ground and was killed just as the other animals were.

The fox, being the last one standing behind the sand dune was worried that the other animals were drinking water without him. He sneakily sprinted over to the area with the trees and saw all of his animals fallen over dead. Full of anger he called out “WHO DID THIS?”

The voice called out “It is me! Your friends did not listen to me before. All they had to do was answer my question and then they could freely drink from my water hole.”

The fox called back, “What question do you want to be answered?”

The voice giddy that someone is finally is going to answer his question stated, “Ahh glad you asked. My one question is….what is black and white and red all over? You get the one answer, so think hard!”

The fox, being sneaky had always been sneaky and loved tricking his friends with riddles. He had heard this one a handful of times so he confidently answered with “A newspaper!”

The voice screamed with excitement. “You got it right! You got it right! No one has ever gotten it right before. Since you are the first I will bring back your friends for being correct.”

The animals around the water hole began to rise back to life and they all happily drank from the mysterious waterhole.  

Author's Note:

For this story, I was inspired by the "Riddles at the Lake" story in the Mahabharata. The story originally began by a group of men who were in the forest searching for water and each one failed to listen to the voice and were killed. Finally, the wise man answered all of the questions and was granted access to the pond as well as bringing back his brethren. I did the same storyline but thought it would be interesting to do this with animals. I finally had the sneaky fox be the one who could trick the voice and save them all. 

Bibliography: 

Author: Donald A. Mackenzie
Title: Riddles at the Lake
Link: Link to story

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part D

Image Source The mongoose telling his story.

After the horse sacrifice, all of the men who had attended were sent home with wealth. A mongoose who had a body that was half gold appeared. The mongoose stopped the men and began to tell a story.

There was a Brahmin and his family who were living on grains of corn they picked up from the fields, and only ate once a day at a certain time. A shortage of food spread across the land, and at a time there was no food to eat at their time of the day. The family began to become thin and weak. One day, the Brahmin picked up some barley and began to eat it and divided it into four portions for his family. While they were eating a guest came in and they gave him a share of food, however, the guest was still hungry. The wife gave him her share, but because she was so thin and weak the man told her to keep it, however, the wife wanted him to have it. He ate it but was still hungry. The son began to bring over his share and gave it to the hungry guest. The guest was still hungry. The daughter was the only one left who had food to give, however, it broke the father’s heart to give up her portion. The daughter gave him his portion, and all of a sudden the guest showed his true form as Dharma the god! The God blessed them and allowed them peace in heaven. The mongoose came over to where some of the grains had fallen and suddenly his body became half gold due to the magic sacrifice.

I wanted to focus on this story because it was different from the rest of the book. I thought it was fun to read and it was different because it was told by a mongoose. I think this story would be entertaining to put my own spin on.

Bibliography:

Author: Annie Besant

Title: The Mongoose

Link: Link to story

Reading Notes: PDE , Part C

Dharma God. Image Source

The twelfth year of exile for the two brothers was ending soon and this scene begins with the brothers still in the forest. The two brothers were wandering around when they saw a stag with sacred twigs hanging from it. They tried to decide if they kill it or should just the twigs from it. They began to chase the animal but began to get tired fast so they took a break to rest. 

They were on the search to find water and saw that a pond was nearby. Yudhishthira sends Nakula towards the pond. He approached the pond when a voice told him to answer a question before he could drink this water. He did not listen to this voice because he was so thirsty so he ignored the command and began to drink the water. He then fell over dead. Sadhadeva, Nakula’s brother, followed him to the pond wondering what was taking his brother so long. He saw the pond and when he began to approach it he heard the same voice demanding he answer a question before he drank the water. He was too thirst to listen and so he drank the water without listening to the voice and he too fell over dead. Arjuna went towards the water and demanded to know who the voice was otherwise he would begin to shoot his arrows. He drew his bow but the shafts flew from it. Arjuna began to drink the water again, ignoring the voice and fell dead. Bhima also followed them to the pond and he drank from the water and died as well. 

Yudhisthira approached the pond and saw his army dead and began to sorrow over their deaths. He questioned the voice and the voice said that he was yaksha. Yaksha tells Yudhishthira that he warned all of them not to drink the water until they answered his questioned but all of them ignored him and so he killed them. Yaksha said that if his question was answered whoever would be allowed to drink from the water without being afraid. Yudhishthira said that he would answer the question and Yaksha gave the following riddle.

“Who maketh the sun to rise? Who keepeth him company? Who maketh the sun to go down? In whom is the sun established?”

Yudhishthira responded to Brahama, Gods, Dharma, and the truth.

Many more riddles were asked and then Yudhishthira answered each with knowledge. The yaksha then revealed that he was Dharma and granted Yudhishthira two boons and he restored the brethren and gave them all the power to go unrecognized for a year.

I focused my notes on the story of Riddles at the Lake because I liked the story behind it. It was different from the other stories I had read so it was fun and entertaining. I think I could make this story into my own with a few twists.

Bibliography: 
Author: Donald A. Mackenzie
Title: Riddles at the Lake
Link: Link to story