Storytelling Week 5: The Beautiful Forest

Very late one day Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita decided that they wanted to go for a walk.  They had ended up deciding that they wanted to go Vindhya Hills.  Vindhya Hills is supposedly filled with hills that are higher than mountains, trees that are filled with luscious fruit, water bluer than the sea.  Everyone talks about how beautiful it is so Lakshmana, Sita, and Rama decide that they want to go see what it looks like for themselves.

As they entered the forest they could not imagine what they were seeing.  The forest was not like anything that they had seen before.  There were such beautiful flowers of each and every color that you could think of.  There were different kinds of water flowers that floated on the water and glistened red, yellow, and blue hues.  The fish, oh the beautiful colors of fish that you could see sparkling through the clear blue water.  The forest was as if you were in a perfect dream of a beautiful paradise.

The animals were also another sight to see.  There were all different kinds of cranes, birds, huge green tortoises, beautiful white swans, and geese that were hot pink. 

All of a sudden Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita stop dead in their tracks to the sound of beautiful music. The swans and the geese were humming together in synchronization while the birds were chirping a beautiful sound that you can only dream of. The music was such a perfect harmony that they stopped for a second because they were in disbelief.  They couldn’t imagine that the animals were making such beautiful noises.  As soon as they were done with their harmony they began to applaud for the animals and they were on their merry way.

As they were walking along the grass in the forest they happened upon a little brown house.  They saw an old couple sitting by the house. It turned out that the house belonged to Atri who was one of the seven oldest saints.  Atri was sitting next to his wife Anasuya. “Hello our names are Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita. We came by and passed the beautiful lake on our way in and were mesmerized.”  Atri replied, That beautiful lake you all passed is The Five-Apsarasa-Lake. My wife and I love to sit by the lake and listen to all the beautiful music that comes from it. Come inside our house and let us enjoy some more conversation. 

Rama, Sita, Lakshmana in the Forest 

Bibliography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Author’s Note: For this story I was really excited to read about how many descriptive details there were in the Buck's story of the forest. This made it really easy to expand and let my creativity flow.  In the original story Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana heard the sound and the beautiful music, but they couldn’t see anyone or anything making the noise in the lake.  In my retelling of Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana I wanted to twist things up a bit and make it to where there had actually seen who and where the beautiful sounds were coming from.  I had a lot of fun with this story and liked the way that Buck described the Five Apsarasa-Lake and the beautiful forest.

Week 5 Reading Diary B: The Golden Deer

I really enjoyed reading about Maricha as the Golden Deer. However, when they are in the forest Sita wants Rama to run and catch the deer. It turns out that Rama kills the deer and it ends up crying out and sounds as if it’s Rama.  Naturally Sita is worried so she wants Lakshmana to find Rama and make sure that everything is alright.  It turns out that Ravana comes to Sita disquised as an old man and tricks her.  However, my favorite part was when Ravana chopped of Jatayu’s wings.  Before he had died he wanted to tell Rama and Lakshmana that Sita had been captured. I love reading this part of the Ramayana over and over no matter who tells it!

Ravana cuts off Jatayu's wings

Week 5 Reading Diary A: Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita in the Forest

One of my favorite parts of this week was when Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita were in the forest.  I really loved the description of it how it was described as the flowers were beautiful red, yellow, blue, and green different water flowers. (pg 134). It also said there were different animals like tortoises, swans and frogs also.  Buck had also described that Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita had heard singing and music but hey had in fact seen no one in the lake.  They kept walking in the forest and happened upon the house of Atri. I think that the this part of the story could definitely be a storytelling idea for this week because it was so descriptive. My creative juices are flowing!

Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita in the Forest