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Week 5 Story: Brothers Quarrel




Title: The Divine Archer
Author: F. J. Gould
Year: 1911 Link


Rama and Lank had just completed a task given by them to kill a demon terrorizing the local villiage, they were tired, and wanted a place to rest, so they traveled to the nearest city. In the coty they were recognized as heroes, the citizens were estatic that they had been blessed to host such heroines.

Rama and Lank were invited to a great feast held by the king. They were given plate after plate of some of the best food they had ever tasted. After the feast, Rama decided to take a nap while Lank walked the palace, intrigued by it’s uniqueness in comparison to theirs at home.

As Lank walked the gardens he saw the most beautiful maiden, the princess Sita and her helpers wisped by him as he was awestruck. Lank thought to himself “I’m gonna marry that girl”. How could she refuse him, being such a hero in the eyes of the king. I’m sure the king would even give her to him.

Rama awoke from his slumber with a restless mind. He’s done a lot of things that day, and they were all still racing through his memories. He decided that he too should take a walk around the palace, if not to calm him down then ease his mind. As he sat alone looking at the flowers and moon, Sita walked into the moonlight. Rama was instantly in love, never had he seen such a woman and never had a woman eased his mind as she had done just now.

Rama prayed to the gods to have her has a wife.

Sita, seeing Rama sitting in her garden this night, saw it as a sign from the gods that he was to be the one she would love for the rest of her life. She prayed for confirmation and in that moment their eyes met, and Rama smiled, picked a rose, and brought it to her. He kissed her hand gently and bowed before walking back to bed.

Rama knew she was the princess, and had decided to ask the king for her hand the next morning.

That morning both Lank and Rama had approached King Sha and asked for Sita’s hand, so Sha had to make it a fair competition. He asked the brothers to wield a legendary bow, one that no normal man could wield. Lank tried first, ending his attempt quickly as he knew it was impossible, then Rama tried. He looked straight into Sita’s eye as he pulled back the string and snapped the bow.

“The gods smile down upon you Rama, no man has ever been able to pull back that bow let alone break it, I give you my daughter happily knowing you wll be able to protect her.”

Lank was angry, and prayed that Rama be challened again if he were to take Sita’s hand.


Author’s Note: This is my own version of the time that Rama and Sita first met. I added some small quarrel with Lank thinking that he couldn’t have loved Sita too based on his closeness to both Rama and Sita in the Ramayana. I wanted Lank to be part of the competition to show how better Rama really was, I left the story open ended because I’m contemplation continuing it to show how Lank became so bonded to his brother that he would go into exile with him.







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Comments

  1. JennFebruary 20, 2019 at 9:29 PM

    Callie!

    I really enjoyed reading your story. I love that you added a little bit of conflict and competition to the story. It definitely made for an interesting story to read and I also love how you left it open ended. I think if you built off of this and did a storybook and showed how his brother would end up going into exile with him, it would be very interesting to read. I liked the cliffhanger because it really kept me wanting to read more. It left me wondering, "Now what? Tell me more! What happens next?"

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  2. JoniFebruary 20, 2019 at 10:05 PM

    Hey Callie! I enjoyed reading your interpretation of the story of Rama and Sita's meeting and falling in love. Lakshmana's role in the Ramayana intrigued me as well, because he is so intensely loyal in following Rama and Sita through the forests of their exile. It never occurred to me that perhaps Lakshmana felt a special kind of love for both his brother and his brother's wife. It seems reasonable that Sita's beauty would also have attracted him, and perhaps he at one time did wish to be the one to marry her.

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  3. AleshiaFebruary 21, 2019 at 5:46 PM

    I don't enjoy a quarrel, but I thought this was a very interesting point. How could Rama's brother not get at least a little jealous? The ending was a bit of cliffhanger but I see that you did that on purpose. I'm curious to know what happens in your mind to the brothers beyond this point.

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