Once upon a time, there was a powerful king and queen who
ruled a mighty kingdom. Their people adored them for they were fair and just.
However, the king and queen were sad because they could not bear any children.
They prayed to their mighty god, Vishnu and he agreed to give them three children,
however, the children’s fate was to fight against the banished witch Ravana.
Vishnu promised the king and queen their children would succeed in everything
they did. Eventually the couple received all three of their beautiful children.
Two boys and the youngest, a girl. The boys, Bharata and Lakshmana, grew up to
be strong and courageous, and the little girl, Sita was beautiful and wise.
One day, when Sita was walking out in the royal gardens, she
saw a man. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen. He confidently
walked up to her and the first thing she noticed was his eyes. They seemed so
kind and full of love that she wanted to constantly stare at them. As he
approached closer, she saw his gaze drift upward. His loving expression turned
into something of a panic. She quickly looked behind her to see what had caught
his attention but before she could turn, a giant creature grabbed her up and
flew away. She looked up to see a familiar face. The creature looked like a
goddess she had read about. It was Ravana. The evil witch was kidnapping her!
From the ground, Sita’s two brothers saw the scene and
quickly run to Sita’s aide. They ran to their arrows that were near them and
started shooting down the monster. Lakshmana’s arrow hit the witch in the arm
and this caused the witch to drop their dear Sita. Panic spread through both of
them as they saw their sister fall helplessly. They saw another man running to
where Sita is falling. Sita landed gracefully in the stranger’s arms as the
brother reached them.
Sita, who held her eyes closed this entire time opened her
eyes to her loving stranger holding her in his arms. He gently placed her down
on soft grass looking extremely worried. Her brothers ran up to her asking if
she was hurt and she reassured them she was perfectly fine. They thanked the
stranger, and the royal siblings learned his name was Rama. The four quickly
ran into the palace to explain what had happened and plan to get rid of the
evil witch. Sita, Bharata, and Lakshamana learned that they had been cursed
with this fate since birth and they decided to finally face destiny. They knew
they alone were the only ones that could complete this task.
The next morning, the three, armed with swords and bows and
arrows, set out on their quest. When they reached the palace gates, they saw
that Rama was waiting ready with his own sword to set out. They tried to
convince him to stay, but he insisted on following his princes and princess to
the witch’s cave. So they set out to finally rid their kingdom of the evil.
Late in the night, deep in the forest, they came across her
cave as she was sleeping. Lakshamana bravely stepped forward to pierce her
heart with his sword but at as soon he lifted his weapon, the witch
disappeared. They heroes looked around but the witch was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly a rock flew from the side of the cave and hit Bharata, causing him to
fall unconscious on the cave floor. Another flew to Sita but Rama grabbed her
and pulled her to the ground before the rock could hit her. Lakshamana started
toward where the rock came from ready to attack but his sword burned his hands
and the prince and his weapon fell to the ground in pain.
Sita ran to Lakshamana and as soon as she left Rama, Ravana
snuck up behind Rama and held Lakshamana’s sword to Rama’s throat. As Sita
looked back in terror, Ravana explained how she hated the royal family because
they banished her for practicing black magic. Sita noticed Ravana’s hate made
her oblivious to the fact that the witch did not try to disarm Sita. Sita
quickly drew her arrow and called the witches name. As soon as Ravana looked to
Sita, Sita sent an arrow that hit the witch right between her evil eyes. Ravana
let go of Rama and fell to the ground and disappeared into thin air. Rama ran
to Sita to check if she was okay. They quickly grabber Bharata and Lakshamana
and the four returned home to spread the good news of freedom from the evil
witch.
Author's Note: I was interested with the original story but I think Sita was to submissive and decided to give her a bigger role. The fight against the monsters were moments that stuck out the most to me so I decided to expand on those.
Bibliography: Public domain Ramayana: online reading
I love that you decided to give Sita a larger role in the story. It is very common to have the men save the women from harm and get all the glory. Having Sita save Rama is a fun twist on the common plot and it made your rendition a little more interesting than the original.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed looking through Sita's perspective! Most tales are of the men saving the woman, blah blah blah, his muscles were soooo big, blah blah blah, she was pretty and dumb and couldn't have done it without him. Sita was still a victim in this story, but one with grace and purpose besides fulfilling a man's objective. I liked how she noticed who Ravana was... it full circled to her being beautiful AND wise. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your story and how you decided to portray Sita as a heroine rather than a damsel in distress. It was a very creative idea to make Sita the sister of Bharata and Lakshmana instead of Rama being their brother. I think that gave the story a chance to be seen from a different point of view. Instead of Rama being already well known as a hero, the audience came to find that out about him which made it a more exciting reveal. I wonder why Lakshmana’s sword burned his hand just as he was about to use it. What if it was because fate had made it to where only Sita would be able to defeat Ravana? Maybe you could go into a little more detail on the events that led up to the death of Ravana. Overall, I think you did a great job. Keep up the good work!
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