Week 6 Story: The Greatest Archer

Ekalavya wiped his brow as the midday sun beat down on him from above. Gritting his teeth, he tried pulling the bowstring back for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning. And, for the hundredth time, the bowstring snapped back as his missing thumb failed to hold it in place.

"Dang it" he exclaimed, lowering his arms. "I know I can do this. I should be able to do this. Why am I making it so hard?"

For, Ekalavya was facing no easy task. No, for he was determined to regain his formidable skills as an archer. Skills that his idol, Drona, stole from him when he demanded Ekalavya cut off his right thumb. I will gain back every part of my skill that I lost and show Drona and Arjuna who the real greatest archer is! he thought to himself, as he gathered his bow and again lifted it towards the target.

For many days and weeks, Ekalavya practiced. Through rain and wind and snow, he practiced. And on one day, the unthinkable happened. Ekalavya, turning to grab another arrow out of habit, straightened as he heard a thunk. Shocked, he whipped back towards his target. The arrow he had managed to fire had flown true! Sure, it was not a bullseye, not yet, but Ekalavya knew it was just the start.

Ekalavya lifted the arrow onto his bow, and took a breath. Letting it loose, he aimed the arrow at the target and pulled the bowstring back, which, after weeks of practice, was getting easier and easier. Taking aim, he fired off another arrow, and this one landed on the target, closer to the bullseye than before. He smiled. He was back!

Many months later, Ekalavya had, after much sweat and many tears, regained fully his archery skills from before his guru-fee to Drona. He was again able to feel peace and happiness when shooting his bow, and had, over time, forgotten any anger he had held towards Drona. After all, why does anger matter when he was the greatest archer in the land?

One day, Ekalavya was hunting in a nearby forest. Spotting a deer, he took aim and then fired two arrows at once, hitting the deer in both eyes. Smiling with satisfaction at his quick kill, he hopped down from his tree and made his way over to the deer. When he was almost there, however, he heard a rustling sound in nearby bushes. Turning slowly, in case it was a larger animal, he was surprised when none other but Arjuna stepped out from behind a tree!

"Ekalavya!", Arjuna yelled. "How did you make that shot? I couldn't have done it, and I am the best archer around, especially after you lost your thumb!"

Ekalavya smiled. "Well, my friend, it was just luck, and practice. Ever since I cut off my thumb for Drona, I have spent every waking second practicing with my bow. And now I have become even better than before!"

Arjuna was gobsmacked. His rightful title of the greatest archer had been stolen from him again! But, it was too hard for him to be mad at such a cheerful person as Ekalavya. It was clear from his observations that Ekalavya was born to be an archer. As he stood there staring at Ekalavya in disbelief, an idea formed.

"Ekalavya! You wouldn't mind showing me some of your secrets, would you?"

Ekalavya smiled. "I'd love to! I love anything involving archery. And who knows? Maybe soon we'll share the title of Greatest Archer."

And with that, the two men formed a relationship that started off as the comradery of men learning together, and ended with them becoming close friends. And, in the end, Ekalavya was happy to share the title of The Greatest Archer with his friend Arjuna.

Man Shooting an Arrow in front of a Pink Sky.

No Changes Made. 06-23-2015. Source: pixy

Author's Note: The main inspiration for this story came from Tale 35 from Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs. This tale, "Drona Demands Payment" details how Drona, the guru to both the Kauravas and the Pandavas, learned that a man, Ekalavya, had been inspired by a statue he had made of Drona to learn archery so well that he became the best archer in the land. However, Drona had promised one of his true pupils, Arjuna, that he would be the best archer in the land. Thus, Drona sneakily demanded that Ekalavya pay him the guru-fee by cutting off his right thumb, so that Arjuna would be the better archer. When I read this, I was angry for Ekalavya, who clearly idolized Drona so much that he did not even question his demand. I thought that it would be interesting to show what might have happened after by having Ekalavya practice until Drona's guru-fee ended up being for nothing. And, to make it better, I thought it would be nice if Arjuna and Ekalavya ended up being friends and more skilled at archery than Drona could have taught them. Additionally, I made Ekalavya angry with Drona at the beginning, despite nothing in the story indicating he was angry, because I wanted to show how he was able to grow past that anger and become a better character. Thus, this is my interpretation on how the events of Tale 35 might've ended.

Bibliography: Part A, Page 4, Tale 35 of the Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs. Link: Tale 35.

Reading Notes: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata, Part B

My mixed feelings about the Mahabharata have definitely continued while reading Part B. There were more actions taken that confused or angered me, but I also at times laughed at the foolishness of the characters (usually the male ones). I hope that in the latter half of the epic the women characters have a more interesting story. Draupadi especially seems to have zero agency and I wish that was different.

The tale that stuck out to me the most concerning foolish characters was Tale 80, "The Game Begins". In this, Yudhishthira faced Shakuni at dice, as Duryodhana is jealous of his cousins and wants to take everything from them. Why honor dictated that Yudhishthira had to accept their challenge for dice I have no idea, but that seems like the most idiotic practice ever. Why would honor dictate you have to play a game and keep playing until you have nothing left?? Couldn't he just play one game, lose, and call it good?

The other idiotic part was that he staked his wife and his brothers in the game. But, he especially did not own his brothers so I don't know how that was allowed to fly. I guess back in those days it worked because he was the king. I think it would be interesting to change this story somehow to where Vidura was successful in getting King Dhritarashtra to stop the idiotic game of dice. Maybe somehow the gods stepped in? The Pandavas are, after all, children of the gods.

Image of a Statue of Yudhishthira.

No Changes Made. By: Ahish Bhatnagar on 08-15-14. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography: Part B, Page 8, Tale 80 of Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs. Link: Tale 80.

Reading Notes: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata, Part A

The thing that stuck out to me the most throughout Part A was the sheer number of characters and changing relationships. I had to consult the glossary multiple times just to remember how a character was related to other characters.

Despite this, I am enjoying the Mahabharata so far, though I think I will end up liking the Ramayana more. There have definitely been many instances in Part A of the Mahabharata that have been different than how they would have been handled today. Ones that struck out to me mainly dealt with the treatment of women, though the actions of the devas were also odd to me at times.

The tale that stuck out to me the most, however, was actually Tale 35, "Drona Demands Payment". This one struck out to me because, nowadays, the trainer in the position of Drona would likely have been honored for his image and personality to have been so revered by Ekalavya to have resulted in his being the most accurate archer in the land. However, here I was shocked that Drona made him cut off his thumb as "payment", just so his "true" pupil could have the honor of being the best archer. I think this just shows that the actual Drona is not as good a teacher as he thinks...

This punishment of Drona's was also sad to me, because Ekalavya did not hesitate to give Drona what he'd asked, even though it meant all of his hard work would come to nothing.

I think it would be interesting to rewrite this story from a more modern lens, one where Drona rewards Ekalavya for his hard work, instead of punishing him for wanting to improve his skills. It would also be cool to see Ekalavya becoming the master and giving Arjuna some pointers to improve his skills. Another cool idea would be to keep the punishment from Drona but to show Ekalavya managing to overcome the loss of his thumb and becoming the best archer in the land once more!

Art of Drona in Battle.

No Changes Made. By: Skumarm on 10-28-2017. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography: Part A, Page 4, Tale 35 of the Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs. Link: Tale 35.

Storybook Plan

For my storybook, I will be creating an anthology of sorts where each edition features a Durga living through a different origin story of Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) from both the comics and the 2019 movie, with some aspects changed to reflect Durga's origin involving Mahishasura.

For this, I will use the following stories:

The first:

One based off Carol's original origin, in which she was given her powers by a Kree device.

For this, I will mainly use the following sources, though I also own the comics and will likely consult them:

Carol's Marvel Fandom Wiki

Captain Marvel #7 Summary on Marvel Fandom Wiki

The second:

The second will be based off of Carol's retconned origin from the Life of Captain Marvel story, where she inherited her powers from her mother.

I will use the following source, as well as the comics:

What We Learned From the Life of Captain Marvel Comic Book Series

The third:

The final story in the anthology will be based off the movie Captain Marvel (2019). In this, she loses her memory right after getting her powers from an infinity stone.

For the source:

I will use the Wikipedia page, as well as the movie itself.

And, for all three stories, I will mix in aspects of Durga's origin story. For these, I will pull from both her Wikipedia page and an interesting article about her eyes and weapons, Durga Puja: The story of the goddess and her incarnations.

Throughout these three stories, I hope to impart the message that, no matter where you start in life, you can always be a hero and save the day as long as you try your best!

Comment Wall for The Marvelous Durga

This is a comment wall for The Marvelous Durga!

Thank you for reading :)

Art of Durga on her Tiger.

No Changes Made. By Shrimad Devi Bhagvatam and Shiva Purana on 10-08-2017. Source: Wikipedia

Week 4 Lab: Learning about Microfiction

As I have already written microfiction for extra credit in this class, I already knew a bit about it before this StoryLab. I have never done research on them before, so I thought doing that for this StoryLab would be interesting.

My first introduction to microfictions was Pre-AP English II my sophomore year of high school, when my teacher taught us Ernest Hemingway's 6-word story. So, when I read about how that story was the inspiration for the anthology discussed in the NPR interview "'Hint Fiction' Celebrates The (Extremely) Short Story" hosted by Scott Simon, I thought it was very fitting. I particularly enjoyed during that interview how the editor of the anthology, Robert Swartwood, talks about hint fiction being more than just a one- or two-sentence excerpt of a larger story. Instead, hint fiction is in and of itself a complete story. Sure, it could be expanded on, but my favorite part about these short stories is that they are complete stories that leave you thinking. Every example of a hint fiction piece discussed in the NPR interview had me thinking about the possible meaning or just about the scenario in general.

This stood out to me, as well as how the editor talked about how one of the good pieces in his anthology took the author hours to write, despite it being less than 25 words long. I think reading that part was helpful because most people likely think of microfiction as a way to get through an assignment quickly. However, true microfiction can take as long as a full-length essay to write.

For the reading on the Ramayana, I read Laura's Tiny Tales from the Ramayana, so through there I had extensive exposure to tiny tales. I really enjoyed the format as it made for quick reads and it felt like each word was carefully chosen to advance the mini story as well as the overall story. Reading an entire novel of microfiction was a great experience, and I think that it definitely inspired me to write more microfiction this semester.

Photo with a Book's Pages Arranged into a Heart.

No Changes Made. Uploaded 02-14-2019. Source: pixy

Bibliography: 'Hint Fiction' Celebrates The (Extremely) Short Story, podcast hosted by Scott Simon with Robert Swartwood on NPR on 11-13-2010. Link: NPR Transcript

Reading Notes: Tiny Tales from the Ramayana, Part D

Okay, up until this final part, I was really enjoying this epic. I thought it was interesting, funny, and a great story. However, the moment Rama started acting like the idiot Gautama and made Sita prove she was faithful to him while she was kidnapped, and then exiled because of gossip while she was pregnant, I immediately lost all respect for him and did not enjoy the ending. I also thought Lakshmana had a bad ending--he killed himself just for trying to save the kingdom from a self-righteous rishi? How ridiculous.

As imagined, the tales that stuck out to me the most in this reading were Tale 166, Tale 167, Tale 180, Tale 182, and Tale 194.

Tales 166, "Vibhishana Fetches Sita", and 167, "Sita Rebukes Rama", stuck out to me because of the ridiculousness of Rama planning to send away the woman he (supposedly) loves because she was "in another man's house". Like, she was kidnapped by an evil man because of YOU, so maybe get down on your knees and grovel for her forgiveness? If this was modern day, the tables would definitely be turned and Sita would be contemplating banishing Rama. Also--he ordered Sita to "bathe and adorn herself" before seeing him?! Ridiculous!

Tales 180, "Gossip Spreads", and 182, "Lakshmana Takes Sita to the Forest", stuck out to me because of Rama's idiotic act of banishing the wife he loved so much that he spent every afternoon with her just do to simple dumb gossip that he, as king, should be above. If anything, as king he should punish the people speaking wrong about his wife! To me, the fact that he banished Sita would have be admitting he was at fault, or that Sita was. I know times were different then, but that is still ridiculous.

Finally, Tale 194, "Kala Comes to Rama", stuck out to me because I was annoyed at the bad ending Lakshmana got from the hands of Kala. Even though Kala is a god, the fact that Lakshmana died just from admitting a rishi who threatened the entire kingdom into a room. He was with Rama throughout his whole exile, never sleeping, and he was a hero of the story! Yet, his death was his own beheading. I was sad.

Maybe with all of this I'll rewrite the ending where Sita dumps her husband for his horrible behavior and lives the rest of her days best friends with Lakshmana, who got saved as he and his wife left with Sita after she was freed.

Artwork of Sita in Exile.

No Changes Made. By: Raja Ravi Varma. Source: Wikipedia

Bibliography: Part D, Pages 17, 18, 19, and 20, Tales 166, 167, 180, 182, and 194 of the Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs. Links: Tale 166, Tale 167, Tale 180, Tale 182, and Tale 194.

Reading Notes: Tiny Tales from the Ramayana, Part C

When reading Part C of Tiny Tales from the Ramayana, there were two tales that stuck out to me the most.

The first that stuck out to me was Tale 139, "A Squirrel Wants to Help". I enjoyed this tale because I have a fondness for all stories involving the efforts of the "little guy", which this one surely seemed to be. I like how the squirrel was able to make a difference just by rolling in sand and then shaking the sand out on top of the bridge to fill the gaps. Surely if the squirrel had not done this then the bridge could have collapsed. I think it also shows something about Rama's character that he was able to appreciate the squirrel's efforts.

The second tale that stuck out to me was Tale 144, "Ravana Summons a Magician". The reason this story stood out to me was because the ending seemed like something that could be in Romeo and Juliet. In this, Sita is attemptedly fooled into thinking Rama was dead, and she responded by telling Ravana to kill her too. I imagine if he had gone through with her request, we could've had an ending to the story similar to Romeo and Juliet in that one of the couple thinks the other is dead, they then kill themselves, and then the other finds them actually dead and also kills themself. I might rewrite the ending of this tale to something along the lines of the ending to Romeo and Juliet.

In the actual ending to Tale 144, however, all that is stated is that the conjured head vanishes and Ravana's plan failed. But, what did Ravana actually want to accomplish with his plan? Is he so idiotic to think Sita would fall in love with the man who killed her husband?

Artwork of Juliet Awakening to Romeo's Dead Body in Romeo and Juliet.

No Changes Made. By: Colechap on 10-06-2017. Source: Wikipedia

Bibliography: Part C, Pages 14 and 15, Tales 139 and 144 of the Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs. Links: Tale 139 and Tale 144.

Feedback Strategies

When I give feedback, I often worry I will be too harsh and then end up probably being too nice in my feedback. However, I personally often prefer feedback that gives me something to grow on, even if I can be very self-conscious on what I write. I am hoping to take my own preferences into account more often when giving others feedback.

The first article I read for this assignment was The Difference Between Praise and Feedback by Anya Kamenetz. As I feel like I too often praise people instead of giving them valuable feedback, I thought this would be a valuable article which I could learn from. While the majority of the focus was on parents and their children, I still liked how it talked about feedback requiring time and effort to be meaningful, whereas praise is low cost but has more potential negative consequences. This made me think about how I need to realize that I may be harming the person more by sugarcoating my response instead of giving them truly beneficial feedback.

The second article I read was Why Do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise? by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman. I thought this was a really interesting article. I had no idea that so many managers avoid positive feedback altogether, though thinking back on all of the managers I've had I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. I thought it was also interesting how the employees rated managers higher who gave positive feedback yet so many mangers who only gave negative feedback thought they were extremely effective. I think this article helped me to learn that it is important to look for the good in things as well as the things that can be improved upon. After all, it was the managers who gave both positive and negative feedback that were rated the highest overall.

Thinking of these articles, and taking my own feedback experiences into account, I think I will try to make it a point this semester to make sure to give at least one piece of positive and negative feedback every time I give someone feedback. I hope that doing it this way will make the act become more natural after some practice.

Hand Writing the Word Feedback in Blue.

No Changes Made. By: Nick Youngson. Source: The Blue Diamond Gallery

Topic Research: The Marvelous Durga

The project topic I have chosen will be my topic with Durga's story being combined with Captain Marvel's. I am a big Captain Marvel fan (Carol Danvers, specifically, though I also like Mar-Vell and Monica Rambeau and others), so I am very excited to get to write my project on something that interests me so much.

The first place I started researching was Wikipedia. The Wikipedia page for Durga was especially helpful. Her origin story is of her defeat of Mahishasura, where she is created to defeat him since Brahma granted his wish of only being killed by a woman. I think I could easily incorporate Mahishasura into my retellings of Carol's origin stories, as Carol's origins include a male villain as well. I did some other research on Durga as well, and really enjoyed this article, Durga Puja: The story of the goddess and her incarnations, I found that describes Durga's three eyes and her ten arms and the weapons they hold.

Durga Riding a Tiger with Hanuman and Yogi.

No Changes Made. From Wellcome Connection Gallery on 03-29-2018. Source: Wikipedia

For Captain Marvel, I looked at her Wikipedia page (here), but as I own all of the Carol Danvers Captain Marvel comics (and working on her Ms. Marvel ones!) I will likely use my own comics as a reference for her stories. Carol's origin has changed a few times, so I think I might write my three stories for this project using each of Carol's origins with a Durga spin on them. However, Carol in her lifetime of comics has had many different heroic identities since her first comic in 1977: Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, and now Captain Marvel. So, it might be interesting to incorporate those as well.

If I go the three different origin stories route, then the origin stories I will use includes the one from the original 1977 comics run, talked about in detail on Carol's page of the Marvel Fandom Wiki. This page talks about Carol's childhood and when she meets Mar-Vell. While her first comics appearance was in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 in 1968, it is not until Captain Marvel #7 that she is exposed to the Kree device that gives her her powers.

The second origin story I would include would be the one from The Life of Captain Marvel comics by Margaret Stohl, which slightly retcons Carol's origin to be different from the original comics. A good summary can be found here, but I'd likely be using the actual comics as a source as well since I own them. In this one, she still encounters Mar-Vell, Yon-Rogg, and the Psyche Magnitron, but the machine this time awakens her latent Kree DNA given to her by her Kree mother-in-hiding, Mari-Ell. This was a big deal because, before now, Carol's powers were created by the Psyche Magnitron, not awakened.

The third origin story I would include would be inspired by the wonderful Captain Marvel film that came out in 2019. The plot of the film is detailed on Wikipedia, which I might use as a source but I own the film and have seen it several times so I'd probably just rewatch the movie for this story, since I use any excuse I can get to watch it! In this, Carol gets her powers when she shoots her gun at the light speed engine created by Mar-Vell to prevent Yon-Rogg from getting it. Unbeknownst to her, the energy source is fueled by the Tesseract, the space Infinity Stone, and thus she gains her powers. The movie is the story of her regaining her identity (Yon-Rogg wiped her mind and made her think she was a Kree alien herself).

I am really excited about this project idea! I think it would work well and I would have a lot of material for it.

Week 3 Story: Ahalya's Revenge

The world was dark and gray. For how long, she didn't know, but Ahalya knew it was so because she had two memories. One, of the brightness of the world and the colors of her old life, and the other, of the moment when Gautama turned her into rock for Indra's deceit.

And so, she waited.

One day, she felt a change. All of a sudden, there was light again! Looking up, she saw two young men and a rishi. Smiling at Rama, she thanked him for saving her. Then, she turned, and he was there.

Gautama.

Ahalya's world was red next as her fury surged. When he reached his hand out, she sneered at him. "Oh? And what do you think you are doing? You had your chance at being husband to the most beautiful woman in the world. I was created by Brahma for you, and you punished me!"

Shocked, Gautama drew back his hand. "You were unfaithful! I had to punish that. You should be grateful you did not get worse!"

"Worse?! One would argue you punished me worse for the crime of being deceived into sleeping with who I thought was my husband than the man who tricked me!"

Gautama sniffed. "Stop that now! We have company."

Ahalya, turning, looked at the three men. "You have thus far shown to be honorable men, and so I welcome you to Gautama's ashram. Please, enjoy yourselves."

That being done, Ahalya turned and walked into the forest. I need to get revenge for the horrors my husband has wrought against me, she thought. But how was she to accomplish this?

For many days and nights Ahalya planned. She knew that it had to be something worthy of the many years she spent trapped, but she did not know what. Until, one day, it came to her. What better way to gain her revenge than to have the very reason she was punished be his undoing?

So then, the next day, she approached her husband as the picture of humility. Thinking he had earned her forgiveness, Gautama embraced his wife and took her to bed. It was from this that Ahalya conceived a child, a boy, named Avi.

Gautama, still being busy with his devotions, did little in the way of raising their son. And so it was Ahalya who raised Avi all on her own. She taught him how to hunt, cook and sing, how to care for the earth and to mend his clothes. And all the while, she told him stories of her life and the world. Especially important was that she told him about how his father had punished Ahalya. How, for countless years she was trapped in darkness with no room to move.

Avi, having grown up in the wilderness, was horrified. How could one survive without the sun on their face and the wind in their hair? As he loved his mother more than life itself, and having a sense of honor, he started contemplating how to make his absent father pay for his sins. It wasn't until he was retrieving game from a trap he had made that he thought he could trap his father and show him just how horrible he had treated his mother.

And so, Avi labored for many days and nights in secret to create a concealed trap that only he could see. Once finished, he led his father towards the trap, under the guise of wanting to practice devotions with him. However, much to Gautama's surprise, no devotions were practiced that day. Instead, Gautama suddenly found himself trapped down in a pit, with no escape.

"Son! Help! I am trapped!" Gautama yelled up.

"Yes, and it is your own actions that have thus condemned you, Father." Avi replied.

"Avi?" Gautama, replied, astonished.

"Yes, I am the one who has created this trap for you. You see, while you abandoned me to be raised solely by Mother, she told me of how you punished her inside a rock for countless years. So I became her instrument of revenge and trapped you in the earth, in a pit of my own making." He turned then, and Ahalya appeared.

"Ah, husband. Don't feel too bad now, for you can now spend all of your time on your devotions, yes? After all, you did deserve it..."

And thus, Gautama found himself trapped in a world of brown and distant blue until the end of his days.

Artwork of Ahalya Leaning on a Tree.

No Changes Made. By Raja Ravi Varma. Source: Wikipedia

Author's Note: The main inspiration from this story came from Tale 35 in Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs, however Tale 34 was also inspiration. Tale 35, "They Come to a Deserted Ashram", detailed Rama, his half brother, and the rishi Vishvamitra traveling through Gautama's ashram, which appears deserted until Rama's foot brushes the rock Ahalya is trapped in and she appears. In the original story, Gautama appears as well, holds out his hand to Ahalya, and she takes his hand and forgives him. The reason she was trapped in the rock was detailed in Tale 34, "The Story of Ahalya", in which Ahalya, created by Brahma to be the most beautiful woman in the world, is deceived by Indra to sleep with him. He lusted after her and so disguised himself as her husband. Gautama found out, and punished them both, leading to Ahalya being trapped in a rock. I did not like how easily Ahalya forgave her husband for something that was not her fault, and so I decided to rewrite her ending and give her some form of justice. I came up with the idea for Ahalya and Gautama's son to be Gautama's undoing from the story of King Arthur, which I touched on a bit in my Reading Notes on Part A of the Ramayana. A retelling of King Arthur's birth, the similarities in which to this story inspired my use of it, are detailed on Wikipedia.

Bibliography: 

Part A, Page 4 of the Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs. Links: Tale 34 and Tale 35.

"Igraine." Link: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: Tiny Tales from the Ramayana Part B

For Part A of the Ramayana, I wrote about Ahalya, which you can read about here. As she appeared again towards the end of Part B I considered taking notes on her again, but I was much more interested about the tales centered around Hanuman.

In Tale 93, "When Hanuman Was Hungry", Hanuman's mother leaves him as a baby and he grows so hungry he flies up and tries to eat the sun, mistaking it for a mango. Indra becomes so angry over this that he throws a thunderbolt at Hanuman and breaks his jaw. In Tale 94, "The Devas Bless Hanuman", Hanuman's father Vayu is angry over Hanuman's injury that he stops the air from moving until Brahma arrives and heals his son.

While reading this story about infant Hanuman, I was reminded of the story in Greek mythology of Daedalus and his son, Icarus. In this myth, Daedalus makes wings for him and his son so they are able to escape the Labyrinth. Icarus, however, falls victim to his hubris and flies too close to the sun, and the wax holding his wings together melts and he falls from such a height that he drowns when he falls into the sea. The story is told on Wikipedia on a page over Icarus. I think it could be interesting to retell this Greek myth using the characters of Hanuman and Vayu.

While continuing the story of Hanuman, I thought it interesting that he was blessed by multiple devas and was given not only protection against any future thunderbolts but also radiance and invulnerability to sickness and weapons. While I don't know much about the story of Hanuman in the second half of the Ramayana, I think it might be interesting to write a story about how these gifts come in handy. Though, it is definitely privilege that Hanuman is given all of these gifts just because his powerful father was angered.

The end of Tale 94 was especially interesting to me as there was heavy foreshadowing, and I liked how that made me even more interested in Hanuman's story.

Artwork of Hanuman.

No Changes Made. Created by Kru Tony Moore on 04-30-2013. Source: Wikipedia

Bibliography: Part B, Page 10, Tales 93 and 94 of the Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs. Links: Tale 93 and Tale 94.