Week 2 Story
Mia woke from a start. As she looked over at her son, Bodhisatta, she felt her heart rate slow. His calm expression, the same expression he always wore, reminded her that they were safe. She had left his father, Devadatta, when she discovered he was mistreating her other sons. Everyday she laments that she could not save the others, only Bodhisatta, who was growing in her belly.
The wise panda, Terra, had been the one to tell Mia about Devadatta's bad behavior and help her escape. When she had nightmares, Mia usually consulted Terra whenever she had deep worries, so she hopped accross the pond to Terra's bamboo home.
"Terra, can I come in?" Mia whispered through the door.
"Of course," Terra answered.
"I'm worried about Bodhisatta. He wants to meet his father, but he will be in great danger in his father's presence. Devadatta prizes his continued reign over all else. He will surely kill him," said Mia.
"Dear Mia, you underestimate your son. He has wisdome beyond his years. There is much to learn from him. I remember when he was first born and misquito bit him. I remember how he looked at the misquito and it simply flew away. He never was swatted in its direction, never once showed any violence. Peace is his gift. Let him share it," replied Terra.
Mia embraced Terra and returned home. The next morning she woke Bodhisatta and told him they would go visit his father. He looked at her and smiled. Suddenly, Mia burst into tears.
"I worry for you my son. Your father is dangerous," she cried.
"I know," said Bodhi, "That is why he needs me. He needs love. He needs compassion."
She felt his calmness stretch through her body as she gave him a big hug. Suddenly, she was not worried but sure, sure that peace would come.
Authors Note:
I based this story off of Robert Chalmer's The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses. The goal was to explain the mother's reasoning behind why she brouht her son and tell a bit of her story.
Bibliography: "The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses" from The Jataka Volume 1 translated by Rober Chalmers. Web source.
The wise panda, Terra, had been the one to tell Mia about Devadatta's bad behavior and help her escape. When she had nightmares, Mia usually consulted Terra whenever she had deep worries, so she hopped accross the pond to Terra's bamboo home.
"Terra, can I come in?" Mia whispered through the door.
"Of course," Terra answered.
"I'm worried about Bodhisatta. He wants to meet his father, but he will be in great danger in his father's presence. Devadatta prizes his continued reign over all else. He will surely kill him," said Mia.
"Dear Mia, you underestimate your son. He has wisdome beyond his years. There is much to learn from him. I remember when he was first born and misquito bit him. I remember how he looked at the misquito and it simply flew away. He never was swatted in its direction, never once showed any violence. Peace is his gift. Let him share it," replied Terra.
Mia embraced Terra and returned home. The next morning she woke Bodhisatta and told him they would go visit his father. He looked at her and smiled. Suddenly, Mia burst into tears.
"I worry for you my son. Your father is dangerous," she cried.
"I know," said Bodhi, "That is why he needs me. He needs love. He needs compassion."
She felt his calmness stretch through her body as she gave him a big hug. Suddenly, she was not worried but sure, sure that peace would come.
Authors Note:
I based this story off of Robert Chalmer's The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses. The goal was to explain the mother's reasoning behind why she brouht her son and tell a bit of her story.
Bibliography: "The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses" from The Jataka Volume 1 translated by Rober Chalmers. Web source.
Photo of two monkeys from Max Pixel
Hi Jessica, I really enjoyed the part where you described how Bodhi's calmness was so resonant that even his mother had transitioned all the way from manic to extremely calm. It was interesting to see that even though she had known he was being treated terribly, she was okay with him going to see his father solely off of a comment. One thing I am curious about is how exactly Bodhi new he would be okay though? Is there any commentary in the original that clears that up? Also, I think it might be interesting to give more of the backstory on Devadatta, and why he was even found out or why the mother could really only take Bodhi. You could perhaps talk about what traits Bodhi exhibited that made the mother take him (or he was just the first one she saw and it was by arbitrary chance, I do not know the story well). Overall, this was a great story and a pleasure to read!
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica, I really liked that you personalized the monkeys with names. Your story emphasized the worry of the mother juxtaposed to the calm wisdom of the son. I have to say, if I was this monkey's mother, I would still tell him that there was no way he was going to see his murderous father, no matter how wise the son is. Great job with this story and I look forward to reading more of your stories throughout the semester.
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica, I absolutely loved the flashback as an integral part in adding depth to your story. I also appreciated the side character Terra- we all need advice from friends sometimes, and having her in the story made it so much more relatable. Bodhi is too good for this world! His devotion to showing the villain love and mercy makes him a protagonist everyone can get behind. I hope things go well with him, and to read more of your stories in the future!
ReplyDeleteHey Jessica! I just want to start off by saying you wrote a very wonderful story! I can see that you put a lot of thought and imagination behind your writing. I liked how you brought out the mother's perspective and reasoning of why she let her son meet his father. I would also like to comment on your dialogue between the characters. I believe the conversations that you produced between them really brought the characters to life and allowed me to relate more to them. One thing that I was wondering about, was why his father was so bad? However, I ultimately believe you wrote a great story! You had my attention from the beginning of the story till the very end. I look forward to seeing the new and creative ideas that you put forth. I hope you have a great weekend and good luck with the rest of your semester!
ReplyDeleteHey Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you wrote the story. The readers got to see the mothers perspective to things which was really great from the original story. I could really imagine you story and felt for the mother as I was reading the story. This made it easy to understand the story. I look forward to reading more of your stories!
Hey Jessica, I really like how you were able to write your story. It was good getting to see how the mother reacted and her perspective which made it really interesting to read and very easy to understand. The flash back you used was also really good because it further allowed us to understand the story.
ReplyDelete