Magic Cow, source: Wikipedia
Topic #1: The First Adventure: No More Milk (influences from Rama and his sons Kusha and Lavaj in the Ramayana)
My notes: In the village, there is a lack of milk in the area, due to the exhaustion of the cows and there being so few of them with so many people in the village. The king was desperate so he searched for someone to help. Eventually, he found Lava and Kusha. They were known for finding solutions to problems so he invited them in the mission to heal the land of the milk problem. Their first idea to attack the issue was to perform the right magic on the cows so that they would begin to produce milk again, even to infinity. The only person able to do this was the "not-so-nice Rakshasi" and there was no guarantee she would help. The king gave his blessing to go, and also offered them a reward if they brought the magic back. They traveled long and far to see Rakshasi and she surprisingly welcomed them and said she knew they were coming. They explained the issue and she agreed to help on one term, she get a part in the reward. They hesitantly agreed and then went on their way with the pouch of grass she gave to give to the cows. Sure enough, the grass enabled the cows to produce buckets and buckets of milk! They received a lamp from the king.
Source: https://sites.google.com/view/doubletrouble2017/the-first-adventure-no-more-milk
Author's Note: "For this story, I used The Monday Story from the Deccan Nursery Tales by C.A. Kincaid, and I twisted it into an adventure for Kusha and Lava to go on. The story was originally in the same village and they had a lack of milk, but the story involved a god who they had to worship properly and one old woman solved the issue by feeding the children before offering to the god. The god's name was Shiva and her offer of the little that she had left created a religious miracle that multiplied the milk. I added the idea of magic cows because I thought it gave the story an interesting twist and it could help the town economically as well. In my version, I kept the name of the town and the basic characters but I added in Kusha and Lava and I made the old woman a rakshasi who did not live in the town, but practiced magic far away. I kept the character of the king, and I involved the lamp because it will lead into my next story. I am keeping the theme of Rama telling the story to his sons, but I am trying to link the stories together as I go. Next week's story will involve a magic lamp, so if you want to know what the lamp does you will have to read next week to find out!"
Topic #2: Surya, The Sun-God: Jatayu and Sampathi
My notes: Jatuyu and Sampathi (brothers) flew too close to the sun, whoops. Jatuyu bet Sampathi that he couldn't fly as close to the sun as he himself could. Jatuyu was slightly behind Sampathi most of the time until he suddenly sped up at the last minute. Sampathi sought to rescue his brother by throwing his wings around him, but then... PLOT TWIST! Actually the author changes this tragic story up a bit. They land safely, thought their wings are scorched greatly. Jatuyu had lost consciousness so he had no idea what just happened. Turns out, it's a play. They are on stage.
Author's Note: "This story was meant to be a take on the story of Jatayu and Sampathi and how they flew too close to the sun. In this case, the sun is Surya. As I wrote last week, Surya got in an accident with Sampathi, so Surya switched it up a little bit so he could be a more objective member of the audience. I'm trying to convey Surya's personality almost exclusively through dialogue and story choices at this point. When Jatayu was unable to speak in space with his brother, it was because they were in what we would consider the 'scientific' earth as opposed to the earth from the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. Surya realized this and gave them the capacity to speak in space, so that is why Sampathi could suddenly speak. I actually wanted to take this story a lot further, even into the part where Jatayu meets Rama and when Sampathi learned of his brother's death, but I ran out of space. In the original story, Sampathi and Jatayu are separated and never find each other. Jatayu is killed by Ravana and Sampathi learns of his death from Rama and his companions. Instead of making Sampathi and Jatayu be separated when they fall back to earth, I decided that I wanted it to be a little happier and I want it to be evident that Surya cares about the affairs of people and does not want many people to be in pain, so he helped keep the two together as they fell. This allowed them to stay together and it made their stories a little less tragic."
Source: https://sites.google.com/site/herecomessurya/jatayu-and-sampathi
"Sampathi" by R.K. Narayan, from The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (1972)
Topic #3: Epic Battles and Weapons, The Battle of Ravana and Rama
My notes: Shikha and Ronak (twins) walked away from Rama and his allies. They came across a statue of Sita, the wife of Rama. As they got out their cameras to take picture of the sight to show their parents, they realized they left the cameras in the backpack on the battlefield. So they walked back and on their way, they recognized a voice in the sky. The voice proclaimed, "So I see you return! You return to experience yet another battle between Rama and the evil demon king, Ravana!" They replied that they in fact would love to hear a story! The sky battlefield told the story and in great detail that the young twins could hardly contain their excitement.
Author's Note: "I chose to do my second story over the epic battle between Rama and Ravana. I thought it would be a good idea to change the battlefield to the sky; there were many weapons such as the fire and rain mantras and the arrows that were shot into the sky by those doing battle. I solely used Buck's version of The Ramayana when I wrote this story; I felt like there was so much more detail and intensity when I read his version. I decided to focus more on the things happening between the central characters, Ravana and Rama, rather than including a lot of the details about Matali and the rest of Rama's army. One minor thing that I added to the original story was making the Wind weapon a tornado. In Buck's version he says that they were just strong winds, but I figure that a tornado sounds more intense and harmful. I think that the battle between Rama and Ravana is a battle that needs to be explained to the twin brothers wanting to learn about their culture. This battle is a prime example of good conquering evil, and it gives people hope to know that this happens."
Source: https://sites.google.com/site/epicbattlesandweapons/the-battle-of-ravana-and-rama-2
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.
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