The Crocodile in the River
Deep in Australia, where crocodiles grow to enormous lengths and have incredible strength. A Monkey, Bodisatta, was told by his fellow troupe about a crocodiles named Devadatta's murderous plans. But the Monkey was not afraid, they had been through this situation before. Long before, in another life, Devadatta had tried to kill the monkey but failed. |
| A Troupe of Monkeys |
Devadatta was in love with a beautiful crocodile who longed to eat a monkey heart. The two had a small family, and she spent her days caring for the young. So, she could not catch the monkey, for her days were filled. Crocodile children have terrible attitudes. So Devadatta came up with the plan to lay on one of the rocks the monkeys used to cross to the mainland and catch a monkey when he landed on him, instead of the rock.
The next day Bodisatta was going to cross from the mainland back to his home when he noticed the rocks were not like how they usually were. One in particular looked much larger and darker than usual. He wondered if it could be a crocodile so he called out to it, "Hello Rock." But, the rock kept silent. So, he called out to it again. But this time, the crocodile answer back, "Hello."
Bodisatta then replied, "Who are you?"
Devadatta caught, answered, "A crocodile, here to eat your heart"
Bodisatta was much smarter than the crocodile. He knew the crocodile could stay there until he caught a monkey. So he told Devadatta, "Open up, you win. I can not get home and there is no life for me here."
Devadatta accepted the easy win and opened his mouth and closed his eyes. But, Bodisatta jumped off his head to his island and to safety. There, he could warn his family and keep Devadatta from getting monkey hearts from them.
Authors Note:
I slightly changed the story. I changed details and made the story my own. Also in the original, Bodisatta lives in solidarity on his island. I have never heard of a monkey not in a troupe so I added that detail and also I liked the aspect of two family men looking for their family's and the start of a feud over their loved ones that lasted lives. It wasn't a large change, just changed the priorities of the main characters. Also, monkeys are in abundance of where I chose to place the story so it made more sense to warn others because Devadatta could have just found another monkey.
Bibliography:
The Crocodile in the River, Vanarinda Jataka, in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers.
Hey Caitlin! I really like your story! I just read a story Kaitlyn wrote starting with the same original story. It is interesting to see the different directions you both went with your stories. If you're interested in reading her story, here is a link: https://kaitlyn-krenzke.blogspot.com/2019/01/week-2-story-crocodile-and-monkeys-heart.html. I like how you described when the monkey saw what he thought might be a crocodile, it sounds scary to mistake a crocodile for a rock! I noticed that the Author's Note is missing an apostrophe. I did the same thing and someone pointed it out to me! In the sentence that includes "abundance of where I chose", I think the "of" was an accident. In the sentence that includes "their loved ones that lasted lives." I think "lives" should be changed. Great story Caitlin and I look forward to reading more later on in the semester!
ReplyDeleteThe imagery you used in the beginning paragraph was awesome. It made the story so incredibly vivid. It definitely allowed me to dive into the story in ways that could have not been possible without it. This imagery that you maintained throughout the entirety of story made it so immensely pleasurable to read. It gave the tale some life. I also enjoyed how you expanded the backstory of the crocodile. Adding such depth to the "villain" made the story more complete in a sense. It took away some of the unreasonably capriciousness that could be seen in the original text. I really liked the changes you made but I will say the end of the story felt a bit rushed to me. It started off so intricately and detailed unlike the end. I would have liked to see how the crocodile family reacted to the lack of the monkey heart and how the group of monkeys took the advise.
ReplyDeleteHey Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your take on the story, even though it was only changed slightly. I especially like how you added that the monkey was with his troupe, as a singular is a bit strange I have to agree. I also really enjoyed your use of imagery when describing the monkey and crocodile. I may be alone in this, but have you toyed with the idea of changing the names of the characters? Personally, I struggle with the names of the characters in many of the epics, so I have changed their names to celebrities to take a fun take on the story as well as help me with the pronunciation. Either way, your story was really enjoyable, great job!