Story Week 13: The Turtle Who Talked Too Much

Turtles (image source from Wikipedia)

There was once a Turtle that lived up on the foot of a hill. There was two wild geese looking for food up around the hill and they found a turtle. This Turtle was a friendly and very talkative animal. The next day, the Geese visited the turtle again and soon became great friends.

One day, the Geese told the turtle they had a beautiful home far away and they were leaving tomorrow. They asked the turtle if he wanted to come along with them, to their home. The turtle explained, "How would I even get there? I can't even fly!"

The Geese responded back saying, "Oh, we will take you but you cannot talk this whole journey."
The turtle thought about it and agreed that he would go with them and not talk the whole way.

So the following day, the Geese came back with a stick and said, "You have to bite down the stick in the middle and do not say one word until we are home."

The Geese and the turtle were up flying and they saw so many different beautiful sceneries from the sky. Twenty minutes had passed by, they came by a village. There were kids playing around and spotted the Geese and Turtle. The kids laughed at the turtle because it was flying. They got a closer look and saw the Turtle gripping on a stick! They started laughing a little harder because the Turtle was not really flying, but biting down on a stick.

The turtle looked down and said "At least my friends can carry me to fly with them! What is your problem?"

Then turtle fell off the stick. R.I.P.

Author's Note: I rewrote the story, The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking. I did not change anything from the original story but wrote it in my own words. This Turtle should would not stop talking or be so defensive that he died. It was immature of him to want to fight back and care what the kids thought of him, and he suffered the consequences.

Ellen C. Babbitt, The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking, Link

Week 11 Story: Destrier the Horse

Seven Horses (image source from Wikipedia)

In every life, the Buddha comes in different life forms. It can be an elephant, pig, or a monkey. But in this life, it was a horse. The horse was named Destrier owned by the King of Benares. The horse was the King's most prized possession. The horse food was fed in gold dishes that was worth thousand pieces of money. The stalls the horse lived in was perfumed with different special odors. His stalls were hung crimson curtains with canopy studded gold stars. Walls were surrounded by fragrant flowers with a lamp burning scented oil. 

All the kings greatly envied the kingdom of Benares. The seven kings that gathered up against the kingdom, threatened the King saying, "Either yield up your kingdom to us or give battle."

King of Benares gathered his ministers and said, "You better not go out there and fight them head one. Notify to the Knight to fight the kings, if he fails, we will decide what to do,"

The King sent the Knight on the battle and the Knight had one request, "I need Destrier to defeat the seven kings. He will bring us glory." The King agreed and sent Destrier out with the Knight into the battle. 

Out in the battle field, the Knight and Destrier were both armored from head to toe. The Knight was on the horse, gripping his sword tightly and ready to battle. As Destrier charged into the field, they kidnapped one king. They brought one of the king back into the kingdom's prisoner and kept him into custody. Next, they kidnapped the second king and bringing him back to prison. And it happened continuously until the sixth king. They kidnapped the sixth king back to prison, but Destrier was heavily injured. 

The horse was streaming with blood and wounds, which caused him great injuries. The Knight made the horse rest and to forfeit since he was in severe pain. The horse did not want to give up. Destrier said, "We are almost winning. We just need to get the seventh king and they will lose. I do not want to waste everything I had accomplished. Let me finish this." The Knight did not want to put him into more pain but he cannot refuse the horses's dying wish. 

They both got onto their feet and captured the seventh king. Once the seventh king was captured and into prison, the Knight took the horse to the King's gate. The horse told the king, "Lead with justice, truth, and honor. Continue on to do charity work and rule the kingdom in righteousness." The horse passed away. And the King honored the horse by burying his body with great honors.

The King released the seven kings and said, "You will be making an oath to never come back to my Kingdom and threaten us." 

Author's note:

I did not change anything up in the original story, I told the story again in my own words. The characters, plot, and setting is the same. 

Marie L. Shedlock, The Horse That Held Out to the End, Link

Week 9 Story: Princess Salisa

The Three Sisters (image source from Wikipedia)

Taika and Himouto have always been close growing up. Girls were always attracted to Taika but never to Himouto. Himouto was born to be a king, but he would need a wife in his throne. So Taika gathered up princesses from around the different kingdoms and found three sisters. They were princesses of Geno; their names were Salisa, Syla, and Struta.

The princesses were given a chance to be fought over if they could take down Taika. A king named Java came to fight for Salisa. Java and Himouto were battling each other with spears until Himouto defeated him. Himouto gave Java mercy and spared his life.

The wedding came and Salisa came clean to Himouto. She told him that King Java was her secret lover that she has been with for three years. No one knew about her secret lover and she never expected herself to be married to the same man with her sisters. Himouto released her from her marriage with his brother.

Princess Salisa left the kingdom and went to go find King Java. Once she got to the kingdom, he did not what anything to do with her. He did not see her as his lover or his property. King Java lost fair and square with Taika and felt that she was his rightful owner. He felt unworthy of Salisa and demanded she go back to her rightful owner, Taika. King Java had to block his feelings and affections towards her and turned her away.

She felt humiliated and disgusted with herself. Princess Salisa only saw herself with King Java and now she got that taken away from her. She could not go back to Geno because she felt ashamed already for not marrying Himouto or being reunited with her true love; she had nothing left in the end. Princess Salisa ran off to live by herself to figure out how to fix it.

For the next couple months, she lived in a village called Norta. She stayed in that village and cried for months. She barely ate, barely drank, and barely wanted to survive. Her sadness took over herself. She wanted her life to swivel away because she felt like it was not worth living. So, a goddess heard her cry and came to her village.

The goddess was named Hanos. Hanos was a goddess who granted wishes to people that mourned the most. Hanos asked her what she truly wanted and Salisa said, “I want to be with King Java”. Hanos responded saying, “ I cannot grant you that wish but I can bless you with a second life, but there are demands for it.”

In order for the second life to be granted, Princess Salisa had to die and rebirth. But in her second life… she has to kill Himouto in order to be with King Java. In order for a rebirth to happen, she had to burn herself in the pits of fire. Once she was reborn, she would remember everything that has happened to her and the demands Hanos gave.

Princess Salisa dug up a pit with sticks in it and lit it on fire. Once the fire was big enough, she threw herself in it and said "This is for my true love, Java."

Authors note: I used the story with Amba who was arranged to marry Vichitravirya. Amba and her sisters, Ambika and Ambalika, were arranged to marry the same guy. She was in love and committed with the king of the Shalwas. Once he heard of what had happened, he came to fight for her. He fought against Bhishma and was defeated with his life spared. No one was able to beat Bhishma, so his brother was still going to marry the three sisters. When the wedding day came closer, Amba admitted she was in love with the king of Shalwas and they were in the secret committed relationship. Bhishma released her from getting married and she tried to reunite with her lover. The king of Shalwas denied her because she did not belong to him anymore and Bhishma was the rightful owner when he got defeated. Once she left, she knew it was Bhishma's fault. She was so sad and depressed that the Great God came to her to answer her prayers. Amba was granted a wish that she would become a man in her next life to kill Bhishma.

Sister Nevedita, Amba, Link

Week 5 Story: The Truth

Concerning Kingdoms (image source from Wikipedia)

Jusa, Cayden, and Roma ended up to enjoy traveling since Jusa got exiled. They were the type to meet new villagers and stay they for a few days before they continued on their journey. Roma is Jusa's wife and she recently got abducted by a beast name Grudle, which Jusa and Cayden killed. They continue on their traveling journey to explore what the world has to offer.

During their journey, they came across a rare kingdom named Truth at the top of the mountain. It had an extremely beautiful view with flowers blooming, a stream flowing down the hill, animals prancing around like they seem to be in love with their home. Jusa, Cayden and Roma made their home at Truth for a while but it was too good for it to be relaxing. They still had a enemy out there to kill them and his name was Vasop. He was known to be the Lord of Britania, the most ruthless killing leader out there.

Vasop is known to be the strongest warrior in his kingdom. He became very powerful because he's been practicing years of killing. His intentions were to kill anyone who was against him or who tried to overthrow him. He wanted his kingdom to be the most dominant, powerful land out there. His goal was to takeover other land and have his kingdom expand out. The only advantage he had was his strept demons as his fearless warriors, that were immortal. These warriors looked like dead humans that got revived by the devil to live forever. They had no emotions or care for anything, and their only goal was to kill.

Vasop sent out his strept demons out to overthrow other kingdoms and kill the villagers to steal their land. And that kingdom was Truth. Stept demons came upon Jusa, Cayden, and Roma and tried to kill them. Jusa took out his sacred weapon, the sphere, to fight these demons and they were getting beat. No one could beast Jusa, so they retreated back to their Lord Vasop to inform him. He sent out his sister Hara, to find these villagers and kill them.

Hara reaches to kingdom of Truth and tries to kill them but Cayden ends up slicing her arm off. For the first time, she was getting beaten. She fled off to find Vasop and tell him what happened. And he wanted vengeance.


Author notes: This story is from The Forest Life when Rama, Sita and Lakshmana were wandering in the forrest. Sita got abducted by a beast Viradha and got killed. They eventually visit a place called Panchavati where rivers flow, deers wander, and it was breathtaking. This place just seemed peaceful and filled with love in the nature, but it was too good to be true. A rakshasas passed by and tried to kill Sita, but Lakshmana cut off her ears and nose so she fled off. This rakshasas is known to be Ravana's younger sister named Surpanakha. Ravana despises Rama and Lakshamana and would do anything to kill them.

Sister Nivedita, The Forest Life, Link

Week 3 Story: Grudle

Tumbara (image source from Wikipedia) 

Jusa and Cayden were twin brothers, both known as fiercest warriors from their village called the Caidmens. Growing up in the Caidmens and being raised by the village, helped them become warriors of their village to provide maximal protection. At the age of 12, they lost their parents to a monster named Grudle.

The village had a very prominent army of warriors. The toughest of the tough. The bravest of the brave. The tallest wall to protect them from anything.

At the age of 12, Jusa and Cayden were playing outside of the village borders without their parents knowing.  As the parents were searching for their kids, they came in contact with Grudle. He was this most disgusting, blood sucking, cheetah skinned human eater. What was crazy that he was known to be a myth. They never expected to see a man eater in real life.

Grudle saw the man and woman wandering outside the village and abducted them. He ran straight to the bushes with them to be skinned alive.

The kids heard noises around the bush and saw Grudle eat their parents alive. They were completely terrified and ran back to the village to save their lives.

Jusa and Cayden warned the villagers but knew there was nothing they could have done but to become the strongest warriors to kill Grudle.

12 years later, they were on the hunt of this ferocious beast that killed their parents as a kid. They heard rumors that Grudle was 75 miles north from their village, so they began to hunt.

The hunt took 2 years to find Grudle because he was everywhere. They finally spotted him. He was near this small village where this family was prepping dinner. They had a small pit of fire lit to keep the monsters away. Jusa threw his spear at Grudle, hoping it’ll aim at his heart, but it aimed at his arm. Grudle did not bleed nor was he injured. Cayden shot an arrow straight to his chest and there was still no blood shed. No object could have harmed him. 

Grudle spotted Jusa and Cayden and attacked them. He had the brothers twisted and locked up in both his arms, by the neck. He was so strong that it felt impossible for the brothers to injure him. Grudle explains “No object can kill me. No harm can ever come to me because I am immortal. You are wasting your time and life”.

Cayden eventually slipped out and decided to shoot him with an arrow with fire. It aimed straight to his chest and he screamed. Grudle did not expect to ever feel pain, but he did. He never realized fire was his weakness. Jusa got his spear and lit it with fire to aim at his heart. His body was slowly scorching on fire.

The brothers threw the monsters into the pit of fire. He was a demon that needed to be sent straight back to hell.

Authors note: The story I used was Ramayanha: Viradha. He was this nasty beast that ate live flesh to stay alive. He abducted Sita and was killed by Rama and Lakshmana. The beast could not have been harmed by any object, but could be injured by ripping his body apart. Rama killed him and threw him in the pits to suffer. Little did they know, he was a Tumburu, a gandharva that was cursed to be living in Viradha's body. It was his faith to be killed by Rama and have his soul released into heaven. 

"Ramayana: Viradha" by Manmatha Nath Dutt. Website: Blogspot

Week 2 Story: Ant and the Bird

At this village called Soju Hut where ants filled up the village. They were cohabitant with worms, butterflies, spiders, and caterpillars. In this village of ants, they were absolutely terrified of birds and snakes. They have this sacred tradition that they have to go in hiding in their hole every time they encounter a bird or a snake. Every time they saw some type of bird in the sky, they would go straight into their hole and hide.

In this village, there was this special ant named Luna who loved being friends with everyone, regardless if you were a snake or bird. Her parents were the King and Queen of their special village, so she was always forbidden to leave the village for safety reasons. Eventually, Luna came to realize she wanted to be free from the village and encountered a bird. She found them friendly, but her village and parents did not. Later on, she snuck out a lot and became close friends with this bird named Bloom. Every morning, he brought her a strawberry when she visits him at the cliffs. It was located right outside her village where crows, snakes, and tigers lived around.

One day, Bloom wanted to take her to a place field full of strawberries, but Luna knew it would not have worked out because she cannot fly and her strict parents. Bloom asked, “why don’t you just stay in my mouth while I fly there? We’ll be back before sundown”. Luna knew how dangerous it would have been, but she hated being stuck in that village. People in the village always assumed everything was dangerous and everyone was out to eat them.

Luna caved in and said “okay, as long as we’re back before sundown”.

Bloom flew a couple miles to reach the strawberry field and reached to their destination. Luna was amazed how beautiful and big the field was. They gathered lots of strawberries, so she could carry back to her village, but she realized she did not want to go back. She became friends with other ants, birds, and caterpillars at the field and seeing how much joy they have. Luna ended up staying there and said, “why would I ever go back home when there’s food here”. Bloom could not stop her but he had to leave to help out his family.

A week went by, Luna got eaten by a crow.

It is similar to how the turtle was flying with the Geese to their home. The only way the turtle could travel was by biting onto a stick the whole way and not talk. Someone made fun of him for looking ridiculous when the geese flew over a village and got very defensive. In the end, he talked and died. 

"The Turtle and the Geese" from Jataka Anthology by Ellen C. Babbitt. Web Source.