Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Storytelling for Week 10: Avian Assessment


Swoosh! Down went Bhimi as he flew straight for earth’s surface. His siblings – Korza and Khamki – had no choice but to do the same.

“Why in the world are we going to land in the middle of India?” asked Khamki. “I mean, after all we are heading southwest, aren’t we?”

“Oh hush,” barked Bhimi.

“I grew tired. We’ve flown over 300 miles today.”

“Yeah, that’s what you get to look forward to with aging,” joked Korza. “You will have to stop and take breaks.”

Khamki gestured as if her back was hurting to poke fun at Bhimi. Both She and Korza got a good laugh out of it, but Bhimi – not so much.

“Look, just because I’m the eldest and most mature of us three doesn’t mean you can disrespect me. Mom and Dad will be quite pleased to see, so let’s just rest a little and make it back to see them in a few days,” said the wise Bhimi.

“Now help me find a place for us to land before it gets too dark.”

“How about we aim for that clearing in the woods where all of those humans are gathered. Maybe there is some sort of a festival going on,” declared Khamki.

The three finches slowed their descent and nestled on a tree branch just a few feet from an eclectic bunch of fowls.
 
 
                                                                        Storytime


“Well hey there,” said an eagle perched right below them. “What brings you to the battle for Hastinapura?”

“The battle for what?” cried Korza.

“Hastinapura” shouted a vulture from a few feet down on the field.

“I’m sorry, but we are just stopping by on our migration west,” explained Bhimi. “We had no intent to participate in a battle.”

The fowls turned to look at the finches and burst out in laughter.

“Oh my! No, we’re not going into any type of battle here,” uttered a sparrow who sat just below them. “This is the battle for the kingdom of Hastinapura.”

The eagle cut in, “We’re nothing but spectators for this event. It promises to deliver plenty of action if you’d like to stay and watch.”

“Why in the world are these two groups going to fight for this – Hastinapura?” enquired Khamki.

So the three of the birds went on explaining the events of the Mahabharata to their new companions.

“What a shame!” cried Bhimi. “This family had everything the world had to offer at their fingertips: knowledge, prosperity, peace, and they elected to pour it down the drain because of their vices.”

“And I thought that we migratory birds had it bad. No – Duryodhana, Shakuni, and Dhritarashtra – these are men who disgust me with their every being.”

The next day, the birds all spectated at the battle that began to unfold.

“What a mess these humans are,” said Khamki.

All of the birds nodded in agreement.

“Well, I suppose that we could sit around and be entertained by the bloodshed all night if we pleased. We must surely make way our way west before we lose another day of migration.”

After the finches bade their farewells, they were gone just as swiftly as they landed.
Author's note: I again chose to write in third person with the hope of sharing the opinions of several characters in the story. My intent with this story was to illustrate that even the simplest of creatures realized that what was going on was wrong. I did not make any changes to the Mahabharata.
Bibliography: Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.
 

3 comments:

  1. Great job on this story Lance! It was very interesting having the story told by some migrating finches as they looked onto the battle for Hastinapura. I really like how you had the birds compare the pains of migrating to how badly the humans had it as they battle over simple disagreements! I personally think it would have been nice to have a bit more story from the Mahabharata included in your story, but overall you did an excellent job!

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  2. Hi again Lance!
    I really enjoyed this story! I think that it was really interesting how you told the story from third person point of view from several different characters that were finches. I really liked that idea! I thought it was really funny in your story that the finches were disagreeing and you were taking us through their disagreement. Good story I really enjoyed it!

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  3. Hi Lance! I liked reading your story!This was a unique way of writing. Many people use dialogues, but I like how you made the whole story dialogue. By writing in this style, it makes the readers to have a better idea of how each character felt. I think it would be nice if you added more of your detail to the story to make a little change. Great story!

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