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Slow and Steady Wins the Battle
Ravana called out to the monkey army, “no one can beat me, for I have the mighty strength given to me from the gods.” Any who had ever defied Ravana had been quickly conquered, and he had become arrogant with each win. Of course the gods regretted gifting him these powers, but they too were weak agaisnt his powers. He continued, “go ahead and try to take me down, it will only prove further that I am invincible.”
Rama replied to this challenge “I am confident that I can beat you, but I urge you to change your mind.” Ravana sent a shower of arrows onto Rama, to show his disdain for any such quitting.
Calmly, Rama spoke to his chariot driver, “do not let him get to you. We will go slow and have patience, while his rage exhausts him.” For Rama knew that anger and rage can only last so long in battle, eventually all will tire from such antics.
Ravana was amused by his opponent’s seemingly lackluster fighting, and so he decided to go head on with Rama’s chariot. He string his bow and sent a shower of arrows at Rama. Even though it was tough work, Ravana sent thousands and thousands of arrows down on Rama.
Keeping his cool, Rama simply dodged Ravana’s arrows and shot them down with his own bow. He noticed how weary Ravana was becoming with all of these attacks, and Rama could feel the time to attack was nearing. Rama answered his opponent’s war cries by asking “is this all you can do? When will the real fighting begin?”
Angered, Ravana decided to bring out his most powerful weapon: asthras. The “Danda” was capable of pursuing and pulverizing its target. The “Maya” created illusions and confused the enemy. These weapons were a challenge, but nothing that Rama couldn’t handle. He counter-attacked with his own “Gnana”, which gives wisdom and perception to its user.
Ravana continued to send out his powerful weapons, but over time his energy was exhausted – just as Rama had predicted. In a final effort to win the battle, Ravana began flinging rocks and iron at Rama. This only caused him to tire more quickly.
Rama pondered for a moment on what his enemy’s biggest weakness was, and decided it was lack of heart. He was so quick to rely on his strength that Ravana had forgotten to protect his heart. Rama sent his final asthra, the powerful “Brahmasthra”, right to the weak and exhausted heart of Ravana.
While all around him cheered on, Rama simply stated “slow and steady wins the battle, never rush that which should be approached with clear headedness and patience.”
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| Don't rush that which is best done over time. (Screenshot from this turtle video) |
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Author's Note:
I chose to combine two stories into one - the battle between Rama and Ravana and the classic children's story of the Tortoise and the Hare. This is from the storytelling style "mash-up", where you combine two stories. I took the base of the tortoise and hare story, and put a Ramayana twist on it. The excerpt at the beginning of the post was the inspiration from the Ramayana to combine the two stories.Bibliography:
"The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic" by Narayan (1972).
Source: Narayan's Ramayana.
"The Toroise and the Hare" by Aesop (1919).
Source: The Tortoise and the Hare
"The Toroise and the Hare" by Aesop (1919).
Source: The Tortoise and the Hare
Very creative Morgan! Your story was much in tune with both stories, and I could imagine the battle scene in my mind. I liked how you showed Ravana's weakness in his tiring attempts to defeat Rama. I laughed at the thought of Ravana throwing rocks at Rama, which showed sheer desperation! I pictured the gods looking down at him shaking their heads. I will tell you that in the first paragraph you had a minor misspelling (against) and in the bibliography source for Aesop (tortoise), but overall you did a great job!
ReplyDeleteHey Buddy!
ReplyDeleteI loved this story! Not only does it have an awesome lesson, but it is intriguing, not allowing the reader to stop. Your description of the battle created a picture of awe in my head as I was reading. (Note: even though it isn't explicitly stated, I kept picturing Rama gloating a bit, ha!). Through your vivid descriptions, it was clear Ravana was getting much more tired and desperate with time, but Rama remained level-headed the entire time.
I really like the font you have chosen, it is large enough to easily read, but not overwhelming. It is also pleasing to the eye to have multiple paragraphs spaced out a little, which you aced gracefully.
Your picture was almost my favorite part. :) It made me giggle, and added to the classic lesson from the tortoise and the hare.
Your links were perfect! I have read a few stories from students who read the Narayan's Ramayana, and I think it was very ingenious of you to link to Laura's page describing the book, since you could not link to the book itself.
Great job!
Great story, Morgan. You captured the personalities of Rama and Ravana quite well. Your story would fit quite nicely within the Ramayana for this reason. I appreciated all of the detail that you included in its telling--the way you explained how each of the characters was thinking.
ReplyDeleteThe layout of the tale made it easy to read. The concise sections broke it up in to manageable sections. Your blog as a whole looks fantastic. You can tell that you put a lot of time into its appearance.