Week 2 Story: The Monkey King's Maiden
Once upon a time there was a monkey king who had a maiden but was not very fond of her. After spending a short time together he decided to banish her to another land. But little did the monkey king know, the maiden was with child.
The maiden went off on her own and raised her son with no issues and never told the monkey king about him. The son always had questions about his father but the maiden always blew him off and gave him a round about answer because she did not want him to know the truth.
One day the boy noticed some changes with himself. The boy had gained powers and he could not control them whatsoever. He was furious and insisted that him mother tell him the truth. So eventually the maiden broke down and told her son everything. Then, the boy became even more furious at the fact the monkey king banished his mother and abandoned him.
The boy eventually got his mother all worked up and they set out to find the monkey king. Along their journey the boy also learned to control his powers and was sure that he could conquer his father. The strange thing was that the maiden even began to gain powers herself. Nobody knows how she became magical herself but the two of the together were set on taking down the monkey king.
They arrived at the kingdom and the monkey king was in utter shock at the two of them in front of him. The monkey king could also feel the magic radiating off of his son so he knew he was in big trouble. The monkey king tried to strike a deal with his son but the maiden would not allow it. She wanted to defeat the king herself for what he did to her.
The monkey king agreed to make a deal with the maiden because thought that she would have no chance because he was unaware of her newly found powers. The monkey king sent her to the lake to gather 3 lotuses and off the maiden went.
She arrived at the lake and started flying over the lake with ease picking up the lotuses as she crossed over. The ogre that lived in the lake was also so amazed by her beauty and talent the he decided to walk her back to the kingdom.
They arrived back at the kingdom and along the way she told the ogre about her story with the monkey king and he was furious. When the ogre saw the monkey he began to yell at him and the monkey go so scared that he ran off crying and never returned. The maiden and her son took over the monkey kingdom along with the ogre's help. They all lived happily ver after.
Authors Note: In the story The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses the monkey king had a son that grew up to be very strong and smart. One day the monkey kings son begged his mother to take him to see his father but the mother was very hesitant because she knew the king's intentions but she did it anyways. Deep down the monkey king knew that his son was very powerful and could easily take his place so he tried to trick the son and have him killed. The monkey king told his son that the thrown was his if he went and picked lotuses from the lake where an ogre lived and the king was sure the ogre would kill his son. The son went off to get the lotuses and quickly became aware of the ogre that lived there but was very smart and picked the lotuses and he jumped over the lake and never had to get into the water. The ogre was so impressed with the monkey's abilities that he came out of the water and offered to carry the lotuses back to the monkey king. When the king saw his son and the ogre he knew he was done for and died. Then the other monkeys voted to make the son their new king.
In my story I though that it would be cool to add in some background information of the relationship of the monkey with the son's mother. I also wanted to make this a revenge story from the maiden. I thought as if she deserved to have more than what the monkey king gave her because she was the one that was hidden in the original story.
Bibliography: Tayodhamma Jataka in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers. Story
Hey Kenzie! Your re-telling of The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses was great. In the original story, the mother was definitely overshadowed by the other characters, and I like how you shifted the focus of the betrayal. All the characters empathize with the maiden and recognized the injustice with her banishment, but the original story ignored that fact to focus on the king’s son. I think a revenge story was a unique choice and produced an interesting story.
ReplyDeleteHello Kenzie!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your re-interpretation of The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses. In the original story, there was not much attention on the mother. I liked that you thought the mother should get justice for what the Monkey King did to her. It was interesting that you gave both mother and son special powers. It was also right that the mother was the one who got rid of the Monkey King. Good job in your re-telling of the story!