Week 9 Storytelling: The Monkey In The Trees

       Long ago in a land far, far away lived a couple in a city known as Mumbai. The couple had two sons, named Vali and Sugriva who were very nice, well-mannered boys. They were well known among community members and was always willing to help other people with tasks. Sugriva was the younger brother and always looked up to Vali as a role model, a confidant and a leader and he wanted to be just like his brother when he grew up, but little did he know that things will turn out very badly.

Many years passed and Vali and Sugriva’s parents passed away. Sugriva became possessed by the evil goddess named Kali, when she promised him that he could have all the powers he wanted, only if he would help her out with a few chores. Of course, Sugriva, being a kind-hearted person, agreed to help Kali. It is now that things turned out for the worse. Kali convinced the younger brother to kidnap Vali's fiancé, because she had a sacred Hindu gemstone that Kali needed desperately. Vali realized the brother’s evil plan and took his fiancé to flee to the forest where he knew he would be protected. Unfortunately, Vali was not able to protect Yamai (his fiancé) and she was soon captured by the evil demon’s slaves.

It was a stormy day when Vali roamed through the forest. The wind was howling and leaves rattled loudly when he heard voices in a far distance. At first he thought that it is just the wind, but as the sounds came closer, he realized that it sounded like men, instead. He was scared and thought that it was the demon’s slaves who came back to find him, and having many powers, he quickly turned himself into a monkey. This was however, no ordinary monkey. He was four-foot-tall, dark brown and had big eyes and was able to jump high in the sky from one tree branch to the next. All of a sudden there was a WHOO HOO sound and the two men got so scared, when they saw a flying monkey, that they immediately withdrew their weapons from their shoulders. 

In front of them appeared the monkey who asked the men, "what is it that you are doing in my forest?" The two men did not know what to say at first, but then answered, "We are here to search for Yamai, the princess who got captured by the eval goddess, Kali. We need to find her for Vali's sake, so that he can return to Mumbai and help the people of Mumbai."  Vali was so happy to hear that his people were willing to help him find his lover and so it came that he changed himself into a human. The two men were in such shock, that they had to blink twice to make sure that this was not a bad dream. 

"You will be greatly rewarded for your bravery and it will not go unnoticed", said Vali. What plan do you have in mind to capture Kali? I heard that she is unstoppable. The two men discussed their plan with the monkey and disappeared into the forest to set forth with their discussions.  

Picture Of A Monkey In The Trees. Source: Static

Link to Ramayana Public Domain Part C

Author's Note: My story is based off of the Ramayana PDE- Sugriva and Hanuman. In the original story, Rama and Lakshmana go on a search for Sugriva and stumble upon a monkey who will lead them to Sugriva. In my version of the story, I decided to change the scene of the story and start it off with a family who lived happily in a town, but when the parents passed away, one of the brothers became possessed by an evil goddess. The characters' roles were also reversed and instead of a monkey turning into a beggar, my character started off as human being and turned into a monkey. The characters were also given different names and played different roles. Instead of meeting the monkey chief, my character met two men from his town, who will help him fight off the evil goddess and save his fiance.