Week 4 Story: Squirrel's are Special
The family, a mother, father, and son, was walking around their home village one day when a palm squirrel was noticed by the son. The squirrel looked to be eating a nut, and there was another chittering about around a tree.
"Why do the squirrels have stripes across their backs?" The young boy asked his parents, looking at the squirrels in wonder.
"That is a very good question, my son," the father answered with a smile. "There is a story that will tell you the answer. Would you like to hear it?"
"Yes please!" The boy exclaimed.
The mother and father smiled at each other and the family of three sat down under the shade of a tree, the son leaning his head on his mother's shoulder as he got ready to listen to the story.
"Long ago, the deva Vishnu was born as a man named Rama," the father began. "He was destined to one day defeat Ravana, the king of Lanka, who was always terrorizing those who live on the earth. His only weakness was humans, or the devas would have slain him long before..."
The mother and father switched off on telling the story of Rama's Journey. Finally, the mother was telling about the building of the bridge from India to Lanka.
"The army of monkeys and bears worked hard every day to lay stones to make the bridge. One day, a squirrel saw what was happening and wanted to do his part. So, the squirrel would roll in the sand, run to the bridge and shake his body until all the sand fell off. He did this over and over, and one monkey even got angry and said he wasn't truly helping."
"That monkey sounds mean," the son said.
"Yes, and Rama thought so, too. Rama said that the squirrel really was helping, the sand was filling in gaps between the stones. In thanks, Rama reached out and carressed the squirrel's back. And this is why our squirrels carry stripes on their backs."
"Wow," the son said, looking at the squirrels in awe. "That makes squirrels really special, I guess. So what happened, did Rama rescue Sita?"
"We'll save the rest of the story for another day, it's time to go home," the father said.
And so the family walked home, hand in hand, watching the squirrels and thinking about how even the slightest amount of help is always needed.
***
Author's Note: I retold Story 139 from Part C of the Tiny Tales Ramayana. I didn't change anything about the story but liked the idea of parents telling this story to a curious child. The original story says that monkeys and bears were hurrying to build the bridge using huge trees and rocks, and a squirrel wanted to help. An angry monkey kicked the squirrel out of the way, but Rama said that the squirrel's work mattered, ran his fingers over the squirrel's back, and that is why the squirrels of India have stripes.
Bibliography: Laura Gibbs, Tiny Tales of the Ramayana, Story 139
Hi Jana!
ReplyDeleteWow, this story was so cute! I had forgotten about the tale with the squirrel stripes, so I was initially confused about what was going on until I remembered. Having the parents pass down the story to their son was such a clever idea for your story! You really captured the essence of the parents and especially the child; he is reacting in the same way a kid would to any story. Lastly, your moral of the story at the end was nice to include. And it is so true!
Hey Jana!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your version of Story 139 from Tiny Tales of the Ramayana. You added a really nice element by including a family interacting with each other while telling the story about how squirrels got their stripes. The son’s commentary about how one of the monkeys was being rude is so innocent. I loved that he wanted his parents to tell him if Rama saved Sita. You did an amazing job adding your own element and keeping parts of the original story. Good job!