There once was a queen. She was no ordinary queen, but the queen to a king who ruled over many lands and who was revered by all. Unfortunately, she could not provide an heir for the king. He was not upset with her for their lack of offspring, but he was disheartened. Was his line not meant to continue in the kingdom? The king saw the queen's disappointment as well and promised to make her the happiest woman in the world, child or not. He promised to grant her three wishes and he would have to see through to them no matter what they were.
The queen saw how the king was disappointed and she was eager to do
"Take these berries twice a day for three months, but do not miss a day or you will surely have consequences," the hermit warned her.
The queen was faithful to take her berries twice a day just like she was told. However, one day, a servant in the castle was cleaning the queen's room. When he was cleaning the drawer in the nightstand, he stumbled upon the berries. Now he was an evil servant, very cruel to all. He took a few of the berries wondering about their power and laughing at his small trick on the queen. After all, how important could a few berries be to the queen of all the lands?
The day came where the queen came to the last berry. She took it slowly, promising herself that she would be with child before long just as the hermit had promised. Little did she know of the servant's trick...
Before long, the queen was pregnant. She was overjoyed and celebrated the news with her husband! A few weeks later, though, she learned that she was not the only woman with child in the castle. Her husband's other three wives were also pregnant with heirs to the kingdom. This news infuriated the queen. Had she not done everything she was asked? She sought out the hermit in the woods and demanded he explain his error. The hermit calmly told her, "Madam, you did not follow my instructions accordingly and because of this, you will suffer for relying on dark magic to do your bidding."
Years later, when the queen's son had grown up to be older and wiser, he was of age to control the kingdom. However, he would never have his chance because his brother, Rama, was the favorite of everyone who met him. The queen schemed once again. This time, she planned to ensure her happiness by seeing her son on the throne. Because of the king's previous promises to her, he was obliged to obey whatever she commanded him. She forced him to make her son the true heir of the kingdom and to banish Rama for fourteen years before he could return. This time would ensure his brother's long reign over the kingdom, so Rama could not come back to claim everything once again.
The queen felt sorry for her actions because she truly had good intentions once upon a time, but her son must be protected at all costs.
("Rama and Sita in Exile" Image Source: Wikipedia "Rama")
Author's Note: I have
just recently started watching the show Reign on Netflix.
Since that show has been on my mind, it had a point of influence in my version
of the story this week. The way that the queen manipulates people and
situations in order to ensure her own son's crown and title is almost exactly
the same in both Reign and "The Succession". The
mother is willing to do whatever it takes to see her son on the throne,
including banishing the other son of her husband. Anyways, this definitely had
a part in my take on the story! I created this story with the idea that the
queen actually did not want to hurt or punish Rama from the beginning, but you
get the idea that she felt like she had no other options. I did not want
readers to hate the queen, but instead to feel pity for her in the midst of the
situation because that makes her a much more dynamic character and thus, more
interesting to the storyline overall. If I had more time and more words to
share, I would have created a whole other part of the story about the evil
servant and I would have covered his role in more detail. I hope you enjoyed the
story that I had to tell about the queen who made a strong choice!
Bibliography: "The Succession" by Frederick James Gould, from The Divine Archer (1911). Web Source: Sacred Texts Archive
Loved your story! I have recently started that show too! I'm getting really into it, thank goodness for Netflix, right? I think you did well in creating this image in my head and I could visualize the tale quite well. I also liked how you added the little plot twist with the berries, very creative. I didn't expect the servant to end up taking them as well so there was a surprise! Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea of presenting the story from Kaikeyi's point of view. She comes off as pretty wicked in the Ramayana, though mostly through her servant's influence, and seeing that all she wanted was to provide for her king and country made her much more understandable and relatable as a character. The curse and presence of magic made the whole story more interesting too! Nice work!
ReplyDeleteI really found your story interesting. I also liked the way you told your story. To me it had the nurse rhyme style to it, which is very fun to experiment with. I found your story very easy to read. But I agree with Claire's comment Kaikeyi is presented as a wicked person in the Ramayana, but I like the way that you presented her here. Great job!
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