Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Storytelling Week 11 Satyvati

One windy day in the middle of September, a fisherman caught a big green fish.  The fisherman was very excited to finally catch something. The fish just happened to be the first catch of the day.  He examines the fish and notices it has an oddly large lump in its throat.  The fisherman decided to cut open the fish and see what was inside.  The fisherman then gasped for air at what he saw.  He took a small baby girl out of the throat of the fish.  He had never seen anything like this happen before.  The fisherman had always wanted a kid so he decided to raise her as his own.  He decided to name his precious daughter Satyavati.  Satyavati was brought up as a commoner and assisted her father as a fisherman.  This was her only option job wise because she wreaked of fish.  Her only friend was her father, they spent most of their time together.  One day, when Satyvati was 18 years old, she fell in love with a guru named Parashara.  Together, they had an adorable child named Vyasa.  As a gift, Parashara makes Satyavati smell like flowers instead of fish.  Satyavati is very thankful for this generous gift.  Little does Parashara know, his generous gift would turn out to hurt him.   

Five years after being with Parashara, King Shantanu discovers the lovely Satyavati.  He is absoulutely taken back by her amazing scent.  The King has never smelled something so wonderful in his entire life.  Parashara is very hurt by this.  He is in love with Satyavati and wants to be with her for eternity but Satyavati wants to be with the King so he does not have a choice but to let her be.  The King is thrilled and cannot wait to marry Satyavati so that she will be all his.  Bhishma lets Satyavati's child be the successor of the King.  King Shantanu and Satyavati are very happy about this and decide to go out celebrating.  Bhishma's good deed makes the king want to reward him.  Bhishma was rewarded with 500 pounds of pure gold blocks.             



Shantanu and Ganga. Source: Wikipedia


Author's Note:
I chose this story to retell because I thought it was extremely bizarre.  In Buck's version, Parashara's feelings were barely expressed.  I really tried to get into his head and imagine what he was thinking.  I added my own little details that were also not in Buck's story.  I did this to make it a little more interesting.  I changed the way Bhishma was rewarded as well because I do not like his original reward.  

Bibliography:

Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata. 
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3 comments:

  1. CatherineNovember 2, 2014 at 3:16 PM

    I too thought this part of the story was rather bizarre, so I'm glad you decided to write on it this week. I liked how you changed to reward for Bhishma. This story is very sad for Parashara because he loses the woman he loves. I could not imagine the heartbreak this must have caused him. You did a good job of retelling this story, with your own little twists.

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  2. UnknownNovember 2, 2014 at 9:59 PM

    Hi Britney!
    I wrote about the same part of the story for this week too. I agree, it was very weird. I changed some things about the original version in mine too.
    I really like how you retold this story! I think you did a good job. I would not have thought of changing Bhishma's reward but I see why you did. You version is easy to read and unique but makes plenty of nods to Buck's version. Great job!

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  3. UnknownNovember 3, 2014 at 3:49 AM

    Hello Britney, I agree Buck's version was weird, in fact I found most of his book extremely odd and at times had to reread parts to make sure I was clear on what was happening. I found the strength of your version to be that you approached very "Matter of Fact." No wasted words and that is a good thing because it eliminated any confusion that might have existed for someone that had read Buck's version. Good Job.

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