There is a secret that few people know, a piece of knowledge whispered down alleyways at night by strange men going nowhere in particular. It is a fragment of the truth told for generations but never made known, until now.
The ideas of heroes and villains, gods and demons, these are not unique to the human race. There is one other creature whose members have found themselves worthy of epic. These are the frogs.
Since time itself began they have kept to themselves, fearing the pride of human arrogance. But sometimes paths converge and this is one such story.
This tale is about the legendary frog, Raba. Long ago, before even autumn knew how to paint the trees, a frog whose tale was so great that all of the world, frogkind and mankind knew of his exploits. He was loved by most, but not by all. Among the humans there was one in particular whose hatred knew no bounds. This man was called Jababa.
He was small for a human, only watching the stature of 3 grown frogs.His envy for frogkind was wicked and coursed through his veins and he hated Raba most of all.
One day he happened upon a frog princess, one so beautiful that lilies grew from the water wherever she swam; she was Siba. Seeing her charm and undeniable power to control the hearts of frogs everywhere, Jababa kidnapped her.
Hoping to shame frogs everywhere, he issued a challenge. Out of a large stick, almost as high as he, Jababa fashioned a sturdy bow but left it unstrung. He said that the frog that could string the bow and wield it against him may win the hand of Siba.
Frog after frog jumped at the opportunity, but all failed. It was a dark time for the species of frogs.
But all was not lost. Raba, seeing the beauty of Siba endeavored to win her love. Approaching Jababa, Raba held the unstrung bow gracefully and with the care of a mother strung the bow. Jababa could not believe his eyes, indeed he could hardly move as an arrow flew from the great bow and deftly pierced his chest.
Raba and Siba had many more adventures, but this is the end for this one.
Image source
"Rama Wins Sita" Public Domain Ramayana, Link to the reading online.
Author's footnotes: The story here is based loosely on the story of how the Indian prince, Rama, won the beautiful Sita. I embellished on it a bit to make it a more standalone story. The choice to make it about frogs is not very meaningful. I just thought of the image of a bow wielding frog and laughed to myself.
I really, really like this story! In the beginning, I kept picturing drunk men in trench coats walking down dark alleys and whispering to each other about the heroic exploits of frogs. I may have giggle-snorted a little, and a bow wielding frog is an awesome visual. One thing that the story made me curious about was Jababa. Why was his hatred for frogs so intense, and why did he hate Raba in particular? I think that a little side blurb, maybe a funny little anecdote that makes Jababa look silly, would be an interesting way to create a backstory. I'm also curious about Siba. What kind of frog is she, other than beautiful? How does she feel about Jababa? Also, I think it would be fun to include a little more information about why Raba was such a legendary frog; I have decided that frog based epics should be an entirely new genre.
ReplyDeleteThe picture sure sets this story up perfectly! I absolutely loved the ending, and I had a clear picture of this event in my head. What a way to win Siba, the parallel to the actual story is awesome. Similar to Nancy, I also am curious and would like to know more information about Siba. I know she's discussed quite a bit in the original, so it would be interesting to know more about her here to get a better image of this majestic frog. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Josh!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this story. I thought it was so fun that you declared that the one other species besides humans that were worthy of epics were frogs because no one would really expect that. I liked the very slight name changes to the story, and the image you used set the tone perfectly! Overall you did a great job!
-Elizabeth