Topic: I am going to write my storybook over four lessons that were learned in the Ramayana. The first lesson will be that true love is worth all the risks (which ties into my previous storybook because she was deciding whether or not to risk going against everything she believed in to no longer be lonely). This lesson will be taught with Rama and Sita's love story, unless I find a better one between now and then. The next lesson will be not to follow what someone else says is the right thing to do blindly, rather think for yourself whether or not it is right. This lesson will be told with Thataka's story, because I wrote a storytelling blog post from her point of view and got really into it with how Rama just does what his mentor says and kills her without even thinking about it. The third lesson will be that everybody makes mistakes, even Rama. This lesson will be told with another of Rama's thoughtless killings - the monkey king. I (and others if I understand Narayan correctly) don't believe that Rama acted justly here and hope to point that out to others, but also to lessen the harshness of it by putting it in the light of "everyone makes mistakes" and that it's okay to make mistakes because even the greats do it. The last lesson (if I make it this far) will be that wrongdoing never ends well for the wrongdoer. This lesson will be told through the story of Ravana stealing Sita and later dying because he wouldn't admit that he had done wrong and give her back.
Bibliography: Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.
Possible Styles:
Bedtime Stories: This is most likely the format I will go with for my storybook. I want my previous character to be teaching her children how to live a good life through these stories. In this scenario, the storyteller will either be her just retelling stories that happened in the Ramayana, or her telling them as if she lived them like she did in the last storybook.
Ready for Bed?
Animals as Storytellers: This is also something I might be interested in doing. If I have my character telling the stories to her child as if she had lived them, then I am probably going to make her an animal observer in the stories. Or, she might be an animal in one and a more vital character in another since the people in the Ramayana are so long lived, but I kind of doubt it, I think if she's an animal in the first one she will stay that same animal through all of them.
Diary Style: Rather than have my main character telling the stories to her child while she is a child, I might have her child be all grown up and going through her mother's things after she has passed away. Her mother's things would include a set of diaries that told all about her fabulous encounters before she died. If you'll remember, my character didn't expect to live another lifetime after this one, she expected to settle down with her true love and live out her days with him and end her days just as Io did, with her family on this planet.
Family Therapy: Maybe my character's daughter is a headstrong teenager who doesn't understand anything her mother tries to tell her, so they all go to therapy and these stories either come from the therapist (who is obviously very enamored of the lessons in Indian tales), or my character tells them to the therapist and her daughter at the same time to try to explain where she's coming from.
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