Week 14 Storytelling: Mickey and Minnie's jungle walk

Here continues another bedtime story of three sisters. Similar to the previous stories, they will be focusing on Mickey and Minnie as their main characters.

Mary continues, “Today, I have decided to continue on from our last night’s bedtime story because we did not have Minnie’s character as much. Which I know was Ally’s complain from our last bedtime story. Alright sisters, here we go.”

Here continues the story after two months of Mickey and Minnie’s happy married and great life. Mickey and Minnie had their own everyday routine. Every day Mickey and Minnie would go out for a walk. When Mickey would come back from work.

One day as they were getting ready for the walk, Mickey’s father called Mickey and Minnie in his study room, where he was reading one of his favorite book because he enjoys reading a lot.

As Mickey and Minnie walked into the room, father said, “I heard that you guys go for a walk in a huge dangerous jungle. Is that correct, Mickey?”

Mickey anxiously said, “Yes father we do.”

Then, father said, “Are you a little kid, Mickey? Have you not heard any story of that jungle? Don’t you know that it is such a dangerous place for you and especially when you have Minnie with you?”

Mickey said, “Father, we have been going from past two weeks and it is not dangerous at all. Look, look at us we are totally fine.”

Then the father said aggressively, “Are those people crazy who tells the horrible stories of the jungle?”

Mickey calmly said, “Listen father, we have been going from past two week and nothing has happed. Those stories were nothing but rumors.”

Then very aggressively father said, “Mickey, I did not call you here for an arguments. Fine, you can go Mickey, but I am not going to let Minnie go. She will stay at home and follow what I say. Okay, Minnie?”

Minnie stuck in between did not know what you say. First she looked at Mickey to check his reaction on father’sstatement and finally, she said, “Yes father. You are right. That jungle is a dangerous place for us to go.”

Then happily, father said, “Great, Minnie. I know you would never disobey to what I am saying. You both can leave now.”

When Mickey and Minnie got to their room, Minnie tried to calm Mickey and said, “Look Mickey, he is our father and he would never want to see us getting harmed by anything. So we should listen to what he says. So, be happy now.

Then Mickey said, “I guess. Yes you are right if thinking from a father perspective.”

Then while yawing, Mary said, “Alright sisters, lets sleep now. Good night.”

Happy couple:Mickey and Minnie

Author's Note: I followed the idea from "Beauty and Brownie" story, which is a Jataka tales by Ellen C. Babbit. The original story is over two deer, Beatuy and Brownie. Their father tells them to be careful because that jungle is not save for them. However, Beauty listens to her father and does not go too far, where she would get hurt, but Brownie gets in danger by not following what he father told. So, my story was more like a conversation between father and son, but the idea was the same, which was a jungle.

Bibliography: Babbitt, Ellen C. "Beauty and Brownie." The Balwin Porject

Week 13 Storytelling: Water-spirit

Here begins another bedtime story of three sisters. As always they will be focusing on Mickey and Minnie as their favorite main characters.

Mary said, “Get yourselves ready girls. I am about to start our new bedtime story.”

Once upon a time there was a prince, Mickey. He had two brothers named Micko and Mickin. The brothers had real bond of love between them. However, everyone loved Mickin because he was the youngest one. The brother’s mother always loved Mickin more for the same reason. Suddenly, the father was not feeling well.

Now it was about time to give the kingdom to one of the three brothers. The brother’s father wanted Mickey to rule because he was the oldest one, but the mother said, “No.”

She said, “I always wanted to see Mickin ruling this kingdom after you.”

Then father said angrily, “NO, it is our oldest son responsibility. I have no problem in making Micki the king, but he is the youngest from all. He would not be able to make smart moves like Mickey.”

Then the mother called Mickey and told him to leave the kingdom and live in a forest. In addition to that, she told him to take Micko as well. So, Mickin would be the only one left in the kingdom to rule. So, as they were leaving, Mickin saw them and forced them that he would not let them go unless they take him with themselves.

When they reached the forest, there they saw a pond to refresh themselves.  By the pond, they met a guys, who was known as water-spirit.

Ally said, “That is interesting. What does he do, Mary?

Water-spirit has the right to make anyone marry who drinks out of that pond because he is the king of that forest.

As the brother drank from pond, the water-spirit took them into his cave and showed them three different girls and ordered each of the brother to marry each girl.

Mickey did not like that and angrily he said, “No, none of us would marry your given girls. We are new in this forest. We do not know any rules.”

Water-spirit said, “What is wrong with these girls? Look, they are beautiful and what else do you young boys need. Either you guys marry these girls or you all would die within 10 minutes you refuse to marry these angles.”

Mary said, “Then they all agrees to marry the girls and Mickey marries the girl named Minnie.”

Ally continued, “It was nice story, but it did not focus on Minnie’s character at all. That was sad.”

Water-spirit

Author's Note: I read princess and the water-spirit jataka tales by Ellen C. Babbit. I changed the story a lot around. The beginning of the story was same of three brother and they all go to the forest and find a water-spirit. In the original story, water-spirit asks a question and when someone answers it wrong then he takes him to his cave. None of the brother answered it corrected except for prince star, the oldest one. Since he gets it right then he got to free his brothers from water-spirit.

Bibliography: Babbitt, Ellen C. "The Princes and the Water-Spirit." The Balwin Porject

Week 11 Storytelling: Blind Mickey and Minnie

Here we go with another bedtime story of three sisters: Mary, Ally and Sarah. Mary said while preparing herself for the bedtime story, “Okay sisters get your things together. I am about to start our bedtime story and yes, this time it will be fast and quick.”

Ally continued, “So, that means the story will not be fun and exciting as before.”

Mary said, “NO, it means you both have to listen to the story without interrupting me, so it will be fast.

As always we will have Mickey and Minnie as our main characters and our story will proceed from there.”

Once upon a time there was a king named Mickey. Who was blind from the day he was born. Mickey’s parents were very worried for his life. They thought he would never be able to get married and have a nice life partner. Mickey, on the other hand, never let himself down. He believed that one day he will get a life partner, who will be familiar with his pure heart inside.

On one random day, Mickey’s father invited his old friends along with their families just for a reunion of friends. Along with those families came a girl, who was not very pretty, but an average girl. However, she seemed really attractive to Mickey’s mother and then she decided to make her Mickey’s wife. Mickey and Minnie’s parents gathered and planned their wedding without informing either of them.

As the wedding days were coming closer, Mickey’s mother decided to tell Mickey.

She said, “Mickey, it is time for you to get married.”

Mickey said, “Mother, no girl would like to marry someone who is blind. A husband who would never be able to praise his wife’s beauty.”

The mother said, “Oh no my child, you are not blind from heart.”

Mickey agreed.

The day of the wedding, when Minnie was getting ready, her sister came in and said, “Minnie, there is no point of showing your beauty.”

Minnie very surprisingly asked, “What do you mean? Is everything okay? Is Mickey alright?”

Sister replied, “Yes, everything is okay, but there is one hidden truth about your husband.”

Minnie said, “What? Tell me right now. I want to know it. Is about my entire life.”

Sister said, “Yes, I know. That is why I came to tell you now. Mickey cannot see anything. He is blind.”

Minnie calmly said, “Sister, I order you to cover my eyes with a cloth. I want to be like my husband.”

And there ends the story of Mickey and Minnie. They accept each other as they were and lived happily.

Mickey and Minnie with no eyes

Author's Note: For this retelling story, I made the story completely different, but the main point was same. In the original Mahabharata, Dhritarashtra was blind, which was played by Mickey in my retell story and Gandhari's character was played by Gandhari.


Bibliography: "Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata." by Brook.Website: Image library for MLLL-4993, Epics of Ancient India

Week 10 Storytelling: Satya-Narayan-Vrat

Here continues the story of three sisters: Mary, Sarah and Ally. As usual, Mary will be sharing a story using the Mickey and Minnie cartoon characters.

As Sarah and Ally were being prepared to listen to a bedtime story, Mary said, “Wouldn’t that be awesome if one of you be a story teller for today.” 

Sarah and Ally both shouted at the same time, “NOO.”

Then Ally continued in her innocent voice, “I do not know how to create great stories like you do, 

Mary. But I can try to tell a story about Cinderella, which I watched last night.”

Rudely Sarah said, “No thanks, Ally.”

As always, Mary continued, “Today’s story will be concentrating on Hindus rituals and their way of life. However, our story will be based on Mickey and Minnie as our characters, who will be following those rituals. So, sounds good girls?”

Ally replied, “Yes, great! That will be a new and interesting story, Mary.”

It is a story of newlywed couple, Mickey and Minnie. As in Hindu culture, there is not a huge concept of love marriages. So, Mickey and Minnie got married with the choice of their elders, mostly the decision was made by their parents. A couple has to follow some rituals for a successful happy married life. For the desire for a happy life manifests in many rituals called Vrats, which Mickey and Minnie had to follow. They were encouraged to perform Satya-Narayan-Vrat as their first household ritual. However, Satya- Narayan-Vrat can be performed any day, but by a married couple. So, Mickey and Minnie’s family wanted them to begin their married life by performing Satya-Narayan-Vrat. The purpose of the Vrat was to bring happiness, good luck and health into the household. Satya-Narayan-Vrat cannot be done without a priest. The reason between performing Satya-Narayan-Vrat was that Satya-Narayan is seen as Vishnu. Its purpose is to resolve household issues and problems which is performed by household or housewives by praying front of Vishnu. During the Satya-Narayan-Vrat, the couple chants thousand names of Vishnu, while at each name offering him a sprig of tulsi. Through chanting and the determination of the couple the God pleased to fulfil the wishes of the couple.

The rituals are to express one’s desire to the deities through fasting, hearing tales, singing songs, staying awake through the night and visiting holy places. That helps in seeking blessing from god and goddess for a happy and successful life. After performing the Satya-Narayan-Vrat, the family elder also gave their blessing to Mickey and Minnie and wished them all the best for their future.

 Satya-Narayan

Author's Note: My retell story was based on Hindu’s rituals. Which were discussed in Brahma’s secret part 2 video. The story is written with all true facts about Hinduism. Since I wanted to make it a story out of it, I decided to Mickey and Minnie as newly married couple who are performing the rituals for their good life.

Bibliography: "Public Domain Edition of the Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art." by Pattanaik.Website: Image library for MLLL-4993, Epics of Ancient India

Week 9 Storytelling: Shiva

Here continues another unique story of three sisters with their favorite cartoon characters, Mickey and Minnie.

Mary said, “This bedtime story will be based on real. Where Mickey will be played by one of the Hindus’ God, Shiva.”

Ally with excitement said, “Nice! I like stories based on real.”

Once upon a time there was a destroyer, Mickey. He was known as a destroyer of desire, death and three worlds. He believed that there is no such concept of death, rebirth nor wheel of life. So, his goal was to destroy Yama because without Yama there will be no death, rebirth and wheel of life. In addition to that, the three world will be destroyed with the destruction of Yama and Kama. Mickey showed his indifference to the world by half closing his eyes, which indicated that he is not observing anything that is going around the world.

Then, Ally in mad voice said, “Why is he considered a God in Hinduism?”

Mary answered, “Because Mickey’s destruction desire of karma make him worthy of worship. Hindu beliefs that destruction is not arbitrary, but in fact helpful for the world. So, for these reasons Mickey was considered good and bad.”

Then, Ally questioned, “What about his personal life? Was he married?”

Sadly Mary said, “His first marriage did not go well.”

Mickey got married to a priest’s daughter, Minnie. However, the father was against their marriage. Later, the priest held a prayer ceremony where he did not invite Mickey. Minnie on the other side did not like the way her husband was being treated, so she scarified herself by jumping into the scared fire. When Mickey heard about her death, he got very angry and locked himself in a cave. Where he meditated for many years while ignoring the entire world.

After many years, Minnie was reborn as Pinnie, the princess of mountains. She prayed and forced Mickey to come out of meditation and run the world as he was with Minnie. Through her love, Pinnie succeed in bringing Mickey back to normal life by showing him the importance of the world and his godly duties. However, Pinnie’s mother was not happy with Mickey because she thought he has no grooming sense or anything. But, Pinnie taught him everything. At the end, they lived happily ever after. However, Mickey changed her name from Pinnie to Minnie because he could see Minnie in Pinnie.

God Shiva 

Author's Note: My retell story was based on real life of one of the Hindus God, Shiva. The entire story was very similar to the original secret story of Shiva. However, I did change the characters just to make the story interesting. Shiva was played by Mickey, Sita by Minnie, and Parvati by Pinnie.

Bibliography: "Public Domain Edition of the Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art." by Pattanaik.Website: Image library for MLLL-4993, Epics of Ancient India

Week 7 Storytelling: Mickey and three wives

Here continued another bedtime story of three sisters: Mary, Ally and Sarah. As usual it was Mary’s job to tell a bedtime story about Mickey and Minnie to her sisters. So, Mary started on her sisters’ approval of being ready.

Once upon a time there were three princesses: Minnie, Milly, and Millen. They lived in a huge palace and were not allowed to encounter the real world. Their parents always kept them hidden from evil eyes. Suddenly, the king Moro, Minnie, Milly, and Millen’s father had a severe pain on his head, which required him bed rest. As days were passing along, his condition was getting worse and worse. The king wanted to see his daughters happily married before anything happens to him. So, the king Moro decided to visit the king Shant, who was his childhood friend. As Moro remembered from past that Shant has at least one son.

The next day, the king Moro met king Shant and told him about his serious condition along with the proposal of his three daughters. Within a moment, king Shant said, “How is that possible? I have one son and you have three daughters?”

The king replied, “Yes, I know and I am sure your son will treat all three of my daughters the same way as his wives.”

King Shant said, “But my son Mickey would never agree to this. He would happily marry one of your daughter, but not all three.”

Then, the next day, king Shant presented the situation to Mickey and as it was mentioned, Mickey refused to marry all three princesses at the same time. He said, “I can never do this because I know I will not be able to treat all three equally as my wives. I cannot play with their feelings.”

The following day, Mickey went to see the kings’ condition. There he tried to explain himself, but the king Moro was not willing to listen because he was not sure where to find other two men suitable for his daughters. As king Moro said, “I rather give my three daughter to one man, which is you, then to someone who would not keep them happy.” And the king died as he said, “My daughters are yours now, Mickey.”

The princesses on the other side were speechless, so they followed the kings’ decision. At the end, Mickey tried to keep them equal, but it was clear that he had more feelings for Minnie because she cared for Mickey the most and built her position strong. However, Mickey hesitated to share his special feelings for Minnie.  

Ally was unhappy with the story because this time the story did not focused on Mickey and Minnie.
As she said, "Minnie was missing in the story. The entire time I was waiting for her to appear." In harsh voice, Mary said, "That was all I had. Now go to sleep, Ally."

Princess Minnie

Author's Note: I made the story completely different from the Epified animated film "Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution." However, I used three princesses Minnie, Milly, and Millen similar to Amba, Ambika, and Amblika. But in the Mahabharata, they were kidnapped by Bhisma to marry his brother, while in my retell it was completely different situation.

Bibliography: "Public Domain Edition of the  Overview: Epified Mahabharata
" by Public Domain Edition. Website: Image library for MLLL-4993, Epics of Ancient India

Week 6 Storytelling: Micpandavas and Minikauravas, A love story

Here continues another night of Mary, Ally and Sarah’s life. As they were getting ready for a new bedtime story, Mary said, “Ally, which cartoon characters would you like for today’s story?”

Without taking a second, Ally said, “Mickey and Minnie. Mary, you should start a completely new love story of Mickey and Minnie.”

Sarah continued on, “Yeah, it was really cute imagining Mickey and Minnie as the main characters in the story.”

Mary said, “Alright. Sounds good. Here we go.”

Once upon a time there lived a prince named Mickey. He had four brothers, whom he loved more than his life. The brothers were known as Micpandavas. The Micpandavas' day would start with a morning walk in an apple forest. During the walk, the brothers would do stupid things such as yelling each other’s names and would hit and run. However, one day they all decided to go in the evening to enjoy the pleasant weather. As they were walking and talking, they saw five beautiful girls trying to grab apples from the tree. The first time they normally walked through the girls, but then the second time the Micpandavas kept their eyes on the girls while walking quietly and slowly.

One of the girls noticed and said to her sisters, “You saw those guys?”

The oldest sister, named, Minnie, said, “Yes, we should leave from here. Let’s go, sisters, before they come again.”

The girls quickly gathered their stuff and left. The sisters were known as the Minikauravas sisters. They also had a strong bond of love between them like Micpandavas. The Minikauravas had left by the time the Micpandavas came again. So, all five Micpandavas had a favorite Minikaurava. Therefore, they all planned to go for the walk around the same time the next day to meet those beautiful Minikauravas sisters. Since the sisters looked alike, it was really easy to tell that they were sisters. 

As they went by that same place the Minikauravas were sitting on the ground talking while enjoying each bite of apple. This time the Micpandavas were waiting to have some interaction with Minikauravas. As Mickey was badly in love with Minnie’s beauty, he went straight to her and he said, “I am Prince Mickey and they are my brothers. I am madly in love with you. I want to make you my princess. Will you marry me?”

Then, Minnie said, “One thing I hate about myself is that I smell like an apple. Yes, I know apples smells great, but not if someone smell like it all the time. Mickey, I do not deserve to be your princess. You have such a great personality and look at me. Who am I?” Then, Mickey said, “Do not worry about this. Apples have a great smell, but I can promise you that you will not smell like an apple after you marry me. I have an uncle who can magically make you smell like a rose.” While looking down Minnie said, “Yes, I will.”

On the other side, the other Micpandavas were looking aggressively at Mickey’s face for not mentioning their names with Minnie’s sisters. Finally, Mickey added, “On the day of our wedding five marriages will be held. Your four sisters will marry my four brothers.”

Mary said, “Here our story ends. They all live happily ever after. Goodnight, sisters.”

(Mickey and Minnie by source: Wikipedia)

Author's Note:  I used Mickey and Minnie as my main characters. In the original story, it was the Pandavas and Kauravas. Pandavas were the five sons of Pandu by his two wives Kunti and Madri. But none of the Pandavas acted like stepbrothers. They had a true bond of love. In addition to that, the Panadava brothers married the same girl named Draupadi. I changed this idea of marrying the same girl because marrying different girls would make the story appealing. Thus, in my story, they each married one of the Minkaurava sister. In the original story, the Kauravas were sons of King Dhritarashtra, who was Pandu’s older brother. Pandu and Dhritarashtra seemed to have good a relationship, but their sons did not continue to have the same relation like their fathers. So, the Pandavas and Kauravas were cousins in relation, but the Kauravas and Pandavas had true hatred for each other. Kauravas and Panadavas were mostly boys, except for Duhsala, who was kauravas' sister. So, I changed the story a lot, in terms of gender, characters and the plot itself. The reason I did that was to make the story different and to make it a love story. Another thing, I thought that it was unfair for all Panadava brothers to marry the same girl. So, that made me change the story around. In addition to that, I also connected the story with the Ramayana. Rama and his brothers got married the same day.

Bibliography: "Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharatha" by Public Domain Edition. Website: Image library for MLLL-4993, Epics of Ancient India

Week 4 Storytelling: Mickey got Minnie back

Here continues the third bedtime story of Mary, Ally and Sarah. This time Ally demands for a happy ending story because she did not like the previous story of Minnie being kidnapped by Pete at the end.

Mary agreed and continued the story from where she ended the story last time.

Mickey being madly in love with Minnie never stopped searching for his beautiful wife. He promised himself and his daughter, Micmin, and said "I would find Minnie and would never let her go with such an evil person, Pete, who pretended to be a good friend during our entire friendship."

Mickey had been searching for Minnie for almost a week, but found no luck. On a random day, Mickey thought about calling Pete’s brother named Lola. Mickey called and asked him about Pete, but not mentioning anything about Minnie’s kidnapping. The purpose behind this was to check if Lola knew anything or not. By that five minutes of conversation, Mickey figured that Lola knew and had information about Minnie because as Mickey mentioned Pete’s name there was a clear change in Lola. Mickey noticed the change in Lola’s voice. Plus, Lola seemed in a hurry as if he did not want to carry on the conversation. After talking, Mickey had huge doubts about Lola. He thought that sitting and thinking over the doubts would not do any good, so he decided to go and check on Lola. 

Finally, Mickey arrived at Lola’s house. That scene was intense. Lola opened the door as Mickey rang the doorbell and he was fully surprised to see Mickey. Mickey calmly said hello and they nicely shook hands. Lola held the door trying to block Mickey from entering in the house, but Mickey entered as they were talking and sat on the couch. There Mickey heard some kind of noises as if someone else was in the house talking and whispering which he thought was Minnie. However, Lola was trying to distract Mickey, so he would not overhear Minnie’s voice. 

There, Mickey asked Lola, “Whose voice was that?”

 As Lola’s face was getting red from nervousness, he said, “Oh, it is just a television.”

But Mickey was confident enough to know that it was no one else but Minnie.

Minnie was in the room right next to the living room, where Mickey was sitting. Minnie knew that Mickey was there because she could hear Mickey talking with Lola.

Lola, on the other hand, was trying to convince Mickey to go out for lunch, so he would leave as soon as possible. But Mickey wanted to take his wife with him.

Then clever Mickey started praising Lola’s house. He said, “It is a nice house. How many bedrooms?" While saying that Mickey got up and managed to take a tour of entire house as Lola was in the kitchen preparing tea for both of them.

Finally, Mickey saw Minnie sitting on the chair tied up with a rope and mouth taped. Mickey ran towards Minnie and said, “Ohhh Minnie, my love.” Mickey quickly untied her and hugged her tightly. Pete escaped when Minnie and Mickey were busy hugging. Then they lived happily ever after with their cute daughter,  Micmin. 

Ally said, “Good story, Mary. I really enjoyed it.” 

Minnie and Mickey together:Source by Wikipedia

Author's Note: I am retelling this story based on the Ramayana. It was the original love story of Rama and Sita. The main concept is same, but the story itself is very different. First, I changed the characters to Mickey and Minnie. In addition to that, Ravana is also one of the characters in the story, played as Pete, an evil character. However, Rama had three brothers, who helped and fought for him in getting Sita back from Ravana. Second, the plot was different as well. In the original story, Rama refused to accept Sita because he thought that she is not pure after spending time with Ravana. In addition to that, Hanuman went searching for Sita because he was a good friend and wanted to see Rama and Sita together. Now Ravana was depicted as a powerful guy, who was not afraid of facing Rama. Ravana faced Rama with his whole army, but strong Rama killed him at the end. Unlikely, Pete was a weak guy and never faced Mickey afterwards. Most importantly, I made the ending happy. It was something I disliked the most about my previous story. This time I managed to bring Mickey and Minnie together once again. In the Ramayana, Rama and Sita did not stay together forever because Rama was not sensible enough to believe his wife's purity.

Bibliography: "Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana" by Public Domain Edition. Website: Image library for MLLL-4993, Epics of Ancient India

Storytelling for Week 3: Sad love story

Here continues the story of three sisters Mary, Ally and Sarah.

So, Mary continued, “Not all love stories have a happy ending. There is always an antagonist in the story, which we did not encounter in our last bedtime story. Let’s meet him this time, sisters.”

After a year, Mickey and Minnie were blessed with one cute little daughter named Micmin. Her name was formed by the combination of the first three letters of their names. One day while having dinner, Mickey told Minnie about his one and only best friend, Pete. Mickey described Pete as a short, handsome guy. Pete was really close to Mickey and was planning on visiting them. When he arrived, Mickey introduced Pete to Minnie and since Minnie was very beautiful, Pete kept staring at her and said to himself, “Wow, Mickey has got a beautiful wife. She has gorgeous eyes and perfect figure.” After spending a great week with Mickey and Minnie, Pete was so impressed with Minnie that he wanted to make her his own wife.

Ally interrupted, “What an evil friend!”

Yes, Pete was not a good friend, but an evil personality who wanted to get his best friend’s wife without considering that Minnie was his friend’s life. Pete wanted to confess his love to Minnie, but he could not find a right time to express it. Luckily for Pete, Mickey was out for work and Minnie was home alone. She was in the kitchen making scrambled eggs for breakfast for Pete and herself. While sitting at the breakfast table, Pete started the conversation about his personal life.

He said, “I want to marry someone just like you, Minnie.” 

Minnie just took that as a compliment and said, “Yes, you will definitely find someone even better than me.” 

Suddenly, Pete shouted “NO, I ONLY WANT YOU YOU YOU AND JUST YOU” while slamming his hands on the table. At that moment, Minnie did not know where to go or even what to do because she could no longer stay there with that crazy man. 

Then, Pete followed Minnie into the room and while holding her, he said, “Let’s marry and I can promise you I will keep you even more  happy than Mickey.” 

Minnie said, “What are you talking about? I love Mickey and cannot think of anyone else except for him.” After listening to all this Pete picked her up on his shoulder and took her away. After a couple of hours Mickey came home and looked for Minnie, but he could not find her. Then he anxiously yelled “Pete, Pete” and then he heard Micmin's cry and he ran into the bedroom. After a few minutes, Mickey tried to calm himself down and called Minnie and Pete, but they did not answer. At the end, Mickey was never able to find Minnie even though he looked for her for a very long time. 

Mary said, “Here the story ends, where Mickey stayed alone with his daughter and was never able to find Minnie."

Ally was very disappointed with Mary’s bedtime story and she said, “Mary, next time come up with a better story. This is going to be a horrible night for me.”

Then, Mary said, “Ally, it was just a story. Don’t be sad.”

Minnie and Pete by Source: Flickr

Author's Note:   For this storytelling, I used bedtime story style again because I wanted to continue on with the same concept story of three sisters: Mary, Ally and Sarah. Like in a previous bedtime story, Mickey played as Rama and Minnie as Sita. As compared to the original Ramayana, there was an antagonist named Ravana, who was played by Pete, in the retold story. I decided to make Pete Mickey's friend at first and then later reveal Pete's real and evil personality. The reason for that was to give a story little twist where an actual identity of a character is hidden, which was different from the Ramayana. My retold story continues on after a year. Mickey and Minnie had one cute little daughter. In the Ramayana, Sita and Rama had two sons. They grew up with Sita in the forest, where Sita was sent by Rama because he was not willing to accept Sita pure. Unlike the Ramayana, to show Mickey and Minnie's love and strong bond, I decided to give Mickey and Minnie a baby before being kidnapped. However, Pete kidnaps Minnie and Mickey was never able to find her even though he looked for her for a very long time. Finally, I made the ending different from the original story. In the original story, Earth takes Sita while in my storytelling Pete takes her. The entire setting was different compared to the Ramayana and my story. The entire story took place in a modern house, rather than in a forest place.

Bibliography: "Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana" by Public Domain Edition. Website: Image library for MLLL-4993, Epics of Ancient India

Week 2 Storytelling: Bedtime story

It is a story of three sisters: Mary, Ally and Sarah. Mary was oldest of all. Every day they would have bedtime story time in their huge pink room, where they had queen-sized beds parallel to each other. Ally being the youngest one would every day have a special demand for her choice of story from her oldest sister Mary. As they all were lying comfortably on the beds, Ally said in her very cute little soft voice, “Mary, today I wish to hear a story about Minnie and Mickey.”

When Sarah agreed, Mary started. Mary continued the story while turning off the lights and switching on the nightlight.

Once upon a time there was a prince named Mickey. He was clothed in a yellow coat. His chest was shining with big pearls; curly hair peeped out from under his cap. He carried bows and arrows in his hands. He was the king of Ayodhya city, where he was known to be a very strong ruler and people would praise him for his greatness. Mickey was very soft-hearted and valued his family. Since Mickey had a great amount of love for his parents, one day he decided to have a surprise party for his parents. Soon he announced his parents' fiftieth anniversary would be taking place in a gigantic room, which was part of their palace. He wanted to make that day memorable for his parents, so along with the relatives he invited the entire city of Ayodhya. There he saw a beautiful, stunning girl named Minnie and fell in love with her. As he was standing by his window and while looking at the moon he said, “The queen of night is not so fair as Minnie." That is what we call love at first sight and at that point he decided to marry her while he said to himself, “Minnie is my heart's love. I cannot live without her.”

As it was 11:00 pm, suddenly Mary stopped and said, “We will continue this story tomorrow. We all should sleep now.” On the other side, Ally and Sarah were so into the story and were very impatient to know the end of the story. Ally said in a harsh voice, “NO, finish it. I cannot wait to know the ending.” Then, Mary agreed to continue on.

Then the next day, Mickey in an aggressive voice ordered his younger brother, Kyle, that he wanted to meet that girl, but they did not know anything about her. At that very moment, Kyle ordered servants to search for Minnie and report every single piece of information about her as soon as possible. After an hour, servants informed him that Minnie was a daughter of King Blaze.

Without thinking of anything else Mickey announced that he wanted to marry Minnie. The parents agreed.

Blaze liked that proposal and said, “Peerless is Rama, the noble one, and he shall be given for wife my daughter Minnie, who is dearer to me than life.” Then, Minnie and Mickey got married and they lived happily ever after.

Ally and Sarah said, "Great story and goodnight, Mary."

Image source(Large bedroom, Charming Stone-Built House in Saint Restitut)

Author's Note:  I chose to retell the story as the bedtime story and focused on Rama and Sita’s love story as played by Mickey and Minnie in my retold story. Brother Laskhmana as Kyle was involved as well, but not as much in my story. The story of Mickey and Minnie is based on the original story of Ramayana which was the story about Rama and Sita. In the original story, Rama and Sita's love story was not that short and quick, but rather filled with struggles and problems that they encountered in every step of their life. For Rama and Sita marrying each other was not much of a problem, but rather life afterwards was harsh. Mickey did not have to pass any test in order to marry Minnie, while Rama had to prove himself as a condition to marry Sita. In addition to that, Rama saw Sita for the first time in the garden and wanted to marry. In my story, it was not the same setting. In my story, I covered until Rama and Sita get married and then I declared it as a happy ending. I like happy endings, so I managed to make it happy.

Bibliography: "Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana" by Public Domain Edition. Website: Image library for MLLL-4993, Epics of Ancient India

"Week 1 Storytelling:There was an old woman."

There was an old woman had three sons,

          Jerry, and James, and John:

          Jerry was hung, James was drowned,

          John was lost and never was found,

          And there was an end of the three sons,

          Jerry, and James, and John!

There was an old woman named Elizabeth, who loves to sleep with her sneaky cat sitting on her shoulder while staring at her face. She also had three sons, Jerry, James, and John, for whom she never cared.

(The sleep old woman: photo by Libiotto)

One day, Jerry, James, and John decide to leave their home, town, city and the world, without telling their mother, who never loved them. The kids deprived of their mother's love started hating their lives and felt as if they were useless. Before leaving, Jerry, James, and John planned to eat a dinner for the last time, where they cooked a lot of delicious food together. They had a lot of fun cooking. After eating three of them departed in different directions while their eyes full of sorrow.

An 1865 political cartoon depicting Benedict Arnold and Jefferson Davis in Hell. Source:Wikipedia

 

Jerry was hung, James was drowned,

   John was lost and never was found,

Since Jerry, James, and John had a strong feeling of love for each other. Not after very long, Jerry hung himself and committed suicide because for him life was pointless without his brothers.

(Swinging corpse silhouette:Wikimedia Commons)

On the other side, James had the same condition like Jerry. He did not want to live a lonely life. As he was walking through an unknown place, he saw a river and drowned himself, while yelling  "Jerry, and John I cannot live without you guys."

(Houdini swims above Niagara Falls in a scene from
The Man from Beyond (1922). Source:Wikipedia)

Lastly, John, who was the youngest of three and was unaware of the real world because Jerry and James always led him through the difficulties of life. John had no idea of where to go. So, John went straight into the road where his brothers left him and no one knows where he went there after.

(Walled Garden, Lydiard Park and House, Lydiard Tregoze, Swindon:photo by Brian Robert Marshall)

And there was an end of the three sons,

          Jerry, and James, and John!

When Elizabeth woke up from her sleep, she looked for her sons, but it was too late and her sons were gone forever. She realized their importance in her life when she had no one to talk to or yell at. From that day Elizabeth never slept again.

~ ~ ~

There was an old woman had three sons,

          Jerry, and James, and John:

          Jerry was hung, James was drowned,

          John was lost and never was found,

          And there was an end of the three sons,

          Jerry, and James, and John!

Author's note: The story is about an old woman and her three sons, Jerry, and James, and John, but without any background or detail. My story is descriptive and detailed compared to the original source. All you know from original rhyme is that there is an old woman and three sons, addition to how their lives came to an end.

~ ~ ~

Bibliography. This story is based on the nursery rhyme "There was an old woman" in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897).