Pieces of ancient stone tablets that washed up on shores of mainland countries were the only evidence that
the island of Mawa existed in the world. A land that was not traceable by
explorers, luck, or expert navigation. The gods of the island determined who would and wouldn't stumble upon the sacred land which they protected. Only a special being would stumble upon it.
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For thousands of years
the mysterious island was self-sufficient for its community. Such an island was ruled by a single king who would again and again pass on the throne
to his eldest son. However, as greed and power-hungry kings began to come
to the throne, the gods of the island grew angry and displeased. Alas, one
day the superior god of the island, Mawa, declared a curse on the current king
of the island, Zoro. Zoro was unable to have any more children after his first
daughter Zamantha. As the years passed Zoro tried and failed to have a son with
seven wives of the island. On his death bed, there was a terrible storm that
washed away much of the village and kingdom that Zoro and his ancestors had
built. However, among the wreckage was a ship that came in from
the mighty storm.
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The ship was very damaged from the mighty storm and many of the passengers of the ship had washed overboard and drowned. Even much
of its corridors and cargo were flooded and damaged. As Zamantha went with her royal
patrons to inspect the ship, a lone survivor remained among the wreckage.
Persons of the kingdom came to the young man's aid and helped him back to
health. Many of the kingdom of the island were afraid of the young
man. No one on the island had ever seen anyone else from
outside the waters of the kingdom. Even the queen had never seen an outsider but she thought very little of the incident and went on with her daily routine. However, there was one elderly man
in the village who could remember an ancient prophecy that greed amongst the throne would trigger extraordinary events. Soon the story passed through the kingdom and the persons of the
kingdom were amazed. When Zamantha noticed all the hype of the village and the
kingdom, she too became curious. Zamantha ordered her assistant to inform her of the latest news of the village. Upon
discovery of the ancient tale, she demanded to see the young explorer from the
wreckage at once. As the young man came walking up the steps of the kingdom to the
queen's palace, you could see the anxiety of Zamantha. There was a special
feeling that overcame her, nothing like she had ever experienced before. Once
the young man had gotten close enough to the queen, he bowed. The queen asked
him one question and one question only: "Sir, what is thy name?" The
young man replied, "Mawa." In complete disbelief, the queen
immediately knew this was a message from the gods of the island. She said,
"Oh great Mawa, you will be my husband, and thus the new King of the
Island of Mawa."
Author's Note: This story was inspired by the story of King Dasharatha and other stories from part A of the Ramayana. The main purpose of the story is about corruption of the throne. Over time Kings of the island are overcome with the effects of greed and too much power. This in turn displeases the gods who protect the sacred island. To fix their problem of the corrupt king lineage, they cast a curse on the current King Zoro. This curse is similar to the problem that King Dasharatha is having. He is unable to have a son in his lifetime. Much of the story from then on is personal material I came up with. For the ending I wanted to leave a cliffhanger of what might happen from here on, but leave the reader with some closure about previous history of the island. This is in turn similar to what I felt after reading section A of the Ramayana. Many new doors were opened but many questions about various plots were answered as well. As the king of the island passes away, the throne is left unfilled. This is different from the Ramyana in which the throne was filled by Rama's brother. However in a way Rama's brother is portrayed as Zamantha as a temporary holder of the throne until Rama comes back. On the day of the death of King Zoro an unexpected ship wreck has occurred on the beach of the island. This prophecy was inspired by Vishvamitra.
Bibliography: Mackenzie, Donald ."King Dasharatha". Indian Myth and Legend. Warwick Goble. (1913). Web Source: Project Gutenberg
Picture Citations:
Author's Note: This story was inspired by the story of King Dasharatha and other stories from part A of the Ramayana. The main purpose of the story is about corruption of the throne. Over time Kings of the island are overcome with the effects of greed and too much power. This in turn displeases the gods who protect the sacred island. To fix their problem of the corrupt king lineage, they cast a curse on the current King Zoro. This curse is similar to the problem that King Dasharatha is having. He is unable to have a son in his lifetime. Much of the story from then on is personal material I came up with. For the ending I wanted to leave a cliffhanger of what might happen from here on, but leave the reader with some closure about previous history of the island. This is in turn similar to what I felt after reading section A of the Ramayana. Many new doors were opened but many questions about various plots were answered as well. As the king of the island passes away, the throne is left unfilled. This is different from the Ramyana in which the throne was filled by Rama's brother. However in a way Rama's brother is portrayed as Zamantha as a temporary holder of the throne until Rama comes back. On the day of the death of King Zoro an unexpected ship wreck has occurred on the beach of the island. This prophecy was inspired by Vishvamitra.
Bibliography: Mackenzie, Donald ."King Dasharatha". Indian Myth and Legend. Warwick Goble. (1913). Web Source: Project Gutenberg
Picture Citations:
Island Kingsom
Author: Floato, Flickr
I really enjoyed this story. I like how elaborated on the idea of a cursed lineage. I can definitely see the parallels with Dasharatha story. One of my favorite parts is the setting given in the first paragraph. It really gives the island of Mawa a sort of mystic. I was wondering, though, why the god chose Zoro to be cursed. Did he do something to push them over the edge?
ReplyDeleteGreat read Tyler! I think the plot of this story is very intriguing! The very idea of living under cruel kings for generations seems devastating. It is interesting that the God's punished him and that the people of the city had not overthrown him with force. It is also interesting that the God's did not want the linage to continue from King Zoro; however, in the end the God's allowed another to become king. Thanks for the read!
ReplyDeleteTyler, I really enjoyed reading your story about the secret island of Mawa. I liked how you implemented a God named Zoro. This is very interesting and resembles that of the Indian Epics and Greek Gods. They are always trying to put their will onto the people on earth and I enjoyed that aspect in your story. Also, the ending of finding the true Mawa and him being the new king is a great way to end your story. Overall, great story!
ReplyDeleteHello again Tyler! I really enjoyed reading your story this week. First of all, I think that the way you formatted this post made it very easy to read with the paragraph breaks and pictures separating the words into even sections. I also thought it was cool that your story was in a different size font than your authors note. I think it made it easy to see where the story ended and the authors note began. Second, I like the character development that the story takes you through. Such as how the reader sees King Zoro as a greedy king but they also see him as a desperate father wanting a son to carry on his family name after Mawa puts the curse on him. Over all I think it was a well put together story and I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading more of your stories!
-Sara
Great story! The "wow" moment for me was when the young man in the shipwreck tells the queen that his name is the same as the presiding god of the island. It made me wonder if he was an avatar of Mawa like the four sons of Dashartha were avatars of Vishnu. Your format was great, in that you broke the story up in manageable segments, the font was easy to read and the links were working. I liked the pictures you chose and they enhanced the story by giving a visualization of the island and what the shipwreck looked like. I did want to know why it was Zoro that was chosen not to be able to have any sons. Was he a particularly corrupt ruler or did he do something that finally pushed the gods over the edge? Overall, I really enjoyed reading your work and look forward to reading more from you throughout the semester.
ReplyDeleteTyler,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very inventive retelling of the story. I really like that you took the story and placed it in a new setting with new characters. You also developed a storyline that is unique to your portfolio and allows us to see the story in a new light.
I also appreciated the author’s note. It clearly states what is going on and which changes you have made to the original storyline.
I really like the setup of the page. It is visually appealing and feels natural especially in the context of the story I just read.
The pictures that you used were awesome. I love the ancient ship wreck appearing right when it was needed in the story. Well done.
I would make one suggestion though. Possibly increase your font to large instead of regular. Helps us folks that aren’t as young be able to read it better without having to blow up the page, and thus your art of the portfolio.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story! I wasn't expecting the shipwrecked boy to be Mawa, so that definitely caught me off guard when he said that was his name. While reading, I was expecting there to be a baby that how somehow survived the wreck, but I was wrong. You did a great job at describing everything, and you word choice was excellent. I think this is a story that could definitely have a part 2. You could have Mawa and his wife try to remove the greed from the island in order to prepare the island for its next king. This would not only fit perfectly with the story you just wrote, but also add more drama to the story. You might consider breaking the last paragraph into 2 or 3 paragraphs. It was a little long. When the stories are short like these, it is easier on the reader if the paragraphs remain short as well. Great job!
Hi, Tyler!
ReplyDeleteI really loved the premise of your story. From the very first couple of lines, the show Lost was immediately at the forefront of my brain—have you ever seen it? Your author’s note was really helpful in seeing what material you were building on, and what your inspiration was. Your story was incredibly creative! You used some of the original material, but really embellished and made the story your own. Nicely done!
This was a very good story! The style of it was a nice change of pace from the typical stories in this class. We see so much controversy between kings and gods in the Ramayana and it is easy to see why. Many of the kings start to think that they can do anything they want and ignore the gods, but the gods usually seem to have an answer for that. They get creative and cruel when doing so also. Rather than just striking down a bad king they curse him from having sons. This way he keeps hope throughout his remaining years and keeps trying to have sons only to find out he is having a daughter each time a child is born. You really got me interested in this story early because you set it up so well. The way you described the island as undiscoverable unless the gods wanted you to find it caught my attention. This made me think of the city of Atlantis.
ReplyDelete