Week 12 Story Telling: Arjuna excels over all
Today is the day. My brothers and I have trained with Drona for many moons now. My brothers Bhima and Duryodhana have bested the others with a mace and are still fighting each other to determine who is the best. Yudhisthira became one of our best spearman while Nakula and Sahadeva were top swordsmen and Asvatthama was great with mystical weapons. However, during a private conversation between myself and Drona, he told me that as great as my brothers were at their respective skills, they were no where near as skilled as I am. Today's task we are testing our skills with a bow and arrow. My brothers are skilled, but I am sure once again I will excel beyond anything they could do.
"Alright everyone, today I will be testing your skills in archery. High up in the tree, I have placed a wooden bird. Take out your bows, and one by one I will call you. You will tell me what you see when you look at the bird before you fire." Drona said to the brothers.
First up was my brother Yudhishira. "Master, I see my brothers, you the tree and the bird".
Annoyed by Yudhishira's answer, Drona told my brother to tell him again what he saw, but again Yudhishira gave the same response. Drona told my brother that he will miss the target and to go sit down. Next up was Duryodhana, and he pulled back his arrow and looked at his target. However, when Drona asked him what he saw, he gave the same response as Yudhishira. Annoyed once again, Drona told him he will not hit the mark and told him to join his brother. The others followed and they all failed to give an answer that satisfied our master. Finally it was my turn, and going last I was able to determine the answer that Master Drona wanted to hear.
"Tell me what you see Arjuna" Drona requested.
"I see only the bird master" responded Arjuna.
"Tell me what the bird looks like if you see it"
"I do not see the birds body master, I only see its head"
Hearing the response he's been waiting all day for, I heard the master chuckle and heard the words that my brothers did not.
"Fire the arrow, Arjuna!"
So I released the arrow and it flew straight and hit the target dead in the eye.
Author's note: I tried to write this story from the first person view of Arjuna, and I hope it went well. The original story was simply a narrative discussing all the brothers and even went on longer to talk about things that happened to Drona after the exhibition. However, after thinking about what I wanted to write about I decided to focus only on the exhibition and the difference in skill between the brothers. Drona had a different level of respect for Arjuna's skill compared to the others which is shown in the original pretty early. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys my attempt at first person story telling.
Bibliography: The Martial Exhibition; Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time, Krishna Dharma. 2008
"Alright everyone, today I will be testing your skills in archery. High up in the tree, I have placed a wooden bird. Take out your bows, and one by one I will call you. You will tell me what you see when you look at the bird before you fire." Drona said to the brothers.
First up was my brother Yudhishira. "Master, I see my brothers, you the tree and the bird".
Annoyed by Yudhishira's answer, Drona told my brother to tell him again what he saw, but again Yudhishira gave the same response. Drona told my brother that he will miss the target and to go sit down. Next up was Duryodhana, and he pulled back his arrow and looked at his target. However, when Drona asked him what he saw, he gave the same response as Yudhishira. Annoyed once again, Drona told him he will not hit the mark and told him to join his brother. The others followed and they all failed to give an answer that satisfied our master. Finally it was my turn, and going last I was able to determine the answer that Master Drona wanted to hear.
"Tell me what you see Arjuna" Drona requested.
"I see only the bird master" responded Arjuna.
"Tell me what the bird looks like if you see it"
"I do not see the birds body master, I only see its head"
Hearing the response he's been waiting all day for, I heard the master chuckle and heard the words that my brothers did not.
"Fire the arrow, Arjuna!"
So I released the arrow and it flew straight and hit the target dead in the eye.
Arjuna hits the bird
Image Source
Author's note: I tried to write this story from the first person view of Arjuna, and I hope it went well. The original story was simply a narrative discussing all the brothers and even went on longer to talk about things that happened to Drona after the exhibition. However, after thinking about what I wanted to write about I decided to focus only on the exhibition and the difference in skill between the brothers. Drona had a different level of respect for Arjuna's skill compared to the others which is shown in the original pretty early. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys my attempt at first person story telling.
Bibliography: The Martial Exhibition; Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time, Krishna Dharma. 2008
Jake, I liked your retelling of this story, and I think your attempt at first-person went very well. I think one of the main benefits of first person is you are allowed to access some of the emotions and inner thoughts of a character that you would not from a third-person narrative, so maybe you could add some emotion to Arjuna's narrative. Was he nervous? Cocky? Passionate? I think that would add a lot to your story.
ReplyDeleteHi Jake! I read the Mahabharata, but the version I read didn’t include this story, so I’m glad I got a chance to read it. I thought this story had an interesting turn, where the lesson wasn’t about shooting the bow so much as it was about focusing on the task at hand. I wish I had gotten to see more of Drona teaching the Pandava brothers; he seems like a cool character!
ReplyDeleteHi Jake great job on your story! I liked the retelling because there was a point to the story. Instead of just a regular conversation, there was moral to the training more than just shooting a bird. I also like how you chose a less talked about part of the story. Most of the stories are over very popular parts of the stories, but writing about a less talked about one is new. Great job on your story I look forward to reading more!
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