Week 9 Story: 12 Years

By: Maria Dawson

“WAKE.” Lord Oak spoke to his people in a harsh and short tone to warn others a human was walking through the territory. For years there has been peace between the forest and mankind. However, within the past year, the air has been blowing a different direction, more frigid than usual. This keeps my people on edge whenever we have a new visitor in the woods.

“Oh, be gentle Oak,” said his mate Pine, “they look harmless probably passing through for a drink in the lake”. Mrs. Pine and Oak have been together for centuries building up the forest and keeping it a safe place for all of us. There have been hard times of course but none in my decades nevertheless better to stay safe rather than sorry. In our village, we always keep tabs on who or what is coming near and what their intentions are.  

“Ah. I know these men and their past. I see what their intentions are. Not good” replies Oak. As the four men stop by the lake to set up a camp. “Yessir, this here is a perfect spot. Let the night rejoice and the fires howl” states one of the men wearing a yellow plaid shirt with blue jean standing broad-faced looking in towards the lake. “Boss you sure this lake here won’t stop the fires before we can get the forest clear?” responds a skinny fellow in a brown vest from behind the group.

Nightfall was fast approaching and with it brought back the same northern wind mentioned earlier. Just then the four men started pouring gasoline all over the ground and trees. “Do not panic my people we have been planning this for years trust in me” assures Oak “Fir do you remember how I taught you to contact the lake?”. I shake I hear Lord Oak speak my name “Yes Sir I am ready” I reply confidently.

The four men each light their own match and threw it on the trail they left behind. We wait anxiously to see when Oak will give the signal. Watching as the fire spread fast in towards the trees creating a great smokestack in the sky.

“NOW” yells Oak and at once the forest awakes! I take in water and put the fire out as the Sequoia twins trap in the four criminals.

“You violated out peace treaty men” Oak’s voice bellows throughout the forest “Now I sentence you to twelve years within the forest. You cannot tear down my people to create room for yours. We have come to this agreement long ago, now it is too late. You must learn respect for the trees and the lives we hold within”.  The forest fell quiet and the men knew they were stuck here for 12 long years within the trees.

This is how I picture the forest after it burns itself and grows back. Picture from: Chris Fort

Authors Note: 
For this week I decided to try something new with my writing and focus on one particular setting instead of the plot or a character. I got this idea while I was reading over some note-taking strategies. While I was reading over the stories in the Mahabharata I noticed quite a few stories taking place inside a forest. This is where I drew my inspiration for this week's story. From here I decided to make the forest its own being as if it had thoughts and feelings. I hope you enjoyed my rendition of these two stories!

Bibliography: 
The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City by
Author: C. A. Kincaid year 1921 chapter 13: THE YEAR OF DISGUISE and 16: DURYODHANA'S DEATH.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part B

This is how I picture the forest after it burns itself and grows back. Picture from: Chris Fort

Now that I have gotten to know myself through creative writing a little bit better I am able to create works I truly love and feel inspired by. However, to keep myself inspired I need to be able to try new things while also keeping everything consistent. While looking over the note strategies I saw something that caught my eye, by focusing on the setting. Taking this one step further I thought it would be fun and neat to write about the main setting in all of these stories as it if was a real being. In the stories within the Mahabharata, the forest is the main setting.

The forest is seen in the following stories in part B: 13. THE YEAR OF DISGUISE and 16. DURYODHANA'S DEATH. For the story of The Year of Disguise, the main charters are stuck within the forest for 12 years and later are sentenced to another 12 years within the forest. I could use this story to introduce the forest as the main setting giving it an internal dialogue between the trees and the lake. To expand the different stories I could use the story Duryondhanas Death where he dies in the forest fire. Maybe in this part of the story, the forest wanted him to die for a particular reason so they set themself on fire knowing they would grow back greener and stronger. This would make a really good moral pot of the story by saying sometimes it is healthy to purge the bad things within your life to create a better you so you will be stronger and wiser.

Bibliography: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City by
Author: C. A. Kincaid year 1921 chapter 13: THE YEAR OF DISGUISE and 16: DURYODHANA'S DEATH.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

The large amount of ducks is how I see some of the stories we are reading. Picture by: PXFuel

The main thing I noticed while reading all the parts within The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - was the number of charters. For example, in the story titled The Princes of Elephant City, there were 19 different charters seen within this story. For my stories, I usually like to focus on one or two characters because I have a hard time keeping things consistent between a large number of different characters. I could use this week to really challenge myself to see how well I do add in these vast majority of characters with my own twist on the story. Taking notes on how this author is able to do this within these stories is by introducing each one a little at a time.

One thing I do like about this type of writing by this author is how he introduces all these characters in relation to other characters. For example, " Vichitravirya, who died and left two sons: Dhritarashtra, the older son, who is blind, and his brother Pandu, who becomes king." in this one sentence there are three main characters introduced. He is also able to describe a small amount about each of these charters this is how I would like to add in man charters to my stories as well. It would be very interesting to create an entire story that is primarily based on introducing different charters within a family. Going through the family tree and creating a dialog between the charters as well as a small insert about the character would be fun to create.

Bibliography:  The Indian Heroes: The Princes of Elephant City: Mahabharata written by C. A. Kincaid in 1921