The Tools that Come Alive
In the morning Vishvamitra chanted powerful mantras, which caused celestial weapons to appear for Rama, and the spirits of the weapons stood before the prince with clasped hands and said, “We are thy servants, O nobly generous one. Good betide thee! Whatever thou dost desire, lo, we shall accomplish for thee!”
Said Rama, “When I have need of you, I will think of you, and then you will wait upon me.”
I really enjoyed this part. I think it would make a great story to embellish on the magical weapons that appear when needed. I could go for serious, and describe each weapon and where they are stored. I could also aim for funny, making them talking, each having their own personalities.
Then and For Ever
At that instant, Rama heard the jingle of the bangles on the lady Sita's feet, and he said, "I know of a surety that there comes hither a lady whom I shall love beyond all things else in the world." Lifting his eyes he saw Sita, the king's daughter, and they loved each other then and for ever.
I could write a more in-depth love story between Rama and Sita. It could include what she was thinking, and maybe what her nurses thought of her love at first sight.
The Wedding
The marrying of the four sisters to the four brothers stood out to me. It was clear Sita and Rama loved each other, but nothing was spoken of the other three wedded couples. I think it would be a fun idea to make a story of the women and men arguing separately about who they had to marry.
Whitney, just a quick note to say that I am so glad you noticed that little detail about the celestial weapons. It is so cool! And the weapons, especially the supernatural weapons, are a tremendously important feature of the Hindu storytelling tradition. If you look at today's announcements, the special holiday of Thaipusam is all about a divine weapon, and if you keep an eye out for divine weapons, you will find all kinds of great storytelling material, especially in the Mahabharata, but also in the Ramayana. You might even want to consider that as a Storybook topic! One of the most famous is the chakra of Vishnu, which is also used by his avatar Krishna. Here is an article about it at Wikipedia: Sudarshana Chakra. :-)
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