Adventuring in Indian Epics

                                                                                          ( Huffington Post ) The Bond of Friendship  Just like love comes in all shapes and sizes, friendship does too. An elephant and a dog eternal friends with a bond that not even man can break. If separated their bond is so strong that when the one is absent the other suffers greatly. It is as if a part of them has been ripped apart. He's Gone Food, water, I want none. My best friend is gone, I am sad.  He is back! My smile is has returned.  Author's note: Based on the story The Faithful Friend from  Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock . Its a sweet story of the strong friendship between a dog and an elephant 

Image: Hare by  Pixabay Bibliography: Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock The Hare that Ran Away In this story, Buddha was born as a lion. Just like he had helped humans now he was to help the animals. However, there was a nervous hare who always asked what was to happen in the earth fall in. One day the hare was by a tree when she heard a slight noise startled by it. The hare was so frightened that it did not realize it was a heavy fruit that fell it was ready to believe anything. the hare said in a frightened tone that the "The Earth is falling in" and started running full speed. It came across its brother and when asked why she was running she told him "The Earth is falling in". The brother hare told the other hares they all started to run. Soon all the animals large and small were running together frighten because the "The Earth is falling in". When they came across the lion the lion asked them why they were running and they said b

Florida Mango Tree Bibliography: Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock The Poisonous Tree Bodhisatta was born a merchant and grew up trading with fice hundred wagons. He came to a road that led to a forest.  "Poison-trees grow in this forest. Take heed that you taste no unfamiliar leaf, flower. or fruit without first consulting me."  In the forest, there was a tree that looked like a mango tree. Both in outside appearance and the taste and smell of its fruit. If eaten, however, it was deadly poison and caused instant death. Some greedy people went ahead and still took it to be a mango tree ate the fruit. However, others decided to ask their leader before the ate. The leader told them it was a look-alike tree and should not touch its fruit. The Bodhisatta dosed with an emetic and gave them 4 sweet food to eat so they could recover. When they recovered they made plans to take the things of the others who had yet to eaten the fruit. However, to their disa

Bibliography:  Eastern Stories and Legends   by Marie L. Shedlock Image: Elephant from  Huffington Post Long ago a dog used to state at elephants stable to feed on the food the elephant dropped. They soon became great friends and could not live without the other and neither was happy without the other. The dog used to hold on to the elephant's trunk and swing back and forth. They were happy playing and spending time together. But one day a peasant came and gave the king money for the dog. The dog was given to him and left. With the absence of the dog, the elephant grew sad and did not want to eat, drink, or bathe. The others grew worried and told the king ad sent Pandit to find out what was causing the elephant to behave like this. The Pandit told the king that there was nothing nearly wrong with the elephant but that he was like this because he missed his friend a dog whom he had grown very fond of.  They looked for the man who had taken the dog and finally brought the dog b

Cursed In the village of Lakenville, townspeople and witches used to live in harmony, but one-day greed had taken upon the villagers. They came up with a plan to trap the witches and use their powers for themselves. Some wanted beauty, others wanted wealth or power. When the witches fell asleep the townspeople quietly crept into their homes. They were equipped with fire sticks, cages, guns, and all sorts of weapons. However, they were not so quiet as the witches quickly woke up. When they saw what the townspeople were planning the swung into action, casting spells back and forth. The head witch was the only one to survive and as she saw her fellow witches' bodies lifeless and becoming dust her anger grew. She yelled at them and cast a curse on the whole town. Those born in the next thirty years will have eyes that will bring death upon the village. Luckily, a fairy was able to decrease the curse for not all future births to be cursed however no one knew who or how many

Gandhari A Mother's Love Darkness, tears, suffering, even with a blindfold over my eyes the disastrous future that waits for my family is crystal clear to my eyes.  The day I was blessed by Lord Shiva with one-hundred sons I thought it was the best day ever but why do I keep having this bad feeling. Lord Shiva must have been planning a joke on me. The day I gave birth, my baby was no baby but a shapeless lump. "Oh my lord, what have I done to deserve such thing" I screamed in sadness to the sky. I was ecstatic when Vyasa said he could help me, and he was able to turn that lump into one-hundred beautiful children. I heard whispering and gasps when people in the place saw my kids, they must be so surprised at their beauty, I thought. Years went by, and our sons grew to wonderful and strong men. However, one day we received news that Kunti was coming back to the palace with her five sons. I grew worried their presence would bring no good to my family. My predicti