Story: There once were two bird brothers. There names were Jatayu and Sampati. They loved to fly together across the sky, they sometimes even raced. One day they decided to race to the sun. Jatayu and Sampati had been competing all their lives, they were good matches for each other. As One brother increased speed, the other increased more. Suddenly Sampati began to feel the heat of the sun, he realized that going any further would be dangerous to his brother and himself. Sampati yielded and yelled for his brother to stop and turn around, Jatayu, believing this was all a trick for Sampati to beat him in the race, continued. Before thinking, Sampati raced in front of his brother, spreading his wings as far as possible to protect his brother from the sun, but Sampati had gotten to close, his wings were seared by the heat and he feel to the ground. Jatayu realized the reality of situation and began flying towards the ground to look for his brother. Jatayu spent many days and many nights searching for his brother, but with no success. He began to come to the conclusion that his brother may be lost forever. This upset Jatayu, Sampati had been his flying companion and best friend for his entire life, he was unsure of how to continue with his life without him. The sad truth was he would never see his brother again, Sampati had survived the fall, but had lost his ability to fly. Without his ability to obtain a "birds-eye" view he was unaware of the direction of his home, causing him to forever travel in the wrong direction.
Author's Note: I used Tiny Tale - 111. The Story of Sampati and Jatayu- as a source for this story. I kept most of the plot of this story the same, however I added more information as to why the brothers never saw each other again. I believe that the origin story gives little details on this matter.
Bibliography: Laura Gibbs, Tiny Tales from Ramayana
Hey Brooklynn!
ReplyDeleteThe story of Jatayu and Sampati also stuck out to me when I was reading Tiny Tales and I found myself actually hoping to learn more about them. I really like how you fleshed out their actually quite tragic story. I thought your details really added more depth and emotion to the relationship between the two. Great Job!
Hey (again) Brooklynn.
ReplyDeleteNice work on the story - I particularly appreciate the added details at the end. Nothing drives me quite as insane as a story that feels unfinished, or leaves too many questions unanswered. It's like a television show cancelled before the last season can wrap everything up.
I've noticed a lot of the stories we're reading in this course (unsurprisingly) have several parallels in other mythologies. Did this one remind you of the story of Icarus and Daedalus?