King Shantanu and Ganga. Link
"Did Ganga ever even love me?" He muttered to himself. "I mean, how could she? I'm a king, but what else am I? No wonder she left me."
King Shantanu had never experienced this before, Even knowing her true intentions, he didn't want to accept who she really was, or her true purpose on this Earth. Ganga was his first wife. His first true love. He did everything he could to make her happy. He didn't even say anything after she cast many of the children into the Ganges river.
It had been days now. King Shantanu remained alone in a dark room, barely eating and talking to no one.
"I don't care anymore." King Shantanu said to himself. "All of the power, the fame, it doesn't matter anymore. What is wrong with me? I just don't understand. I was nothing but good to my wife. She was the greatest thing to ever happen to me. Now, without her, I am nothing. I am a worthless king. Take my Kingdom, Gods! Take it all! I don't deserve it anymore. Look at me, I'm a pathetic excuse for a king. How am I fit run a kingdom? I just want to end it."
The aids of King Shantanu were getting extremely worried. They had barely seen him over the course of the last week. One of them decided to finally confront the situation head on.
"I'm going to go in there and try to motivate him. We need a leader right now. He can't lead us if he's just sitting in a room depressed." One of the aids says.
"Are you sure? Maybe it would be best to not intervene and let him handle this on his own. He's pretty fragile right now." The other aid ignored him and went to the King's room,
"King Shantanu? I wish to speak with you." The aid says as he arrives at the locked door of them room.
"Go away!" The king says. I wish to be alone and not speak with anyone.
The aid says to the King, "King Shantanu, I know how much Ganga meant to you, but maybe this was for the best. Because of your brave actions, you now have a son that you will love until your dying days. Ganga may have left, but she provided you with a son that you now you are able to give all of your love to. The aid then left.
King Shantanu began thinking to himself. "Maybe he is right. My son means the world to me. Why am I wasting time in this room alone and moping when I have a son to care for and raise?"
King Shantanu wiped the tears from his face, stood up, and opened his door.
Bibliography: Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition
Author's Note: One of the major things that stuck out to me from the Mahabharata that I thought I could make a story on was the feelings that King Shantanu must have felt after his first wife left him. In a way, this story could be a filler for the Mahabharata, but some details may be too different to allow my story to exactly fit into the Mahabharata.
I think that this is a great story, Greg! I like the direction that you took it! You were able to use your creativity to make the story your own. I agree with you that during the Mahabharata I continued to think about how King Shantanu felt. He must he felt so sad and abandoned. I think that your story added a lot to the original! Good work!
ReplyDeleteGreg, I liked your use of King Shantanu's inner thoughts, it helped build him as a character. One small thing, at the end of the paragraph that begins with "I don't care anymore," there is a line that says "How am I fit run a kingdom?" I think you forgot the word "to." Overall, I liked that you chose to write a story over someone's grief; I just wish there might have been a little more action or development.
ReplyDeleteHi, I really enjoyed your story. I thought it was very creative to write about Shantanu's feelings. It was kind of brushed off in the original. They were talked about and it did convey his sadness, but not in the detailed way you did it in. I thought it was a neat way to expand on a part of the original plot that was not covered in depth. Very good read!
ReplyDeleteGreg, what a beautiful story that you wrote. It reminds me of a true love novel, that ends happily. I did notice a few grammatical errors, so just read through it again and focus on that. I love the fact that he could focus his mind on the positive, instead of the negative. Also, I think if you make your author's note a bit longer with more explanation, you will be set. Well done!
ReplyDelete