Some time ago I had no recollection of my celestial powers or heritage but the great King Jambavan freed my mind. He then proceeded to tell me to seek out Rama because a great evil was afoot. I reached Rama only to hear startling news. He told me then of the abduction of Sita. I stood shocked and horrified as he spoke:

'Our dear Sita was carried off without a trace in sight.

Now each day, post sunset, shall have a moonless night.

My friend I challenge and beg of thee:

Bring back the queen of night and end my misery.'

Rama asked this great privilege of me, to go forth and rescue Sita Mata. Without a second thought I began to grow. I grew larger than ten yojanas, what you would call eighty miles. I took one step and with the second I began my great leap.

As I flew through the skies storms raged against me. As they began to beat me down I remembered King Jambavan and the history of my heritage. I remembered then that I am Vayuputra, son of the God of the Wind: Vayu. In that moment the clouds parted for me. Any rain grew faint and all wind changed directions and blew from behind. The wind and forces of weather now begged to propel me forward to my destination. While in flight I was suddenly brought to a halt by Surasa the Goddess of Serpents, as she rose out of the ocean and beckoned to me.

'My little dear and lovely monkey friend!

The gods have spoken; now meet your end.

Grow as you might it will not matter.

I'll unhinge my jaw larger and fatter.'

As I grew her mouth did too; she matched each Yojana with more teeth and a wider gape. It was then in that moment I had the thought; I shall give her what she wants and get my own too. So I began to shrink... I shrank smaller than I'd ever gone, down to the size of a thumb. I flew straight into the demoness' throat. She cackled satisfied. I did not veer south and head for her stomach, oh no, but I flew through the canals that connected to her nose. I emerged covered in celestial goo. Confused and amazed Surasa spoke again:

'O great monkey, Rama needs you more now than ever.

I will grant you with blessings for being so clever.

You have passed my great and celestial test.

Go forth and bring back Sita on this dangerous quest.'

With the goddess's blessing I once again grew and flew faster than before. With Lanka in mind I soared higher and higher, above the clouds where there was nothing but light. As I sped unyieldingly through the air something faint and small, in the distant waters, was growing closer...

A Note from Hanuman:

I liked the poem from Vesuvio so much I decided to keep the poetic theme for the dialogue portions for the story above. In order to do so I had David help me out a bit. This is part of my trip to Lanka the first part actually. You see what happened was the gods didn't know if they could trust me to rescue Sita so they sent Surasa to test me. Surasa is hard to understand because she is a a goddess and a demoness depending on who you ask. But you could probably make that claim about any god whether they curse or bless you. Back to what I was saying... so I tried to talk my way out of it but Surasa wouldn't see to reason. So I cleverly thought my way around it. She matched every inch I grew size with that of her mouth. She wouldn't stop growing but I then I thought if she keeps growing I should do the opposite. So I shrank as small as I could and gave her exactly what she wanted. In doing so I was able to get out through her nose. She got what she wanted and so did I: she got to eat me and I got to live. As a result she blessed me and sent me on my way. Score: Hanuman 1 everyone else 0.

Now a Note from David:

Traditionally Jambavan doesn't tell Hanuman about his powers until it is time to jump to Lanka. But Hanuman and I discussed it at length and he remembers it differently. So we decided to give you all an accurate update.

Bibliography:

Valmiki. “Sundara Kanda.” Valmiki Ramayana - Sundara Kanda, July 2006, www.valmikiramayan.net/sundara/sarga58/sundarasans58.htm.