Little Turtle. Maxpixels.
The Pandava brothers had been traveling through the woods for quite some time. They were weary, frustrated, and highly irritable. Upon noticing his brothers' sluggish walks and unmotivated attitudes, Bhima decided that everyone should take a break. Bhima then decided he would tell a story to lift his brothers' spirits up.
And so he began telling his tale of the king filled with wrath, and the innocent little turtle....
Once upon a time, there lived a King. He was very wealthy and had control over many lands and many people. One day, the King decided to make a pond in his castle's courtyard. He wanted to spoil his sons and surprise them with a beautiful gift. Watching his sons be able to play and swim would bring him great joy for he loved his sons very much. The King directed his servants to fill the pond with various luscious plants and exotic fishes.
After the pond was finally finished, the princes could hardly wait to jump in. They excitedly ran to the pond the second the servants were finished perfecting it. The boys happily swam in the water, played among the cattails, and took interest in the many fishes in the pond. The princes saw many different colors shimmering in the water. All of a sudden, the youngest prince pointed out something odd.
"What is that?" he asked his brothers. The other boys turned to what the youngest was pointing at.
The creature had clawed hands and feet. Its skin was scaly and reptilian. It had a tiny snout and beady eyes. The most uncanny thing about this novel creature, was that it had a large round shell covering its entire body.
The boys quickly took an interest in the turtle and began prodding it with a stick. The turtle, frightened by the aggressive intrusion, retreated back into its shell. Shocked by this strange response, the boys became afraid of the turtle, and believed it was a demon. The princes hurried back to their castle and alerted their father that there was a demon living in their pond.
The king commanded his soldiers to capture the demon and bring it into the castle. The king could see that the turtle frightened his sons greatly, and decided that it should be killed. He was repulsed by its odd appearance, and his desire to destroy the thing grew. The king's soldiers asked, "How would you like your orders to be carried out?". The men were also disgusted by the turtle. "It deserves to suffer, to be obliterated and crushed!" responded the king. The soldiers suggested pounding it to powder or baking it in hot coals. One of the men suggested throwing the demon in the pond and drowning it.
When the turtle heard of this fate, he displayed mock fear and complete. desperation. He cried in anguish and begged for mercy. "Please spare me", the turtle cried, "I want to live another day and see the sun rise once again!" The king, believing that this was surely the worst fate for the turtle, ordered it to be carried out. He couldn't stand to see something so ugly come out of his beautiful pond, and he believed that it would be the most fitting end.
The turtle was then thrown into the water and as he fell, he laughed to himself, for how could the king and princes know that it was safest in the water.
...
Bhima watched the eyes of his brothers as they started to realize the moral behind the story. "We must always be merciful, even to our worst enemies," Arjuna stated somberly. "And we must respect all things, even if we don't understand them," Nakula added. Bhima smiled to himself, he was grateful his brothers understood his story and took the lesson to heart. To be strong warriors, the brothers must not only be physically great and superior, but they needed to be mentally ready for battle and making morally sound decisions. Bhima knew that there were more sins that lie ahead of them.
Author's Note
In this story, I wanted to feature the deadly sin of wrath to continue my series. I took a children's tale, and dramatized the story by using more charged vocabulary to emphasize how hatred from an individual is unnecessary. In the end, good will always triumph and I think that this is a good moral of the story.
I wanted to make the hatred from the king and the princes seem as malicious as possible, considering the story was derived from a children's tale. By focusing on their disgust and repulsion by a novel creature, the reader may see that they represent the sin of Wrath. Wrath, in this story, materializes in the form of anger and hatred towards something that is different. Despising something because of who (or what) they are, or because they're simply different from you is wrath.
In my previous story that featured a sin, I placed the setting of the story in a forest derived from the Mahabhrata and the main characters of my story were the Pandava brothers. I had originally wanted to continue from this first story, and make a series featuring one of the seven deadly sins in each story. The collection of stories was supposed to be a new adventure for the group of brothers, but instead of continuing with the main plot, I wanted to sidebar from that main story line.
Bibliography
This story called 'How the Turtle Saved His Own Life', can be found in Jataka Tales written by Ellen C. Babbitt (1912). The link can be found here --> gatewaytotheclassic.