The Favor

"Do not get such a big head, brother. You may be strong and powerful enough to defeat even Indra, but you are still my younger brother."

"Ravana, why do you always try to knock me down with your words? Is it because you know I can also defeat you in battle?"

"HA. I said you can defeat Indra, but so can I. I could even defeat you in battle if I wanted, so you are lucky I do not want to."

Surely my brother does not think he can defeat me. I will let him have this one. There is no point in arguing, for he will never admit that he would lose to me.We have better things to discuss anyways.

"Older brother, let us not argue. Everyone knows that you are more powerful than I. Anyways, do you know why Lord Brahma has called upon us today?"

"I do not. I am assuming he wants to reward me for all of the battles I have won and deeds I have completed," Ravana says, overconfident.

Does he not realize that Lord Brahma wants to see me too? He is always all about himself. "Let us go then."

Ravana and I head to Lord Brahma's palace and are taken by his servants to meet Brahma. We appear before Lord Brahma and Ravana is the first to speak up; no surprise there.

"Good afternoon, Lord Brahma. I am so pleased to see you. I am here to serve whatever request you may have."

Lord Brahma speaks up. "Hello, Ravana and Kumbhakarna. You two are some of the most powerful and intelligent beings that I know. You have much that is deserving of a reward. For this reason, I am allowing each of you one favor from me. You may use it now, or you may never use it. It is up to you."

Before I get a chance to thank Lord Brahma, Ravana chimes in. "Oh great Brahma! Thank you so much for this. I shall use it wisely. I will not ask for something childish like my younger brother would do. Thank you again."

"Yes, thank you, Lord Brahma, for your kindness. This favor shall be used carefully," I say.

(Before Kumbhakarna and Ravana left, the dream suddenly skips ahead. The calmness that Kumbhakarna felt in his sleep was no longer there. A new feeling floods through him: Dread.)

THAT IS IT! I am no longer going to deal with my how my brother treats me. He thinks I would never use my strength against him, but what he does not realize is that I am more intelligent than him. I am going to use my favor that Lord Brahma gave me to make Ravana recognize that I am stronger, smarter, and more devout than he. I have had enough.

(As Kumbhakarna makes his way back to Lord Brahma's palace, the feeling of dread heightens.)

I am almost positive this is the way we came last time. I should hurry before that lightning storm catches up with me. (He finally arrives at the front gates of the palace and is greeted by a servant.)

"Hello, Kumbhakarna, Lord Brahma is expecting you," the servant says.

"Expecting me? I did not say that I was coming though."

"Lord Brahma knows all. Follow me," he says as he begins to lead me through the gate.

I do as he says and follow. We walk through many winding pathways. They seem to be never ending. We walk through door after door, each one different than the last, but they have similarities to them. We walk up countless flights of stairs and back down some more.

We pass through the gardens and it feels as if someone is watching me. I look around but see nothing. I continue to follow.

We pass through another set of doors and up more stairs. Something is not right here. Wait... We have been here before. I decide to speak up.

"Where are you taking me? This is not the way we came last time."

The servant stops. He says nothing.

He begins to laugh. Quiet at first, but progressing in volume.

"You fool. You are not as intelligent as Indra said you were," says the servant, but now in a female voice.

"Who are you?!"

I try to attack this fraud and end whatever trickery this is, but I cannot move. I am stuck. There is nothing I can do except watch. I can't even close my eyes.

Suddenly the servant turns around and begins to transform. The skin of the body that was there starts to tear. I can hear the skin ripping apart and the bones breaking as the trickster reveals herself. Saraswati emerges from the body, covered in blood. She smiles, showing hundreds of sharp teeth, almost like needles. She picks up the remains of the servant's body from the floor and tosses them aside.

"Much better," she says casually. As if she has done this before.

I finally realize that I am still able to speak. "Saraswati, what do you want?"

"It is not what I want. It is what Lord Indra wants. You are too powerful and he cannot allow someone to live who has the ability to defeat him. Because of this, he asked me to help. Now, you are going to go to Brahma and ask your favor, but instead of asking for whatever pointless thing you were going to ask, you are going to ask for endless sleep."

There is nothing I can do. I have no words. I am helpless. I am terrified.

She begins to laugh again.

The next thing I know I am standing outside of Lord Brahma's palace. I look around and Saraswati is gone. I must go home, I need to figure out a way out of this; however, something is wrong. I am still not in control of my body. I begin to walk inside the palace. My fate is sealed.

(As his nightmare ends, Kumbhakarna is drenched in a cold sweat. He is breathing fast and heavily, but still cannot awake. He is still trapped in his slumber.)

Author's Note: This is the story about how Kumbhakarna became cursed with sleep. I decided to write this story from the point of view of Kumbhakarna to give you more insight to who he was. Because the main theme of Storybook is dreams, I thought this specific story would work great as a nightmare. I was not able to get right into the nightmare because there was background information. Also, nightmares do not often start right away. There is always build-up for them, with the climax normally being where you would wake up; however, for Kumbhakarna's case, he cannot wake up. I think it would be terrifying not being able to wake up from a nightmare. Instead you would have to live through and not be able to calm yourself down by realizing it was all fake. That exact reason is why this story played so well into a nightmare.

There were a few changes I made to the story. The most significant is that Kumbhakarna's original favor was to ask to take Indra's place. To stop this, Saraswati tongue-tied him so that he said Nidra, who is the goddess of sleep, instead of Indra. I chose not to use this because I wanted to continue to show a brotherly dynamic between Kumbhakarna and Ravana. I did this in my other stories and I think it helps play into who Kumbhakarna really was. I also took out the third brother, Vibhishana. I do not believe he added to the overall story and he is not as well known as the other two, so I decided to take him out. I also skipped over the first incarnation of Kumbhakarna (Hiranyakashipu) because it would be more difficult to relate to someone who is lesser known.

Bibliography: Kumbhakarna: The Sleeping Giant. Comic Book.

Kumbhakarna. Wikipedia. Website

Image: Sleeping Kumbhakarna. Source: Wikimedia Commons