Manu
Many years ago there was a small boy named Manu. His favorite thing in the whole world was to visit the small pond around the back of his house. He loved to look at all the different types of fish that lived there. All the fish loved when he would come to visit because he would talk with them and bring them pieces of bread.
One day, Manu went down to the little pond and as he got closer he noticed a commotion. There was a little fish that was stuck on land near the pond. All the fish were trying to help him back into the water but there was nothing they could do. Manu rushed to the little fish and gently put him back into the water.
"Thank you so much," the little fish said. "I was doing jumps out of the water and I accidentally jumped too close to the edge. Now my right fin isn't moving quite right."
Manu examined the little fish's fin and decided to take him to his parents. His parents told him he could keep the fish with him until he got better enough to go back to the pond. Manu was so excited and the fish was excited as well.
The fish was enjoying his time with the boy but after a few weeks he was getting too big for his little bowl. The little boy found a much larger bucket and put him inside of that instead. When the fish outgrew the bucket, the little boy moved him into the bathtub. This continued for weeks and months. Finally, the fish was too big to be kept in the little boy's house and his fin had healed completely so the little boy took the fish to the sea. The fish was very happy and made many new friends.
Every day after the boy had released the fish into the sea, it rained. It rained non-stop for weeks and soon the boy and his family were worried about the building flood waters. They returned to the fish and asked him if he would be willing to keep them safe if the flood waters continued to rise. The fish willingly accepted because he was so grateful for all the family had done for him.
The family built a boat that was able to attach to the fish and carry them away from the more dangerous waters approaching their house. Finally, one day the family decided it was time to board onto the boat. They gathered as many belongings as they could fit into the boat and went off to the sea. The fish was there waiting and they attached their boat and were off.
They stayed on the boat for over a month until finally the rain began to cease. Slowly the waters dropped and they began to see the land. When there was enough land available the family detached the boat and thanked the fish for all of his help. The family and the fish lived close to each other for many years and visited every day.
Author's note:
I really liked the original version of Manu. In the original, the little fish is escaping from a bigger fish and the king Manu saves him. I thought this was interesting because in a lot of the Hindu stories I had read the morals of the stories often revolved around how it isn't right to mess with the natural order of things. I have read stories where someone will try to save something from being eaten and it messes up the cycle of everything. So in this story I kind of changed that part a little. Most of the other parts of the story were true to the original story line! However there were differences like how the little boy is a king in the original, he takes 7 sages with him onto the boat. In my version it was just the boy and his family.
I liked this story because I think it taught an important message about helping others, even if you are very different. The boy's family and the fish helped each other in various situations and it even ended up paying off for both of them because of the good they had done. Also, I liked making Manu a little boy in the beginning because I think that's very accurate to the innocence and care that children often show to creatures they come into contact with. This is one of my favorite stories I have read so far and I definitely recommend it to anyone!
Manu
PASHU Animal Tales from Hindu Mythology
Devdutt Pattanaik
Image Source: Wikipedia, Manu & the Fish