Once upon a time, a Monkey named Hanuman was asleep under a palm tree.
Hanuman's favorite thing in the entire world was the Sun. One day, Hanuman was sitting down talking to the Sun. "Oh, great Sun," Hanuman said, "you that race across the sky every day and bring life and warmth to the earth, are you not tired?"
The Sun replied, "Very tired, my friend Hanuman. I am getting old, and I'm afraid I can't keep running across the sky for much longer."
Hanuman was very worried. What would happen if the sun stopped? Surely the world would be destroyed. He then started noticing that day was longer than usual, and the Sun didn't seem to move. Leaping to his feet, Hanuman began running as fast as he could.
Another Monkey saw him running, and called after him, "What are you running so fast for?"
"The sun has stopped running across the sky!" he cried.
The other Monkey ran after him, noticing the unusually long and unusually hot day.
Then Hanuman told the second Monkey, "Don't you know? The Sun is very tired!" And on he ran, and the second Monkey ran with him.
The next Monkey they met ran with them when he heard that the sun had stopped. One Monkey after another joined them until there were hundreds of Monkeys running as fast as they could go.
They passed a Deer, calling out to him that the sun had stopped. The Deer then ran with them. The Deer called to a Fox to come along because the sun had stopped. On and on they ran, and an Elephant joined them.
At this point, it was evident that the sun had stopped racing across the sky.
In unison, every animal started running with Hanuman, but once they got to the dark side of the earth, they were really cold, so they kept running, along with the animals from the dark side. Every single living thing, on the bright and dark side of the earth, ran with the Monkeys. They ran across the earth, from hot, to cold, to hot again.
They ran so fast that they could run over the water. They ran with such force that they carried the wind with them. They were so many, and their run was so mighty, that the earth itself started moving beneath their feet. It got to the point where the Lion noticed that they were no longer moving as they ran. The Lion roared three times. This stopped the animals, for they knew the voice of the King of Beast, and they feared him.
They all noticed that the earth was moving by itself and they did not have to run anymore. The animals and the sun were very relieved. The Lion wanted to thank the Hanuman for he had shown them that by working together, they had the power to move the world.
Hanuman was celebrated because his quick thinking had saved the world. Brahma himself congratulated Hanuman for his actions. Brahma said to Hanuman, "Courage, devotion, strength, selflessness, and righteous conduct I have always seen from you. May you live forever, so that you may instill those values on others." And with those words, Hanuman became immortal.
I had lots of fun writing this story. I wanted to change the message from the original story, The Foolish, Timid Rabbit, as well as changing the character to one of the Chiranjivi–Hanuman.
Hanuman was very fond of the Sun. The Sun was Hanuman's guru. There are plenty of stories of Hanuman and the sun. In one story, Hanuman, mistaking the Sun for a ripe fruit ,eats the Sun. There are several versions of the story and in one them, Indra, hits Hanuman in the jaw with a thunderbolt. Because of the connection between Hanuman and the Sun, I thought that this story would be very fitting.
In the original story, a Rabbit is just inducing mass panic by making other animals run until the Lion stops him. In my story, the main character is not a rabbit, but the Monkey God Hanuman.
I also changed the ending, making Hanuman the savior of the world. I made this into a kind of origin story for Hanuman. I only know Hanuman from the Ramayana, but I think this story also reflects a little bit of his personality.
For the original story, the purpose was to teach people not to blindly follow the actions that someone else is doing. For my story, I wanted to change the message. The main takeaway from my story is that anyone can start change, and with the power of other people, not only are you able to help someone, but you can move the world.
As the project progresses, we will explore other characters from the Chiranjivi.
The Foolish, Timid Rabbit - Story source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt.
Image Source: Hanuman from Pixabay