Tales from the Ramayana

Tales from the Ramayana

published 2011
by Diana Hunter
All Rights Reserved

There are as many Ramayanas as there are grains of sand on the seashore. Here's one more...

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Content: Sweet


Excerpt from Tales from the Ramayana: Ram and Sita Meet
by Diana Hunter
All Rights Reserved

“But, Father! I don’t want to marry some old man. I want to marry for love.”

“You speak like a commoner’s child, Sita. You are my daughter, the daughter of the King of Mithila…you will marry where I tell you to marry!” King Janaka, ruler of entire armies, governor of thousands of lives, ran his fingers through his hair in frustration at the stubbornness of his eldest daughter. He shook his head. Somewhere in a past life he must have done something wrong for the gods to punish him with not one, but two beautiful daughters.

So beautiful, he’d always left the disciplining to their mothers. Too often he would start out correcting them…and end up having tea with their dolls or listening to the two of them sing a new song they’d learned.

But not today. Today he needed to be firm. Sita stood before him, her dark eyes flashing with temper and hurt. The temper he could manage…the hurt pained his heart. If it were up to him, he would never marry her off. Never force her to take on the terrible responsibilities for which she’d been trained. But he was king and, as his daughter, Sita was valuable property.

Still, he didn’t need to make it easy for the suitors who seemed to come out of the woodwork now that she had celebrated her fourteenth birthday. And that was why he’d hauled out Shiva’s bow and had it brought to the great hall of the palace.

He looked at his daughter, whose eyes glistened with unshed tears. He was really so proud of her, everything about her demure and correct…except when this independent streak raised its head. Janaka almost smiled to think of the handful some man would gain should any one of them be so lucky…or unlucky…to win the contest Janaka had proposed.

“Go to the garden and prepare yourself,” he commanded Sita, his tone gruffer than he would have liked. But now was not the time for weakness. Not with great men from all the surrounding kingdoms in his great hall just waiting for him to begin the test to see which of them would win Sita’s hand in marriage.

Reviews

"Diana Hunter....masterfully produced a whole new spin on a series of ancient stories passed down for generations. This collection will touch the hearts of all who read them."

~ ForeverReaderTH, Amazon Reviews

"The four short stories in this collection are fulled with romance, heroism, and love...expertly written."

~ B.L. Woodward, Amazon Reviews