Siddhartha's father knew the damage he had done was the reason for his sons leaving. He knew that he could not go back and take back the things he said and change his sons mind. Knowing that his words could not be unsaid and the damage could not be undone, he went to get the carriage for Siddhartha and his lady.
The horse drawn carriage was to take Siddhartha and his lady far, far away until they could no longer see the town where their love was forbidden. As they hopped into the carriage, they rode away, never looking back.
Hours of traveling later, Siddhartha and his lady stopped at a nearby town to look for food and water. Once there, a very young girl asked them why they were traveling in her town. She told them, "This is a poor town and I've never seen a carriage like that before. I fear that you have come here out of desperation and that you are in trouble for people like you have never visited a town like this. Please, tell me the story of your leave."
"Young girl, I will tell you the troubles and the struggles we face but you must promise to keep them to yourself and never speak of this again for we don't want word getting back that we are on this path," said Siddhartha.
"My family has a strict rule of not dating until you are of a certain age. I was only 16 when I met Kara, the love of my life. At the time, I was too young to be in love, according to my parents, so they said I was forbidden from seeing her again. Though I tried to resist, I couldn't imagine life without her, even at 16 years old. I couldn't stay away and frankly, I didn't want to. She was the light of my life, we did everything together but I told my family that I wouldn't see her again. I even swore on it. We continued to see each other for two years until I was, under my parents rule, able to date. On my 18th birthday, I told my parents that I would again be seeing Kara and once again, they refused and told me that I was forbidden from her, not just until I was 18 but forever. Like I tried the one time, I wasn't able to leave her again and I promised myself that I wouldn't. My father gave me an ultimatum; either choose Kara and leave this town or never see her again and I will let you remain part of this family. In the end, I chose Kara, and that's how we ended up here now."
The little girl sat there with sadness in her eyes. She couldn't believe that someone would make their own child choose between family and love. She told Siddhartha and Kara that she admired them for risking it all for each other and running away together to be with the one that they loved.
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| Siddhartha's Departure |
Authors Note: I chose to retell the story of Siddhartha Leaves His Father's Palace for this week. The story intrigued me but I wanted to turn it into a sort of love story. Once I began writing, I just got carried away and lost my original inspiration for the story. The Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922).
I really enjoyed your version of this story. I liked how you viewed it from the perspective of a love story and how they ended up together even though he had to leave his family forever. I could feel the sadness in the little girl's eyes and heart from her response in the story. I think your telling of the story from this perspective could also represent how young teenagers feel about love and attraction in today's world.
ReplyDeleteI think the only thing I would have liked more about the story would be how they ended up living happily ever after. The story kind of ended without letting the reader know if they continued on with their journey and how the journey ended. Overall though, I really enjoyed reading it. I guess I'm a sucker for romantic love stories. :-)
I like your version of this story. It’s clearly very well written and flows in a natural pattern. I wish you had gone into a little further of an intro with Siddhartha back at his hometown. Your beginning was very abrupt and then you eased into your story. A different introduction could have made this more naturally occurring. I do like how you got lost in your writing and just let it happen though!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the story that you wrote. I didn’t get to read the original story but your rendition of it was great. I sometimes do the same thing and lose track of what I initially wanted to write about. It is very easy to do when you are writing. But sometimes I think that is how the best stories come about. I look forward to reading more of your stories in the future.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your story. I liked your inspiration for turning it into a love story. I'm all too familiar with winding up in a completely different direction from what you had initially planned for a story. Even so I felt that your story flowed really well and I could see a direction for it even if it wasn't what you originally intended.
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