Reading Notes: W. D. Monro's "Rama & Sita" (Part B)

Today, I finished W. D. Monro's "Rama and Sita," and I completely loved it. Monro made it feel like a classic fairytale. The most interesting change I saw from PDE Ramayana was the ending. The ultimate end of "Rama and Sita" was the reunion of the royal couple, and everything was happily ever after, which is a fantastic change in my opinion. The drama when Rama decided he couldn't trust Sita's purity after trying to save her for so long was completely unnecessary. By having a simple, happy ending, Monro was able to let the tale come to a nice conclusion without sparking more conflict, only to end in the same conclusion as before.

The other thing I found interesting was that Monro decided to end "The Tale of Rama & Sita" with a verse translation from Valmiki's "Ramayana" by R. T. H. Griffith.

"Ten thousand years Ayodhya, blest

With Rama's Rule, had peace and rest.

No widow mourned her murdered mate,

No house was ever desolate.

The happy land no murrain knew,

The flocks and herd increased and grew.

The earth her kindly fruits supplied,

No harvest failed, no children died.

Unknown where want, disease, and crime:

So calm, so happy was the time."

The verse was a great ending because it added to the happily-ever-after mood of the story. Each line was describes good fortune all throughout Adyodhya and under Rama's reign as king, which simply reinforced the prior ending in prose.

In my story for this week, I was thinking about writing in an old-fashioned English fairytale style in prose OR verse in reference to Monro's work. I really liked how he executed the story from beginning to end, adding narrator commentary every once in a while. Another story idea may be to discuss these events in a perspective of a third party (not Rama and Sita) who is telling the story at an older age. OR I could potentially choose one perspective (either Rama or Sita) and have them tell their twins about how they met and how their father bravely fought to go save their mother. 

Sita & Her Children

Bibliography: W. D. Monro's "Rama and Sita"