Storytelling Week 10: Drona's Despair

           At first, the words do not fully hit you until a few moments later because you cannot believe that something so horrific could actually be possible.  A million terrible thoughts crawled through my mind as I was told that my son had been killed.  A father should never have to see his son die before him.  To lose a child is one of the most painful experiences that no one should ever have to experience.  It was as if I had lost apart of myself.  In a moment, I had lost everything that I had to live for.  My mouth became dry, and I was unable to speak.  I do not believe that I even had the will to cry because I was so incredibly shocked.  I had no desire to be on this earth any longer.  I was fully prepared to die and leave this world that my son had so cruelly been evicted from.

Before this incident, I was invincible.  Nothing could stop me—no man, no beast, no weapon, no god, and no amount of power could stop my destruction.  However, it was this very instance that broke me.  It broke my will to live, my spirit, my hopes, and my plans.  I shriveled into nothing, absolute nothing.  There are no other words to explain how I felt in that very moment.  No word, no matter how powerful, could describe the type of pain that ran through my mind.  No measurement could be taken to understand the amount of pain that came with this terrible news.  The only word that comes to mind when I try to describe how I feel is nothing.  Nothing to live for and absolutely nothing left to die for.  With that thought, I began to take off my armor as tears stung my eyes and began to silently roll down my cheeks and onto the floor.  I noticed a man quietly standing behind me, waiting for the right moment, and I knew that he would have no hesitation in taking my life.  In a funny way, I was thankful.  I was thankful that someone was there to end my suffering and misery.  I had no desire to breathe the air of this world unless my son was also inhaling it.  Once I was finished with my amour, I got to my knees and bowed my head waiting for that final blow to bring relief.  

Drona during the war.  Source: Wikipedia.

Author’s Note

For this story, I wanted to give Drona a voice when he hears that his son was killed.  I know that within the original, Drona would never have had time to have much inner dialogue with himself besides the obvious despair of losing his son.  However, I just wanted to elaborate on a father’s thoughts after he has lost a child.  The story is true to the plot.

Bibliography

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Storytelling Week 9: Shantanu's Misfortune

When I first saw her by the river, I knew she was the woman whom I wanted to marry and mother my children.  She was absolutely beautiful with long, soft waves, like the water on a calm morning by the ocean, of rich dark hair that fell to her lower back.  Her olive skin looked softer than any piece of fine silk, and her eyes were a mesmerizing sepia color that would cause any noble man to become speechless.  She noticed me watching her from some trees not too far from the river bank.  She smiled and waved for me to walk over.  We didn’t speak much.  In fact, I never even asked for her name; however, I was so captivated by her beauty and charm that I asked her to become my wife.  Without any hesitation she assuredly said yes. 

Before I could fully take in my happiness and fortune at finding such a great beauty to be my wife, she made a demand that forced to uphold or else she would not agree to be my wife.  Furthermore, if I ever broke this promise during our marriage, our marriage would be over.  No matter what she did, at any time, I would never question her or her actions.  At the time, I thought nothing of this request.  I only thought of wedding this beautiful being before me and starting a family with her.  To me, this powerful request was an act of a woman ensuring her safety, happiness, and freedom within a marriage to a king.  For this reason, I quickly agreed to her demands.

A few days later, we were married in an elaborate wedding full of food, lights, and entertainment, and only a few months later, my wife was pregnant.  I was so elated to be a father and have an heir to my kingdom.  It was the most joyous time of my life.  Never throughout the first few months of our marriage did she do anything that would have caused concern.  In fact, she was a perfect wife who was humble and supportive.  She was a virtuous queen, and everyone within the kingdom adored her. 

Once our first child was born, we were overwhelmed with happiness.  I couldn’t wait to watch this child grow; however, my wish never came true.  After only a few months, my wife took our child to the Ganga River and drowned him.  I couldn’t believe that such an act was possible.  How could my beautiful wife who had never shown a harmful trait kill our innocent child?  I was heartbroken but I kept my silence in order to keep my marriage.  I thought that perhaps this was a one-time occurrence, or a test to see if I would truly hold to my promise.  However, my wife went on to kill six more of our children.  Once she became pregnant with our eighth child, I could no longer remain passive.  I knew that I had to destroy my marriage to save my child’s life.  

Giving her up was a difficult decision, but I had to save my child.  Every time I would hold him in my arms, I looked into his eyes and I saw myself.  I couldn’t handle seeing him die like the others.  I just couldn’t.

Shantanu meeting a beautiful women by the Ganga River.  Source: Wikipedia.

Author’s Note

For this week, I chose to tell the beginning of the Mahabharata where Shantanu meets Ganga, marries her, and discovers that she is drowning their children.  Within the original, Shantanu never questions or forbids Ganga to do this because of a promise that he made to her before they were married.  Essentially, I found it just so interesting for an individual to remain quiet while his children are murdered.  For this reason, I wanted to focus on Shantanu’s perspective and inner dialogue throughout these events.  I wanted to capture his fascination with Ganga and her beauty, which had an effect on him giving her whatever she asked for in order to become his wife.  I chose to have no dialogue within my story because I felt that it would distract from Shantanu’s thoughts, and the original gives some dialogue from the characters.  For these reasons, I felt that it was not needed.  I also chose to end this story before Ganga reveals her true actions because I wanted the sole focus to be on Shantanu’s thoughts while he sees his wife go from a good woman to the killer of his children.  While the story is very true to the original, I did expand on some details.  For example, within the original, their first child is given no specific gender, and Ganga is merely described as beautiful without any detail. 

Bibliography

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Storytelling Week 7: Lakshmana's Dilemma

             When I entered that room, I never expected to hear what he said.  His face was turned away, but I could see the tension in body.  His hands never relaxed their nervous grasp from the window’s ledge.  There was no color in face.  There was no life within his eyes.  He looked as if he just heard that he would die a painful death in a few days and instead of living it to the fullest, he collapsed emotionally.  Finally after a few moments of him trying to speak through quivering lips, he spoke.

            “Lakshmana, will you do something for me.  Before you say anything, I need you to promise me that you will do whatever I say,” he begged.

            “Rama, you know that I will always do whatever you ask of me.  You are my brother…you are my closest friend.  I would never imagine disobeying you.  The loyalty we share is worth more than…than anything.  Why do you think that I would betray you in such a way?”

            “I need you to do something that is very difficult for me to ask of you,” he struggled as he desperately tried to fight the sting of tears.

            “What?” I asked softly as I reached out to place a hand on his forearm.

            “Tomorrow, Sita expects to go to the forest.  I need you to take Sita to the Ganga River tomorrow, and desert her,” he said harshly.

            “What? How can you ask me to do something like that?  She’s pregnant with your child.  What do you expect to become of her?  She may die.  She may kill herself.”

            “The people of Ayodhya speak harshly of her.  They wonder why any man, any king would embrace a woman who was touched by another man.”

            “You mean Ravana?  But her innocence was proven through the fire.  Surely, you won’t let ignorant men determine your life.”

            He again turned his back to me.  “One crack in the foundation leads to the destruction of a house.  As a king, I cannot let there be one fault in my kingdom.”

            “Don’t talk to me in metaphors,” I snapped.  “This is your life.  She is your wife…the mother of your unborn child.”

            “Are you going to do this or not?” he coldly asked.

            “You just want me to…to leave her?  That’s it, right?”

            “Yes,” he muttered.

            “Rama, I would never want to disobey you, but this…this is something that I never thought I would have to do.  I don’t know what’s right or what’s wrong.  Hopefully, you do,” I said as I walked away.

Sunset on the Ganga River.  Source: Wikimedia

Author’s Note

For this storytelling blog, I wanted to Rama discussing Sita’s abandonment with Lakshmana through Lakshmana’s perspective.  Within the Ramayana, Rama decides that it is best for the kingdom of Ayodhya to abandon Sita.  Within the original, Lakshmana is hurt by Rama’s decision, but I was a bit upset that Lakshmana argue that much Rama’s decision to abandon his pregnant wife.  Through my story, I wanted to capture this dialogue between Rama and Lakshmana.  However, I wanted to stretch Lakshmana’s resentment towards such an idea.  Other than this obvious stretching of Lakshmana’s thoughts, the story is true to the original plot. 

Bibliography

Buck, William (1976).  Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Storytelling Week 5: The Valakhilyas' Plea

They come during the night in great hordes devouring any creature in their path.  They have destroyed us in so many ways.  We cannot go out anymore.  We are truly prisoners within our own forest, our own home.  The Rakshasas have taken everything away from us by destroying our safety. 

            They are horrible beasts who come in all forms.  Some stand taller than the trees of the forest with hands and feet that destroy any life.  Others crawl and slide on their stomachs, slurping up any creature on the ground with long tongues that have viscous spikes attached to them.  Some can even fly, picking up small animals by their necks and quickly crushing them.  But the most dangerous Rakshasas are the fast ones.  They can sprint on all fours or just two legs.  They have hands with a large claw used for gripping, tearing, and killing.  There are also Rakshasas with large red eyes, tiny black eyes, and some who have no eyes, only black pits that give no hint of a soul.  However, all of the monstrous Rakshasas that inhabit our forest have an unquenchable blood lust.  They stop at nothing.  They have no boundaries.  They only care about feeding on weaker creatures like us and they are never satisfied. 

            The things they do to creatures...terrible things that cannot be imagined by a sane mind.  We have witnessed our own being skinned alive without hesitation from the Rakshasas.  At first, they were fast deaths followed by fast consumption, only leaving piles of bones.  But they became hungry for suffering.  They tortured our people, played with them before feasting.  Now, they skin their victims alive slowly, tearing inches of skin off one piece at a time.  The screams are something that no one has ever heard before.  We are not sure if they are the screams of the poor creature who is dying or the Rakshasa.   They are agonizing and painful to hear.  None of us can forget those horrific sounds and some of us hear these screams in our sleep.  We cannot imagine how the Valakhilya who is dying must feel, and we never want to. 

            During the day, when we scavenge for food, we find bones, so many bones.  They are stripped of flesh.  Some are even hollow as if the Rakshasas have sipped the marrow from every bone.  You cannot imagine how many piles of bones we find.  We find small bones from our own kind and larger bones from humans, birds, deer, bears, and tigers.  Some piles have smaller Rakshasas within them.  How can such ruthless creatures who lust for death and blood even from one of their own exist.  If they can kill their own, they will surely destroy every trace of us, the small and innocent Valakhilya. 

            Rama, we are scared, terrified.  The life we live now is hopeless and meaningless because we know that a cruel and torturous existence is all that is left.  Please, Rama!  You cannot deny us our safety, our lives.  If you do not help us, we will die either from the Rakshasas or from our hopelessness.  

A Rakshasa depicted in the art of Yakshagana.  Source:Wikipedia.

Author’s Note

For this week, I wanted to retell the Valakhilyas’ plea to Rama.  Rama meets the Valakhilyas, who are tiny sages, in the Dandaka forest after his exile.  Within Buck’s version of the Ramayana, I found his use of detail and description of the Rakshasas from the perspective of Valakhilyas very intriguing.  However, I wished that there would have been more detail on what the Rakshasas did to the Valakhilyas and other beings within the forest.  For these reasons, I wanted to expand this detail in order to show how horrific these creatures really are.  I mainly did this by giving more detail and description of the type of destruction and fear the Valakhilyas have to deal with.  Overall, I wanted to expand this section of the Ramayana.  I didn’t include the dialogue from Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita because that was not what I wanted to focus on.  Instead, I just wanted to convey the type of distress that the Valakhilyas have to endure.  Essentially, I wanted to make it thematic, descriptive, and highly detailed.  At times, I did struggle because I didn’t want to sound too redundant.  I don’t believe that I was, but if you feel like some parts are redundant please tell me.  This retelling of the Valakhilyas’ plea is true to plot. 

Bibliography

Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Storytelling Week 4: Valmiki and Narada

            Valmiki was sitting quietly by the river, only opening his eyes to see the world around him.  By now, the anthill had covered the majority of his body.  The only body part that could be seen was his eyes.  Valmiki had planned to stay this way for another thousand years and possibly forever. 

            However, one day, Narada flew down from Heaven and asked, “Valmiki, will you help me?”

            “No, I’m too comfortable, and besides, the world offers me nothing that I cannot get by sitting within anthill,” Valmiki replied abruptly.

            “What can I say to you to make you do something besides live within that anthill?”

            “You really want to know what can make me move from this anthill?  Name one person, in the entire world, in the entire history of the world, who is honest,” Valmiki growled to Narada.

            “Rama,” Narada said smugly as he looked at the ground.

            “Rama?” Valmiki asked confused.  “Who is Rama?”

            “Rama is the ruler of Ayodhya.  He is the defeater of great Rakshasas such as Ravana and he is the only honest man the world has known.”

            “Why should I care about Rama?” Valmiki asked annoyed.

            “Perhaps you shouldn’t care about Rama, but you should care about his queen Sita, who has been abandoned by Rama.  If you do not comfort her when she arrives, she will surely commit suicide by throwing herself into the Ganga River,” Narada hastened in one breath.

            “Well, what did she do wrong?” Valmiki asked concerned.

            “Nothing,” said Narada shortly.  “She is the most virtuous and noble woman in the world who has been beside Rama through hardships such as exile and the death of his father.  She has done absolutely nothing wrong in her entire life,” Narada declared with pride.

            “Then why has she been abandoned?” Valmiki yelled, now even more confused.

            “Oh, well, the people of Ayodhya don’t like her so it is Rama’s duty as king that he abandon her.”

            “What?  You mean after all that, she gets tossed aside by the most honest man in the world, in the entire history of the world?”

            “Valmiki, I said he was honest, not a great husband.  So, will you help her?”  Narada begged.

            Without a word, Valmiki stood up and began to shake the dirt off that had previously covered his entire body.  He walked towards the river to rescue to Sita, thinking what mess this whole situation was to his search for peace.

Author’s Note

             I chose to tell the beginning of Buck’s version of the Ramayana.  I wanted to update the dialogue between Valmiki and Narada but I also wanted to focus on Sita’s situation, which is why I decided to leave out Valmiki’s duty of teaching the Ramayana to Rama’s sons.  My goal was to have a character who had a similar reaction about Sita’s abandonment to my own.  I just thought, “Really Rama? This is what you do to Sita after she has been beside you through everything?”  I know it’s only a story, but I liked the idea of Valmiki thinking that this situation doesn’t make much sense.  Other than leaving out Valmiki teaching the Ramayana to Rama’s sons, the rest of the story is true to the plot.

Valmiki.  Source: Wikipedia

Bibliography
             Buck, William (1976).  Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Week 3 Storytelling: Sita's Trial

            After months of existing in that place, feeling miserable, and living in fear, I was reunited with him.  From fourteen years of exile to months of abduction and war, we were together again.  I received a message to dress in my finest clothes.  I had never been so excited in my life.  It reminded me of the first day I met Rama.  My stomach dropped.  I felt weightless but so intense at the same time.  I couldn’t wait any longer to be in his embrace.  Just to be in his presence was enough to satisfy my ache at the moment.

            Once I arrived, I saw him.  The biggest smile flew across my face.  My eyes even started to sting with raw tears.  I just couldn’t wait any longer to be apart from Rama.  Before I approached him, I told myself that we would never be apart again.  I wanted to run and leap into his arms but I knew that would be inappropriate.  Instead, I walked slowly and hated every second of it.  When I finally stood before Rama, I couldn’t wait for him to hold me.  All I wanted was his touch.

            Instead of Rama holding or kissing me, or even him lightly touching my arm, Rama looked at me without emotion.  At that moment, my world collapsed.  I threw myself at his feet, begging for him to love me as he did before.  But he said nothing for several minutes.  Then the cruelest words came from his mouth.  He couldn’t trust me.  Rama accused me of doing the worst possible thing to any husband.  I had stood by his side through all these years and all these trials, but he needed me to prove myself again.  I didn’t understand why this was happening to me.  I did everything I could do to impress Rama.  Rama was the only reason why I wanted to live, but he threw me away without hesitation.  I didn’t want to live anymore.  My soul died in that very moment.  I had lived for Rama for so long that I didn’t know how to live for myself.  The only thing that I could do next was prove myself or die.  

          Once the fire was started, I was fully prepared to leave this life or prove to Rama that I was still virtuous.  After I came out of the fire, I thought everything would go back to normal for Rama and me, but it didn’t.  I didn’t feel the same.  I would have never questioned Rama if he had been the same situation, but he questioned me.  He immediately took me into his arms and declared me pure, but I never felt the same about him.  I thought I wanted to die without him, but now, I never wanted to live my life for him as I had done before.  Everything had changed.  He wasn’t the man I had fallen in love with, and I wasn’t the woman who had dedicated her entire life to him.

Sita enduring the trial by fire to prove her purity to Rama. Source: Wikipedia.

Author's Note

Sita is on trial because Rama must declare that her purity and virtue are not tarnished due to living with Ravana. Ultimately, the trial is done to stop the doubt that everyone must have about her living with another man. Within the original story, Narayan describes the trial from a third person perspective.  He also includes that it is the god Agni who stops her from being burned.  I left this out because I wanted to make the story realistic.  I wanted to focus on Sita’s perspective through the whole ordeal. I didn’t want to include dialogue within this story because I wanted the sole focus to be on Sita’s feelings of being betrayed by a man that she has devoted her life to. I felt that dialogue would take focus away from her thoughts. Of course, I understand that within the Ramayana this trial was done to appease the doubts of everyone else, but surely, Sita would have felt a bit sad. Aside from changing the point of view from this section, I also added Sita feeling hurt by this ordeal. Within the original, Sita and Rama’s relationship never changes due to this situation. However, within my story I wanted to show that she is so hurt by this that she is changed forever from being completely devoted to Rama. Other than these major changes, the rest of my story is true to the plot.

Bibliography

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.

Storytelling Week 2: The Case of Thataka

“Let’s go,” Viswamithra shouted to Rama and Lakshmana, waking them up.

It was hard to believe that Rama and Lakshmana had managed to fall asleep in the crowded police car before they were expected to leave on their next assignment at dawn.  Viswamithra jumped into the driver’s seat and began to drive to Wasteland. 

Rama and Lakshmana had only been on the force for a few months, but Viswamithra had demanded that the two come on this assignment.  Without question, Rama and Lakshmana took the case but still questioned why they were chosen to go to Wasteland.  The Wasteland was a notorious trailer park that was avoided by cops because of the heavy drug use.  For this reason, the two rookies couldn’t believe that there was an assignment in this part of their district.

After a few minutes of riding in silence, Rama asked, “Viswamithra, what are we doing in Wasteland?”

            “We’re going to arrest a major dealer.”

“What!” Rama and Lakshmana both exclaimed.

“Are you sure that we should be on this assignment?” asked Lakshmana.

            “Yes,” Viswamithra answered plainly. 

After a long pause Rama asked, “Well, how are we taking him in?”

“He is a she, and her name is Thataka.  She’s sixty-five years old and a mother of two.”

“Really? Rare for a woman to be on the dealing side,” Rama said puzzled. 

“I know but don’t be deceived by her gender.  She’s been in this game for many years.”

“Years? How does a woman get into the drug business?” asked Lakshmana shocked.

            “To be honest,” Viswamithra started, “I don’t know the entire story but I do know enough.  She was from a pretty nice family but at about sixteen, she got pregnant by this regular hood rat named Sunda.  Thataka's parents disowned her, one kid turns into two.  How can a teenage mom and deadbeat dad support themselves and two kids? Sell cheap drugs.  Sunda was the main dealer, and she did whatever he asked.  I guess that’s how it all started.”

            "Well, how did she become a big dealer?" Rama asked annoyed.

“I suppose,” Viswamithra continued, “everything went okay until her sons Mareecha and Subahu were reported selling drugs around their high school.  The police followed the drugs back to their father and a few weeks later, the police set up a sting.  During the sting, things went bad, and there was a shootout.  Sunda was shot and killed, but then his sons joined in and killed three cops.  At the end of the day, four people were dead, Mareecha and Subahu were arrested on multiple felony counts, and Thataka was left alone in that trailer house.  She never graduated from high school.  All she knew was how to make easy money through dealing.  So, that’s what she did and she became the number one dealer in Wasteland, and Wasteland became the number one place to rot.  All these drugs and the people they create, no wonder this place can’t sustain any life.”

After a couple minutes of silence, Rama asked, “There’s one thing I still don’t get.  Why didn’t they arrest Thataka along with her sons?  They would’ve had to know she was a part of it.”

 “Simple, she was a woman,” Viswamithra said just as he put the car in park.  “Let’s go.”

An older cop car model from the Gorillaz music video "Stylo." Source:Wikipedia.

Author’s Note

For this post, I wanted to update “Thataka’s Story” with a contemporary setting and focus on crime, which is something that we can all relate to.  I only wanted to focus on Viswamithra telling Rama and Lakshmana her story and their reaction to it.  Within the original, I found Thataka’s back-story more interesting than the scene where she is killed.  She is described as someone who falls from a goddess to a demon.  Through this story, I wanted to explain why she fell and what really happened to her and her family.  Furthermore, her story allowed for so much creativity, and I felt like I could do the most with her back-story.  I wanted to show her suffering and how these choices led to her being alone, which is why I chose to have her sons leave.  Within the original story, she seems like a bitter and lonely woman.  For these reasons, I chose to not include Rama killing Thataka.  I chose the crime of drug dealing because the type of destruction it does to communities paralleled nicely to the type of destruction Thataka does to the land.  Within the original story, Mareecha and Subahu are a bad influence over their father, and Thataka and Sunda get married and then have children.  Other than these two changes, the rest of my story is true to plot.   

Bibliography

Narayan, R. K. (1972).  The Ramayana

Storytelling Week 1: "The Owl and The Grasshopper"

In a forest far from civilization, there was an old owl.  The owl had grown cranky with age.  She would grouch and yell at other forest creatures that annoyed or angered her.  This was especially true when her sleep was disturbed, which was often because owls sleep during the day.

One day in the midst of her sleep, the owl was awoken by a grasshopper singing a loud, happy song.

Spotted owl peeking out from den. Source: Wikipedia

Infuriated, the owl yelled “What are you doing? I’m trying to sleep! Go away if you want to sing!”

“No.  I want to sing a beautiful song right here.  You can’t make me leave,” the young grasshopper laughed.

Seeing the grasshopper’s stubbornness, the old owl decided that arguing further would lead to no peaceful resolution.  She decided the only way to get the grasshopper to stop would be to eat him, but she could not fly down to him because of her poor eyesight during the day.  Due to this, the owl came up with a cunning plan.

“Well, since you won’t leave and let me sleep in peace come closer so I can fully enjoy your beautiful song.”

Upon hearing such flattery from the old grump, the grasshopper was pleasantly surprised and immediately started jumping towards the owl’s home in the oak tree.  However, about half way there, the grasshopper thought the owl’s change in attitude was odd because of her sour reputation known throughout the forest.  For this reason, he stopped and began to sing again.

“Oh, that is not close enough for me to fully appreciate your musical talents.  Please, come closer,” begged the owl sweetly.

Once again, this flattery struck the grasshopper, who was often shunned by his family and friends for singing too loud.  As a result, the grasshopper quickly began to hop closer to the owl’s home.

Still suspicious, the grasshopper just stopped short of being directly in front of the opening in the tree and once again began to sing.

“Oh no, you must let me see you as you perform.  A skilled musician such as yourself can only be truly appreciated when seen up close.  A live performance is just ruined when the performer cannot be seen.”

Instantly, the grasshopper threw away all of his previous concerns because he was so flattered and excited to finally be appreciated by others.  He immediately jumped in front of the opening and even hopped inside.  Before he could even begin to sing, the owl gobbled him up.  Content and full, the owl fell fast asleep.

Author’s Note

The original plot of “The Owl and the Grasshopper” is similar to my retelling.  A grumpy, old owl becomes irritated when a grasshopper interrupts her sleep by singing.  She asks him to stop, but he will not.  She then decides the only way to get back to sleep is to eat the grasshopper, but her eyesight is terrible during the day.  For this reason, she must trick him into getting close enough so that she can eat him without moving.  The owl decides to do this through flattery.  Once he is complimented, the grasshopper immediately goes into the owl’s home and is eaten. 

I decided to add more detail to the story such as giving some background information on the owl and expanding how much flattery the owl gives in order to trick the grasshopper. Within the original story, the owl only compliments the grasshopper once, but I decided to create more dialogue and attempts at flattery.  For this reason, I added the grasshopper’s skepticism towards such out of character flattery as well as describing the grasshopper as someone who is not often appreciated for his musical talent.

Bibliography

“The Owl and the Grasshopper” by (anonymous), illustrated by Milo Winter from Aesop for Children (1919). Web Source: The Project Gutenberg