When I entered, Rama was pacing the floor; he was waiting for
me. He looked up, saw me and stopped. He said nothing and I began to tell him
how I found Sita.
After shape-shifting into a cat, I wandered the dark streets
of Lanka for some time. I was disoriented and confused about my new body. I
finally found a dark alley where I could rest. Hopefully after a quick nap I
would feel more like myself. I curled up in the corner and quickly drifted into
a deep slumber.
 |
| (Personal Photo January 2015: What I pictured Hanuman to look like as a cat) |
After several hours, I was startled awake by someone yelling “Shoo,
scat, get out of here!” Disoriented and confused, I looked around; it had to be
me he was yelling at. Why was he yelling at me? There was no one else in sight. It had to be me. Unless he just enjoyed yelling and did this daily as a way to release stress. Nope, it was totally me he was yelling at. Appalled I thought, "Doesn’t he know I am Hanuman!" I took a step and tried to speak, but all that
came out was a meow. I tried again. “MEOWWW!” Shocked, I shook my head, while
the rakshasas continued to yell. Then it occurred to me that I was a cat! I meowed again, let out a hiss and ran out of the alley. Hissing is weird and made my throat itchy.
Figuring out how to move this new body was an odd
thing; it’s like my tail had a mind of
its own. Not to mention my voice, all I could do was….meow. I then realized I
was starving, as my belly rumbled. Food, where to find food?! The garbage was
really my only option. Back to the alley; there I saw a garbage can. Which way
had I come? I had been walking aimlessly trying to sort through my
thoughts. I stopped and decided I had
just made one big circle, so I continued… and I was right. The alley I had run from
was right around the corner. Luckily the rakshasas that yelled at me was gone. I could eat in peace.
I found some edible things, and soon my hunger was conquered.
All of a sudden I had the urge to lick my paws…and before I knew it…I was
LICKING MY PAWS! That body was so weird. Mental note: avoid shape shifting into a cat. Once I finished cleaning my paws and
face, I went back to the corner where I could see both ends of the alley. I had
to avoid as many people as possible if I was going to accomplish the task at
hand. I decided to rest there for the night; I would save Sita in the morning. As
I curled up, my tail kept twitching. It wouldn’t stop! I finally laid my paw on
top of it to keep it still. As I drifted off to sleep, my throat started making
this weird noise…. then I thought.... am I purring?!
Rama laughed and said..."Get on with the important part of the story!"
Rama laughed and said..."Get on with the important part of the story!"
Author's note:I chose
to tell this story from Hanuman's inner thoughts while he was a cat. This story
was really fun to write. Once I decided to write about Hanuman being a cat, I
spent some time observing my own cats. They are very agile and light on their
feet yet have this spunky little attitude that is each their own. Sometimes
sassy, and sometimes with an I couldn't-care-less attitude. Can you imagine being
able to shape shift into another creature and having to relearn how to move
your body?! In my opinion this is not something that would come naturally; you
would have to adjust and move differently as a shape shifter in a different
body. I wanted to pinpoint that aspect in my version of Hanuman's story. I also tried to make it seem like he was doing
things as a stray cat would in a place it had never been because he was
wandering the streets of Lanka. I really had a fun time writing this story and
I hope that shows through in the way I wrote the storyline. This story is taken from Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.
Shelly,
ReplyDeleteThis was a very creative take on this story! THroughout my storytelling I have fleshed out little details in the story that I found fascinating, such as Ravana's funeral and Sita and Hanuman's relationship. I love that you did that too! I really enjoyed Hanuman as a character and I liked that this story focused on him. This was a good story, good job!
Hi Shelly! I really enjoyed your story! I like that you took Hanuman’s perspective as a cat! I also wrote about Hanuman’s perspective as a cat several storytelling posts back and it is cool seeing how different our stories were even though we were writing on the same topic! You did a wonderful job with your descriptions and I like how you showed how weird it felt for Hanuman to be a cat!
ReplyDeleteGreat story. I really liked how you expanded on a minor detail of the story. Be careful not to be repetitive in your descriptive words. I thought I had read the same sentence twice at one point. What you wrote was exactly what I would expect someone to sound like if they had just transformed into a cat. I always wondered how Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter felt when she transformed into a cat, and now I have a bit more of an understanding.
ReplyDeleteHi Shelly! This was a very fun story to read, as I'm sure it was just as fun to write. I love how you portrayed Hanuman's cat-like reactions to things. It was very engaging. I don't have a cat because I'm allergic, but I love the unique personalities they have, and I think you conveyed that well in your story. I always found it interesting that Hanuman turned into a cat when he entered Lanka. I wonder how things would have changed if he became a mouse, a dog, or a bird instead. Overall, this was a great story!
ReplyDeleteShelly, I thought this was a really fun take on the story! I like how you shape shifted Hanuman to a cat, and I thought you did a great job at including cat-like reactions and personality to Hanuman. I like that you told it from Hanuman's perspective as well, which kept me engaged and interested in the story. It was a very unique take on the story--and I bet it was fun to write! I think you did a great job at developing the character and telling how Hanuman felt as he was figuring out his new shape and body form of a cat.
ReplyDeleteThe only suggestion I have is to watch your word choice and sentences in the story. Some of your word choices should be changed to make a little more sense (for example, in the first sentence you say: "After shape shifting into a cat I wondered the dark street..." and I think wondered should be wandered). I also think some sentences are really repetitive, so cutting that repetition out can help with the overall flow of the story. But I thought you did a great job and I can't wait to read more from you!
Hi Shelly,
ReplyDeleteI picked the same story for my portfolio! It was a very fun story to create for me as well. Your introduction paragraph was too funny! Starting off with a cat nap seems fitting. I think you did a great job of showing the transformation to a cat and the changes associated with it. You were very detailed with Hanuman’s new actions as a cat. I think you did a great job illustrating how awkward it was for Hanuman to become a cat and learn to move around with a new body. This really helped to paint a great picture for your reader. I used my cat for inspiration with my story as well haha. I found one minor error in the last paragraph. “All the sudden I had the urge….” All of a sudden would work instead. I think you did a great job with your story. It was quite enjoyable to read. Have a great spring break!
Hey Shelly,
ReplyDeleteI've actually read another story on Hanuman's travels as a cat and I'm starting to wish I did it too since there's so much you can do with it so first off, good job with choosing that and doing a good job of how you wrote it out. I really like how you explained how it feels to transform into the body of a cat and his thought process through the whole event. I also like how you thought about your own cat (in the author's note, as you said) and used to learn how cats are. All in all, good job!
Hey Shelly!
ReplyDeleteI loved this story! I thought it was a great concept! I actually wrote a similar story to this! Though your story was much more enjoyable to read then my story was! I agree with you that it would be difficult to learn to behave like an animal that you shapeshift into because you would have to learn all of their mannerisms. I thought it was awesome that you observed your cats when you made this story! Great job!!
Hi Shelly!
ReplyDeleteThis was a very creative adaptation of Hanuman's adventure in Lanka. I think it was neat that you chose to include a personal photo of one of your cats to display how you envisioned Hanuman as a cat. I think people often associate a familiar person or creature with a character they read about in a story.
Hanuman's sporadic thoughts reminded me of my sister's cat that used to walk aimlessly around the house. I also wondered if it had a purpose or if it was just bored and decided to wander around. I think you did a great job of portraying how different and strange it must have felt for Hanuman as he walked around in an unfamiliar body. I am sure a monkey would certainly feel out of sorts if it is Gan to meow and purr.
You did a great job with this story and I look forward to reading some more from your portfolio before the end of the semester.
Hi Shelly! I love cats! This is one of my favorite tales as well. I was so excited to get to read your version of it. First of all, is that your kitty? He/she is so precious! My brother has an all black cat. People are generally scared of them because of their superstitions but they are some of the pretty cats. Yours fits right along into that. Beautiful! So that was off subject, but I like in your story Hanuman decides to nap first. That is so cat like. They are always sleeping! I like how you really used cat like details, but it seems like you forgot why Hanuman was even in Lanka to begin with. However, this is your story so tell it how you want to. I just think it would have also been interesting to hear about what else he saw as well. Overall, great job. I love all the cat details.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fun way to engage the reader in Hanuman's experiences as a cat. Your use of different kinds and lengths of sentences makes for a refreshing read and helps in portraying Hanuman's comical personality.
ReplyDeleteIn the second paragraph after the photo, I would change "it's" to "it was like my tail had a mind of its own." to match the tense of the rest of the sentence. In the second to last sentence of that same paragraph, I would change "rakshasas" to "rakshasa," i.e. rakshasas were, rakshasa was.
I can definitely tell you had fun with this story :) it was cute!
One thing I think that could improve the style of this story, is while he is telling Rama the story, instead of saying thoughts outright as they would've occurred while he was a cat, I think it would make more sense for Hanuman to say things like, "I thought to myself" or something to that effect.
Shelly, I decided to read “Hanuman the Cat” by reading the title. It’s such an interesting title. I couldn’t wait to find out what the story would be about. So far, I think this is the most original and creative story I have read in this class. Hanuman as a cat is such an interesting idea. I cannot imagine Hanuman’s personality fitting into a cat’s body which you showed through your story- so much sass!
ReplyDeleteI loved how you expanded on a small part of the story. I enjoyed reading this story just as much as you might’ve enjoyed writing it. It was an easy, fun read. Great work!
Hopefully after a quick nap, I would feel more like myself. >>Comma after nap
This was the only grammatical error I found in the story.
I loved that you wrote about Humanan’s thoughts when he was a cat. It was so fun to read! It’s a little strange to morph into a completely different body I can only imagine how awkward it must have been to get used to a new cat-body! The details were so great. You captured the thoughts of becoming a cat so well. That little detail about his tail having a “mind of its own” completely cracked me up. Anyone who has seen a cat has definitely wondered why in the world they can never seem to keep their tail still. I swear it moves in the complete opposite direction of the rest of a cat’s body half the time!
ReplyDeleteI feel that the two sentences “I was disoriented and confused about my new body.” and “ I finally found a dark alley where I could rest.” would do better as one combined sentence. It is a little choppy as is.
I loved reading your story! Good job!