Week 5 Story- The Birth of Athra

In the deepest of blues’, all the way down at the ocean floor, lived a flourishing kingdom. There was peace in this kingdom. There was life, color, and happiness. Every one did their job to ensure that the peace of their kingdom stayed in order. What was usually a quiet town, was somewhat flipped upside down today. The streets were full with the townspeople, half of them cleaning, and the other half decorating. The palace in the kingdom was expecting an arrival. This was no regular visitor, however. The arrival was that of something that had been growing in the town for nine months. Specifically, growing in the belly of Queen Amaya, wife of King Anado. When Queen Amaya learned that she was pregnant, she was overjoyed with the news of her first child. However, when the goddesses of the sea descended down to deliver a message just for the unborn child, Amaya knew that the life inside of her was greater than she was. The message that was delivered spoke of the prophecy that would be the child. This child would bring life to the deep oceans. This child, with the touch of their finger, could restore an ocean floor. When the king learned of this message, he sought out to prepare his kingdom for the greatest gift they had ever received. The plans were not shared with Queen Amaya, as the King wanted it to be kept secret until the day came for the child to be born. The day, however, had finally come. Amaya reported to her husband that it was time, and that she wanted to be taken to the spot where the child was going to be born. King Anando immediately ordered servants to come dress and prepare the Queen for her departure. Amaya was taken, and dressed in the finest of clothing, made from materials that naturally grew in their kingdom. Her long, flowing dress was woven with the softest of sea grass, and had the bountiful colors of the reefs woven in. She was given a new crown to wear, crafted from the finest coral they had. As she descended through the town to her birthing spot, she saw that every home had been cleaned and repainted, each a different color from the ocean floor. She was amazed as she arrived to her spot, hidden deep within the seabed, with all of the privacy she needed. This was King Anando’s plan, to welcome the child into the purest form of his or her new home. He wanted the child to enter into all of the beauty that was their home. At last, the arrival of their long expected visitor came, and Princess Athra was welcomed into their world. The town rejoiced, songs were sung, and dances were danced, as they knew that the one they had been waiting for a long time, the one that would bring all life and beauty to their town, had finally arrived.


Authors Note:
I decided to write this story after I read, “The birth of Siddhartha” in the Life of Buddha unit. In the original, it describes the birth of Siddhartha, beginning with Queen Maya. It describes how she was put in the finest jewels the town had, in preparation for the birth. The whole town was decorated with all of the gold and silvers, to ensure that the birth of Siddhartha, who was deemed as a prophecy before birth, would be born into the most elaborate setting. I was blown away with the amount of imagery and detail the author wrote the story in. I could picture everything he said in every line, which I thought was so interesting. This was my first swing at a writing style like that, so we will see where it goes.


Bibliography: Andre Ferdinand Herold, The Life of Buddha (1922),The Life of Buddha

Comments

  1. Hello Adriana!
    I loved your story! It's so sweet and pure and magical! You do an excellent job with your imagery and setting details! I could see everything you described and I felt like I was there! I thought your way of introducing the fact that the queen was pregnant was innovative and outside the box! I really enjoyed that! The only thing I would suggest for you would be to break up different ideas into paragraphs so your story reads and flows a little easier!
    I think you did a fantastic job with this writing style, setting and description is definitely one of your strong points!

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  2. I think you did a very good job with this story! You said that you were aiming for a higher level of imagery, and I believe you did achieve that. I like how you chose your characters’ names. Very clever. Honestly this just made me happy. The entire city was filled with joy for the queen and her new child. There were no bad intentions here. The king even went out of his way to make his wife’s day special. I feel that a lot of kings I read of in these stories give away their daughters to random men like they’re nothing. This one seems like he’ll treasure her.

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