There was once a group of three pirates named Rusty, Grayson, and Deana. Rusty was next in line under his father, Eduardo Estevan, to be the captain of his ship called The Wolfeburn. Grayson was his best friend and right hand man on the ship. Deana was one of the two women that were allowed to be pirates on their ship. The men ran this ship for twenty years before allowing women aboard. Rusty met her when they were on shore in a small town in the Caribbean. They fell in love instantly so he brought her along, knowing he wouldn’t be able to continue on without her. Eduardo made a promise to a woman named Missy, his old mistress, regarding the future of his ship but the outcome of the promise was to send Rusty to a desert island for four years. Missy hated Rusty and eagerly sent him away at the first chance she got. This broke Eduardo’s heart but he knew it had to be done. Rusty was allowed to bring Grayson and Deana with him to help him survive on the island. Eduardo saw the island of Gllewedwyynd in the distance and knew the time was coming. They said their goodbyes and Rusty reassured his father they he would see him again in just four short years.
While on the island, they found that survival came a lot easier than they thought. One day while she was looking for some food, Deana saw the most beautiful golden bird. She thought that one of the feathers would make the most beautiful necklace that could remind her of home. The lorikeet bird was the national animal from her country, Clank. She woke up to their song every morning. When she saw a golden one, she was instantly in love with it. She came back to Rusty and told him about the bird and that she would be so overjoyed to have one of this bird's feathers.
Rusty went out in search of this bird to get a feather for his love. When he got to the bird, it began to attack him and he realized that instead of taking a feather he would kill it and have all of the feathers. Right before the bird died, a human appeared. It was the righthand man, Tel Edwards, of their biggest enemy named Don Pedro. Don knew where Rusty was being marooned and wanted nothing more than to kill him. Tel was a shapeshifter so he disguised him as a golden lorikeet and had him fly over. He was going to try to bite them in their sleep and get rid of them from the seas for good instead of just four years. As he was dying, he changed his voice and cried out in fear in Rusty’s voice to scare Deana. He then died and Rusty was able to bring the feathers of the bird to her. She was so sad when she realized that the bird was actually a villain, but was happy that she got a feather and felt safer now that he was gone. 
Image Information: Photo of Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth on the desert island, inspiration for my story taken from Jack Sparrow Gallery
Author's Note: This was a retelling of The Golden Bird from the Ramayana unit. The original story takes place while Rama and Sita are exiled in the jungle. Ravana's brother Maricha takes the form of a golden deer and runs past Sita. Sita asks Rama to capture it for her. Rama goes after the deer for Sita.When Rama hits the deer, Maricha comes out of the deer and cries out for help in Rama's voice. Sita is alarmed by this and runs to help. Instead of being based in the Indian Epics era, I made the characters pirates. They were marooned on a desert island instead of being in exile in the jungle. The woman in the story sees a golden bird instead of a deer and she wants the feathers from it. The main pirate,Rusty, also has his close friend with him and the girl he loves. Just like in the original story, the bird actually was a bad guy in disguise. I got this idea from thinking about Pirates of the Caribbean when Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth are marooned on the island. I listen to the POTC soundtrack when I study which is how I came up with using them for my story. I wanted to keep my story happier so I did not make Deanna get kidnapped like Sita did in this story.
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
Hello Jade. I thought your story was interesting. I am a sucker for pirate stories so this was right in my wheel house of interests. I liked that you changed the setting of the story to fit not a modern story, but possibly a more western story setting (if that makes sense) because so many times when reading the stories from India I have trouble relating to the characters so your story made it easier to relate to them. Great Job.
ReplyDeleteHey Jade, I just finished reading your story and thought that it was great. I enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean so it made reading this story that much more enjoyable. I like how you modernized this story and changed it into a version similar to a popular modern movie. Overall great work, and your author's note did a great job of clearing up any confusion.
ReplyDeleteHey Jade! I really liked your story and thought the changes you made to the original were quite interesting. The use of pirates and correlation with the movie really helped to bring the story to life and help the connection your reader could have with your characters. I think relating to the characters in the epics can be one of the most challenging parts while reading them so your story did a great job of clearing that up. Overall great job and keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteHi Jade,
ReplyDeleteIf I'm not mistaken, I think you also did a Harry Potter adaptation in one of your stories? I like that about your work. You're not afraid to use some of the themes from recognizable work and make it your own. I liked that you shied away from the deer in the story and used a bird instead because I think the indian epics have overused the golden deer theme to the point where I think nothing can go right whenever one appears.
Hey Jade. I really liked how you adapted the story of Rama and the Golden Deer for the assignment this week. It was a clever and fun way to tell a story that we're all very familiar with. I'm a huge pirate fan, so I particularly enjoyed that element of the story. Your writing was clean and flowed well, which is always appreciated. Keep up the good work!
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