Week 6 Story: The Woman With 5 Husbands

We Can Do It:  Wikipedia

Seriously all of my husbands in this life and my past lives have taken me for granted.  They think every woman is weak and absolutely "needs" to be rescued on a regular basis.  In reality, none of them would know what to do without me. I make sure everything works out smoothly for them and they never have a clue.  I've been pretty challenged lately- trying to keep up after five husbands.  Let me explain how I got into this predicament. 

My name is Holly and I have lived a few different lives- though I can only tell you about this one and my most recent past life because that's all I remember.  Basically in my last life, I was promised in marriage to this really gross ugly old lazy man who didn't even make sure I had enough food or clothes.  I was a respectable girl though and I didn't want to bring shame on my family, so I lived with it.  I put up with all of the filth and lack of food and pretty much anything you would want for a decent life.  So anyway at the end of this life, right when the old guy is about to kick the bucket he turns to me and completely transforms into this really attractive rich young guy.  I was like "seriously???".  He told me that this was his true form all along but that for some reason he had to test my honor and whatnot.  He asked what I wanted now that I knew he was an honorable man.  I told him I wanted to be loved by him as if he were five men.  Well- that was a bad choice of words on my part- this stupid guy took what I said literally and now here I am in my next life- literally married to five men. 

It's not all bad- they can be pretty endearing sometimes and all the attention I get is great- but they make SO. MANY. MESSES.  Literally and figuratively.  I have to clean up their messes in the house all the time- but they are also always getting into battles with their weird family members and then I have to go make sure they succeed or else we all look bad.  The latest one had to do with their cousin who is actually a king.  They started a big battle with him about something or other and then I had to go to work.  I went to their castle and met with the queen- she really enjoys having another girl around to talk to so she totally trusted me.  I started setting little things off around the castle generally making people have small quarrels, getting a little bit sick from something I slipped into their food- etc.  I even tried to get some secrets out of the king but he was a really creepy guy and tried to take my clothes.  I'm pretty close with the gods though so they had my back- as much as he pulled on my clothes, more and more material just kept appearing.  Eventually the queen figured out what happened and she got super mad at him but she agreed to let me stay another 13 days.  At the end of that period, my guys all came to attack at the same time.  They did pretty well in the battle since I had started problems in the castle before they got there. 

It can be a bit exhausting trying to keep up with everything but they're my husbands and I love them.  I can't say I want this reincarnation to go on forever but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.  And hey- someone has got to be around to take care of these five crazy guys. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  I was inspired to write this story by Nayaran's Mahabharata.  The story was based on a huge family and the five brothers were exiled to the forest.  I thought the parts about the woman they were all married to was interesting and I wanted to write a story that revolved around her and some of her parts in the story.  She did not have a lot of parts in the original book, but I used the basic plot of her life, her backstory, and the miracle with the cloth form the book, and I modified them. 

Source:  Narayan's Mahabharata:  Link to Reading Guide

Reading Notes: Narayan's Mahabharata part D

Source:  Narayan's Mahabharata Link to Reading Guide

Arrow:  Pixabay

The last section of the Mahabharata was mostly focused on a big battle.  I liked some specific parts of this section of the book for my story, but I think I will use the battle scene as a whole in my version of the story. 

One specific detail I thought was interesting was the man who was a god incarnated who could choose when he died.  He chose to die on a bed of arrows and one arrow was shot into the ground to give him a spring of water when he said he was thirsty.  He said that when he died, the battle should end then and there. 

I think I have decided what I will make my story like from this week's readings.  I want to make the role of the woman with 5 husbands larger.  My story will tell about her past life, how she got into this predicament in this life, and what she does now.  I think that she should be a strong character.  I want her to be a character that can and does take care of herself, even though her five husbands always insist on rescuing her.  I think she will secretly be the reason that they succeed in their battles, because she is working behind the scenes to make sure they succeed. 

I am not sure yet what theme I will go with for this story, but this plot seems like it will work well.  I will use several of the small details from the other sections of the book and I will try to incorporate them all into a story narrated by her. 

Reading Notes: Nayaran's Mahabharata Part C

Water in the desert:  Pexels

While reading part C of Nayaran's Mahabharata, I came across a few more interesting details that could work well in my story.  I am not sure which ones I will use or how I will fit them together yet but here is what interested me from this section:

I liked the part about the five brothers being exiled to a forest life.  When they were very thirsty and they came across the small pond, four out of the five were too impatient to treat it with respect.  The spirit that was overseeing the pond killed them instantly from drinking the water, but when the fifth brother came along the story took a twist.  He talked to the owner of the lake and he answered all of his questions.  It was a trying task, but from the respect that he showed for the lake, he was able to revive one brother- then when he chose his half-brother to honor his second mother, he was rewarded with the lives of all of his brothers being returned.  This part of the story seems to have a strong moral message and it could be interesting to use in a story. 

Another part that was interesting in the story was when the wife of the five brothers was staying in a castle with other royals.  She was supposedly very beautiful and the queen was worried that she would cause the men to go astray.  She told the queen that her five husbands would come after anyone who wronged her.  I am curious to see why she needed to stay at the castle another 13 days longer.  Perhaps this will help my story. 

Source:  Narayan's Mahabharata:  Link to Reading Guide