Week 4 Storytelling: Jennifer's Luck

For Jennifer, if something could go wrong it always did. She was beautiful and kind but she had the worst luck. When she was five years old broke her mother's vase, at ten she lost her dog, at fifteen she knocked over the cake at her cousins wedding, and a seventeen she managed to lose her job at a law firm because she was too clumsy. Her father was her favorite person in the world because he looked past her luck and saw a determined and fun young lady.

                Jennifer hated the idea of an arranged marriage but it was a tradition in her family for the father to pick out his daughters suitors when they turned twenty. Since her father loved her, he search for years to find just the right person that he thought would love his sweet daughter. When Jennifer woke up on her twentieth birthday her stomach dropped because she knew it was the day she married a stranger. When she walked down the aisle she was pleasantly surprised because he was a handsome man. Once they were married she learned his name was Richard and they had a lot in common. Jennifer thought to herself how happy she was that her luck had changed.

Jennifer's Pearl Necklace before she broke it off.
Source: Pixabay

                Jennifer grew to love Richard and she thanked her father often for matching her with such an amazing man. One of their favorite things to do together was hunt in the woods with the golden bow that was gifted to them at their wedding. One day while hunting Richard went off to chase a deer and when he got back Jennifer was missing. She had been taken by an evil hermit in the woods who admired her beauty. Jennifer knew her bad luck would return one day but she wasn’t going to let this separate her from her love. When she was taken she broke the string of pearls Richard gave her and left of trail of pearls for him to follow. Even though she left a trial, she feared Richard would not come for her because her unlucky nature would be too much work.

                Richard went to his house and gathered as many arrows as he could. He then set out into the forest to follow to path of pearls. As soon as he started his search he found a dog trapped underneath a fallen tree. He rushed over and helped the dog to freedom. As he walked on the dog followed behind keeping him company. Richard enjoyed having the dog around but never lost sight of his ultimate goal to find Jennifer.

                One night while Richard had gone to sleep the dog saw a fire in the distance. The dog licked Richard's face until he woke up and then it guided Richard to the fire where he saw Jennifer tied to a tree and the hermit by the fire. Richard pulled back his bow with all of his strength and killed the hermit with one arrow to the chest. Jennifer was overjoyed to see her long lost love and knew that she would live happy with him or the rest of her life no matter how unlucky she was.

Author's Note:

                This story is very different than the plot from the video (Sita Sings the Blues). First of all, I changed the names in the story which I have not done before but since the film made the Ramayana seem more modern I wanted to use names that were more familiar to me. In this story I changed Sita's name to Jennifer and Rama's name to Richard. I named Jennifer after a friend of mine who seems to be very clumsy. I made Rama's new name Richard because they both start with the letter R.  I also changed Sugriva the Monkey-God into a dog who follows Richard and helps him find the hermit who took Jennifer. In this story the hermit represents Ravana. I also gave Richard a golden bow which is true to the original story. Since the film did not emphasis Rama's brother, I did not include him in the story. I also ended the story in a happier manner like I have in the past because I like a happy ending. Another way I stayed true to the video is when Richard goes to chase a deer. Rama is away from Sita getting a deer when she is taken too. The rest of the story was made up by me in my own interpretation of The Ramayana video named Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley.

This story is based off a film reinterpretation of The Ramayana. The films name is Sita Sings the Blues. It is written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Nina Paley.