Updated Story Can be Found on My Website There once was a family with one brother and three sisters that ran a family business. The brother was the CEO of the business, but consulted with his sister’s regularly and each one felt like an equal. While the brother had no sons, each sister had one son of her own, all born the same year. As the brother got older, he decided he needed to pick one of his nephews to take over the business and start training them so he could prepare to retire.
After careful consideration, the CEO picked his eldest sister’s son, Ray, to be the next CEO. Everyone in the family was very happy with the choice, as Ray was a hard-working and good natured man who always treated his employees and clients with respect. They all knew the company was in good hands. The employees even threw a party in Ray’s honor to celebrate.
However, there was one person who wasn’t satisfied with the CEO’s choice. Martha, the middle sister’s son’s nanny, hated Ray. When Ray was only five, he had thrown food into Martha’s hair and laughed at her, and she had held a grudge ever since. Upset with the CEO’s choice, Martha approached the middle sister, Keana, to try and see if she would work to make her son, Bart, CEO.
“I can’t see how you could be happy at this announcement,” Martha said upsetly.
“How could you be so upset at this nice celebration party?” Keana asked. “Ray will make a terrific CEO and my brother made a fine choice.”
“He may make a great CEO,” Martha lied. “But he will make Bart a nobody in this company. All the hard work that Bart has done for this family will be for nothing, since Ray will completely take over and cast everyone else aside. I’ve heard him planning it myself.”
Keana pondered this for a minute, and started to worry about her and her son’s future. “Oh, Martha, what should I do? How could I convince my brother to not have Ray be CEO after he’s announced it?”
“Remember the favor he owes you for the disastrous Halloween party scandal? If you hadn’t helped him out that night, this whole company would’ve been in tatters. Cash in that favor, reminding him how much he owes you and Bart will be named the next CEO.”
Keana nodded solemnly, “I will.”
The two women spent the rest of that night on that balcony at that party, planning out exactly how to make Bart the next CEO.
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link
Author's Note:
I chose the read the Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana so my original source story is number 14 from those stories: Manthara and Kaikeyi (Link). I'm not sure exactly what it was that made me want to rewrite this one but I think I liked how easily Manthara knew how to persuade Kaikeyi to get rid of Rama and then how for the rest of the story Kaikeyi description changed and how much she stuck to making her son King. For my verision of the story, I chose to modernize it, making it a family business instead of a kingdom. I also made the King's wives his sisters, since polygamous marriages aren't as common in modern times. Part of the moderization I did was changing names as well. In this story, Martha = Manthara, Kaikeyi = Keana, Dasharatha= The CEO, Rama = Ray and Bhartu = Bart.
“I can’t see how you could be happy at this announcement,” Martha said upsetly.
“How could you be so upset at this nice celebration party?” Keana asked. “Ray will make a terrific CEO and my brother made a fine choice.”
“He may make a great CEO,” Martha lied. “But he will make Bart a nobody in this company. All the hard work that Bart has done for this family will be for nothing, since Ray will completely take over and cast everyone else aside. I’ve heard him planning it myself.”
Keana pondered this for a minute, and started to worry about her and her son’s future. “Oh, Martha, what should I do? How could I convince my brother to not have Ray be CEO after he’s announced it?”
“Remember the favor he owes you for the disastrous Halloween party scandal? If you hadn’t helped him out that night, this whole company would’ve been in tatters. Cash in that favor, reminding him how much he owes you and Bart will be named the next CEO.”
Keana nodded solemnly, “I will.”
The two women spent the rest of that night on that balcony at that party, planning out exactly how to make Bart the next CEO.
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link
Author's Note:
I chose the read the Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana so my original source story is number 14 from those stories: Manthara and Kaikeyi (Link). I'm not sure exactly what it was that made me want to rewrite this one but I think I liked how easily Manthara knew how to persuade Kaikeyi to get rid of Rama and then how for the rest of the story Kaikeyi description changed and how much she stuck to making her son King. For my verision of the story, I chose to modernize it, making it a family business instead of a kingdom. I also made the King's wives his sisters, since polygamous marriages aren't as common in modern times. Part of the moderization I did was changing names as well. In this story, Martha = Manthara, Kaikeyi = Keana, Dasharatha= The CEO, Rama = Ray and Bhartu = Bart.
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| Manthara from Source |
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ReplyDeleteJess I liked how you picked up the story the analogy of the name Manthra from actual Ramayana to Martha is a nice way to put it. Also I liked the word choice you have used, we definitely get the selfish mean vibes from the conversation. The fact that we can see that Keikei in your story the sister first has no trouble with the eldest nephew getting the position but then after Martha makes him realized now she feels selfish and insecure. This is because Keikei was brainwashed by manthra that if Rama became the king her respect would be no less than a servant and so she became more concerned about her son Bharat's rights to the throne.
ReplyDeleteI loved the way you made this a modern story. Overall it was wonderfully written. I just had a couple editing comments. I was slightly confused in the paragraph you introduced Martha. My first re-read was the sister's son's nanny thing. It through me off. Maybe word it as"Ray's old nanny disliked him and hoped to intervene" or something along those lines. Is Bart Martha's son? Or did you mean Bart is Keana's son? Just reworking that single paragraph to make it a little more clear would make the story pretty close to perfect.
ReplyDeleteI love the modern capitalist twist to this story. This seems like a situation that could definitely happen in the world today, and it could easily be the plot to a TV show or movie. It reminds me a little of the HBO show, Succession. I made it easier that the names were similar but with modern, western twists. It was a great story and was very easy to read!
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