Story: Mr. Piddles and Hanuman

Mr. Piddles was left to himself for the day because Jonathon was at school. Mr. Piddles dreaded these days because they often lacked any form of adventure. A typical school day for Mr. Piddles looked like this:

7 AM: Wake up with Jonathon, help him get ready for school and pack his lunch

8 AM: Watch the squirrels and birds argue through Jonathon’s bedroom window

10 AM: Read all of the book titles on Jonathon’s bookshelf

11 AM: Eat some dust bunnies for lunch

2 PM: Try to talk to Jonathon’s other stuffed animals, particularly Ms. Pearl, a lovely black bear

3 PM: Watch for Jonathon’s school bus to come home

After Jonathon got home they would do a little bit of homework and then go explore. Today, however, Mr. Piddles had had enough. He would have his own adventure without Jonathon. So he picked himself up and walked out of Jonathon’s bedroom. He wasn’t sure what he would go do, but he knew that Sugriva was still in need of their help. Mr. Piddles slowly wandered out to the tree where they had previously met him. 

“Mr. Sugriva! Are you home?” Mr. Piddles yelled out to see if he could talk to Sugriva.

However, no one came out, so Mr. Piddles began to wander through the forest. Soon Mr. Piddles found another large monkey lying on the ground in the middle of all the trees. Who could this be?

“Hello?” Mr. Piddles began to poke the monkey, testing if he was still alive. 

“Oof, why hello there!” The monkey opened his eyes suddenly and sat upright.

“I’m Mr. Piddles who are you?” Mr. Piddles stretched out a paw to shake hands with the monkey.

“Hello, Mr. Piddles, my name is Hanuman! And I am looking for my friend Sugriva have you seen him? I used to work with him and I have a very important message for him.” The monkey started looking around the trees while Mr. Piddles talked. "A long time ago Sugriva and I fought together against a very evil demon king, Ravana. It was a very bad battle that caused a lot of damage. We had to leap ahead to the island the evil king was on and worked together to defeat him with another common friend, Rama. I am hoping to find my old friend Sugriva so that we may discuss some new developments from this war."

“Well, I haven’t seen Sugriva today, but I have met him here. Perhaps he is just out visiting another forest? I am sure he will return shortly?” Mr. Piddles wasn’t sure what these new developments were that Hanuman mentions, but they sounded dangerous. And he honestly wasn’t sure where Sugriva had run off to. 

“Oh, hmm, well, I will have to check back later to see if he is here. You said your name is Mr. Piddles?” Mr. Piddles nodded. “Well, it was very nice to meet you, Mr. Piddles. If you see Sugriva please tell him that I am looking for him! I will be here to nap until this evening; I do enjoy a nice warm afternoon nap in the forest.” Hanuman lay back down and closed his eyes. Mr. Piddles began his walk back to the house.

‘That was odd… I wonder what message Hanuman has for the monkey king?’ Mr. Piddles thought to himself as he entered the house. He would have to tell Jonathon about his adventure in their backyard once he got home. It was only 1 o’clock, so he still had plenty of time to catch up on his daily squirrel and bird adventures. 

Hanuman

Author's Note:

I really like the characters Sugriva and Hanuman so I was glad to incorporate them in my story again this week, although Sugriva wasn’t truly present in this story. I am trying to expand my universe with Mr. Piddles and Jonathon, so hopefully I will be able to use new characters from future weeks' stories with them.  I wanted Mr. Piddles to go on his own adventure this week because I liked the story from the Mahabharata that was told by a mongoose. Although Mr. Piddles is not a mongoose, he is the main animal character in my stories so I thought it would be fun to write from his perspective. It was fun trying to think of all the things a stuffed polar bear would do whilst waiting for his friend to return. I also wanted to utilize the fact that Hanuman was also included in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. I tried to use some parts of Hanuman's encounter with Bhima, how he was laying on the ground and how he introduced himself particularly. I also wanted to give some background as to who Hanuman is and how he and Sugriva know each other. Since these are the two main stories we have read so far I wanted to stick to familiar characters that would be easily recognizable to other readers.  I think that next week I will have the two meet and perhaps create a some adventures with all four of the characters!