Authors note: I based this story off of "Goblin City", a story from our Indian Epics anthology.
Bibliography: "Goblin City", The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse, Goblin City
A long, long time ago, near a large island off the southern tip of India, a city of powerful, female shape-shifters thrived for many years. The shape-shifters were born as goblins, and are called Rakshasis, but almost never choose to be in their goblin form as it is quite frightening. In their day to day time, they usually pose as beautiful women and use their magic to transform themselves into any animal form for whatever they need to do. For example, they may become monkeys to climb a tree and pick fruit, or a mermaid to go and a catch fish. They loved their beautiful forms and trained themselves to focus and maintain their form even when unconscious.
The Rakshasis, however, have a limited amount of magic. The only way for their magic to be restored is for them to consume human flesh, which reveals their goblin form as this is the only way for them to absorb the power. To give themselves enough to power to last one year, the Rakshasis had an annual, random sacrifice in which one among them would transform into a human and be viciously eaten by the rest. They extremely loathed this barbaric practice, and constantly sought new ways to recharge their power.
Then, one day, the Rakshasis heard a crash off the coastline. After transforming themselves into eagles, they quickly discovered a shipwreck over one-hundred injured soldiers. They felt conflicted, as they suspected the men were un-pure and would try to court them, but finally used their magic to transform into mermaids and save the men.
That night, after the men were dry and in fresh clothes, they gathered around a fire and the Rakshasis generously fed the men fish. Then, seeing as there were almost equally as many men as there were Rakshasis, each of them was given a sailor to house temporarily.
In the morning, the Rakshasis gathered at the coastline and shared stories of the sailors ghastly home-etiquette. After discovering that a few of the men had even claimed they were going to force the Rakshasis to marry them, they decided to confront the men and tell them to leave the island.
As they approached the sailors, now gathered outside the residential area, they overheard a plot to take the shape-shifters by force and bring them back to India for marriage. The Rakshasis, now furious, then realized they could solve all of their problems at once. So, they transformed into their goblin forms and tore the men to shreds, consuming an entire human each. Seeing as none of them had eaten that much before, they one-by-one realized their magic was now limitless and never had to sacrifice themselves ever again.
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A Picture of Rocky, Tropical Islands
Fernando de Noronha, Brazil
Bibliography: "Goblin City", The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse, Goblin City
A long, long time ago, near a large island off the southern tip of India, a city of powerful, female shape-shifters thrived for many years. The shape-shifters were born as goblins, and are called Rakshasis, but almost never choose to be in their goblin form as it is quite frightening. In their day to day time, they usually pose as beautiful women and use their magic to transform themselves into any animal form for whatever they need to do. For example, they may become monkeys to climb a tree and pick fruit, or a mermaid to go and a catch fish. They loved their beautiful forms and trained themselves to focus and maintain their form even when unconscious.
The Rakshasis, however, have a limited amount of magic. The only way for their magic to be restored is for them to consume human flesh, which reveals their goblin form as this is the only way for them to absorb the power. To give themselves enough to power to last one year, the Rakshasis had an annual, random sacrifice in which one among them would transform into a human and be viciously eaten by the rest. They extremely loathed this barbaric practice, and constantly sought new ways to recharge their power.
Then, one day, the Rakshasis heard a crash off the coastline. After transforming themselves into eagles, they quickly discovered a shipwreck over one-hundred injured soldiers. They felt conflicted, as they suspected the men were un-pure and would try to court them, but finally used their magic to transform into mermaids and save the men.
That night, after the men were dry and in fresh clothes, they gathered around a fire and the Rakshasis generously fed the men fish. Then, seeing as there were almost equally as many men as there were Rakshasis, each of them was given a sailor to house temporarily.
In the morning, the Rakshasis gathered at the coastline and shared stories of the sailors ghastly home-etiquette. After discovering that a few of the men had even claimed they were going to force the Rakshasis to marry them, they decided to confront the men and tell them to leave the island.
As they approached the sailors, now gathered outside the residential area, they overheard a plot to take the shape-shifters by force and bring them back to India for marriage. The Rakshasis, now furious, then realized they could solve all of their problems at once. So, they transformed into their goblin forms and tore the men to shreds, consuming an entire human each. Seeing as none of them had eaten that much before, they one-by-one realized their magic was now limitless and never had to sacrifice themselves ever again.
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A Picture of Rocky, Tropical Islands
Fernando de Noronha, Brazil
I really like your take on this story. I enjoyed how much you used shape-shifting and how it helped the imagery of the whole story. After reading the original, I can tell you really made this story your own while still staying true to the main points of the original. I'm also a huge fan of the ending. I'm glad the goblins destroyed the humans and realized they were now invincible.
ReplyDeleteHi Hunter,
ReplyDeleteI like how you gave examples of how the female goblins use their shape shifting abilities. It puts a greater importance to their abilities and how exactly they use that ability. I like the idea of a sacrifice. That was such a clever idea and it was totally unexpected. I was relayed WOW'd. OK my bad the ending had me shook. I cannot believe that. What a twist. I sort of do not feel bad for the men. They brought it on themselves. Overall, I really enjoyed your story.
Hey Kevin, I really enjoyed your take on this story! I like that you took the time to consider the tale from the Rakshasis side. Having the Rakshasis be shape-shifters was also a great idea, and explains a lot of things that were undefined in the original story. I also loved the way you kept true to their cannibal nature but twisted it in a way that made me glad that the men were eaten. Can't wait to read your future stories!
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ReplyDeleteHunter, I thought your story was really cool and you added a lot of interesting parts to your story. The wow factor for me was whenever you described the Rakshasis as shape shifters. It was also super interesting that eating human flesh would cause them to shape shift into their true form of goblins. There was also another wow factor when you described their barbaric sacrificial ritual that they perform each year. Regardless, it is still a really cool piece of the story that kept my interest and I read on wanting to know more about these goblins. I wonder if the Rakshasis would have gone quietly with the sailors if they would have asked nicely instead of trying to take them by force. What if you had added more back story to the sailors pertaining to how they got to the island and exploring their reasons for wanting to take the Rakshasis back to India. Maybe there was an alternative motive besides just forcing them to take them back.
DeleteHi Hunter!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, wow! I really liked your story! I like the fact that the Rakshasis weren't really bad individuals, but were protecting themselves from forceful marriage with the men. I wonder how the men were planning to get off the island in the first place to get back to India. Do you have any thoughts on how they were planning to leave? Also, were the Rakshasis ashamed of their form and that is why the disguised themselves? Were they afraid of each other's appearance even though they looked alike? I also find it interesting that they sacrificed one of their own and that an individual gave themselves up for the sacrifice. Or was there a selection process? I think it would have really been neat if you fleshed that part out a little bit and explained how an individual was selected for the sacrifice, whether if they were willing or not. Do you think that the amount of power that they received from the sacrifice was not only due to the amount they ate, but the fact that it was a Rakshasis that was being eaten? Even though they transformed into a human, their core was indeed Rakshasis. Could this effect the amount of power they received?
Hello Hunter!
ReplyDeleteThe goblin story was super interesting, I read that one too! I also really enjoyed reading the spin you put on it, it’s awesome. I was not expecting the way it ended! I thought it was comical that their solution to avoiding marriage to the sailors was to abruptly devour them.
The only thing I would suggest (my ‘what if’ factor) would be to expand the ending a little bit more. The story unravelled really quickly, which was captivating and fun to read, but I’m curious as to what lives the women lead after the final incident. I wonder, did they ever find an alternative energy/fuel source? Maybe they could come across a Sage on the island they visited when they became eagles, who could grant them the ability to use fruits or sugar cane from the island? To conclude my comment; your story was super creative and fun to read, I just wish there was more!
Hi Hunter!
ReplyDeleteI was already hooked after reading the first paragraph of your story. Powerful, beautiful, shape-shifting demons? Sign me up!! I also really enjoyed the ending, in my case it was pretty unexpected, I really thought that we were going in the direction of a romance for some reason so that was pretty unique. I guess those men were useful for something.
One thing I do wonder about is how, if the Rakshasis had to consume one of themselves for many years, how was the city still thriving? Wouldn't there be a slow yet steady decrease in population, leading to less and less Rakshasis? That's just one thing that stuck out to me.
And last but not least, my overarching critique was that this was a fascinating story but I wish that you had expanded on everything more. What if you'd added some dialogue so I could have gotten to know the personalities of the Rakshasis so I could have rooted for them even more? And even some dialogue to the sailors so I could have gotten righteously angry at them as well and been cheering on their downfall? Overall, this was a fascinating read, I just wanted a bit more detail.
Hi Hunter!
ReplyDeleteYour story took a delightful turn as I began to read it. It started out as the typical Goblins story, but you made it from a different perspective: the Goblins. I really enjoyed this take on it, and you wrote it in such a way that was truly entertaining. I am going to take on the perspective of the Goblin to provide you feedback. You described them very well, so the portrayal of their image was sufficient to give me an idea. I wonder, however, what the island is like. How did they end up there? Was that their native land or had they come from elsewhere? Additionally, how did this annual sacrifice come about? Was there some defining event that led to them having to do that? If they feel so bad about it, how do they normally handle their powers? The sailor ship seemed as a coincidence, but what about other times before? I suggest just being more detailed in future stories (more importantly your project) and ask yourself these questions. There was a story lab from Week 4 that had us read a chapter out of a book. It was a very short chapter, but it was all the more informative. I found that that helped spark my own detailed side of stories because I was also lacking in some particular details. I hope that this helped, but overall I really enjoyed your story!
This was an interesting take on the story of the Goblin City story. I appreciated the elaboration on how the goblins shape shifted. That is a neat bit of lore. One thing that didn't sit well with me is why the goblins didn't realize sooner that they could eat the sailors. It seems to me that that they should realize almost immediately that food has just washed up on their shore. I think it would add a bit to the story if you explained this. Perhaps they have never eaten anything but each other, and so it took a bit for the idea of eating the sailors to click. I believe explaining this would add a lot to the story, as it would add realism. If the reader makes the connection that the goblins can eat the sailors before the goblins do, it feels like their plight is somewhat forced.
ReplyDeleteGreat story, Hunter! It's satisfying to see a moral conflict being solved because one side turns out to be immoral. It makes the decision easy to make because it justifies their removal from the world; then they can't cause any more harm. I really like how you incorporated the rakshasis into this, giving them some kind of reasoning behind their diet. That always confused me in the Ramayana: are men the sole source of food for the rakshasis, or can they subsist off another kind of nutritional source? Why do they have to eat humans? The tying of their limited magic power answers that. That leads me to another question though: what makes human flesh the only flesh that replenishes their magic? Thinking of the chemical composition of skin, I know experiments have been done on pig skin as a precursor to human trials, because they're so similar. Could their magic then be replenished using that?
ReplyDelete