Week 7 Story: Deadly Jeopardy
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| Jeopardy Logo |
"Welcome everyone, to Life or Death Jeopardy, I'm your host Dharma, and on today's show we have the five Pandava brothers. We'll be bringing in each brother one at a time and if they can answer all the riddles, they win a fantastic prize," Dharma said. Smiling, he turned to his assistant. "Could we have the first contestant please?" he asked her. She turned and walked away, and brought onstage the first brother, Nakula.
"Excellent," Dharma continued. "Now Nakula, in order to win the prize, you must answer the riddle, and answer correctly. If you do not, you will unfortunately perish. Are you ready?"
But Nakula didn't want to answer the riddle. He demanded the prize now. And so he died. Sahadeva came on stage after him, and refused to answer the riddle also.Arjuna came onstage after Sahadeva, and not only refused to answer the riddle, but attacked the host also. He fell over dead like all the others.
Dharma sighed. "You would think," he said exasperatedly, "that when their lives are at stake, they would at least TRY to answer a riddle." He looked over at his assistant, who merely shrugged and went back stage to get the next brother.
Bhima was next onstage, and like Nakula, Shadeva, and Arjuna before him, he refused to answer a riddle. All wanted a prize but none seemed to be willing to work for it.
Finally, Dharma's assistant brought out the last of the Pandava brothers, Yudhisthira. Yudhistira had wondered as he stood backstage why his brothers were not returning. As he was brought onstage, however, his question was answered as he looked down and saw his four brothers lying dead.A sob escaped him as he looked upon their faces.
Dharma, seeing Yudhisthira's grief, was saddened by it. "I'm sorry Yudhisthira, I told them that they would perish if they did not answer the riddles, but they wouldn't listen".
Yudhisthira nodded. "I'm ready to answer your riddles," he replied. Dharma gave Yudhisthira one riddle after another, and one by one Yudhisthira answered them correctly.
As Yudhisthira answered the last riddle, Dharma smiled and said "Congratulations, Yudhisthira. You've survived Life or Death Jeopardy! In exchange, I will grant you two prizes, whatever you desire."
So Yudhisthira asked for his brothers to be brought back to life, and because they were to remain in hiding for an entire year, he also asked to be undetectable by anyone for a year. Dharma granted these prizes gladly, and the five brothers went on their way.
Authors Note: The story about the Riddles at the Lake really captured my attention while I was reading this half of the Mahabharata. The lake, which turns out to be Dharma, was a lot like a Sphinx in Greek Mythology. I decided to keep the plot of the story, and the main characters, and give it a modern twist by putting it in a more modern setting. I really hope you guys enjoy it!
Bibliography. PDE Mahabharata. "Riddles at the Lake" by Donald A. Mackenzie. Web Source.
Hi Jackie, I enjoyed your modern twist of this story! This was one of the stranger parts of the Mahabharata as the Pandavas are normally smart. It's odd that people who normally follow tradition and respect others would disregard a magic voice that threatens death. Still, I enjoyed the style of jeopardy and would love to see a extended version in this way!
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ReplyDeleteI have to say I love the way your story blends together! I think the idea is very creative to do a jeopardy style story. I also like that it is a life or death jeopardy. The story on a whole was very good and quite interesting. When I was reading I kind of figured you got this from Riddles of the Lake. I can’t wait to read more from you, keep it up!
Hi Jackie! I think you did a great job adapting your story to modern times while still keeping the structure of the story from the Mahabharata. I liked that it was set in Jeopardy -- an immediately recognizable modern gameshow perfect for this adaptation! Also, I think that your connection to the Sphinx is cool. That's something I thought of when I was reading the Mahabharata, too.
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie! I really liked reading your story with the setting as Jeopardy. I think this tale was perfect to use in the game show setting. I think it was great that you kept each fate of the brother the same as the original. I noticed you stuck with the original when you talked about the brother not answering and trying to fight the host. Overall a great and interesting read!
ReplyDeleteJackie, I can't get enough of your stories. I always come back to them because you always seem to have such a creative spin that is so enjoying to read! Here how you've taken inspiration from the riddles section in the Mahabharata and brought it to our own century with the commonly recognized gameshow "Jeopardy" is so clever! I was intrigued by this section as well, if not a little confused. I love how you have a message here of "think before you act." Without considering the costs, all the brothers except one (who was known for his wisdom) perished as a result of this lack of forethought! Great rendition of such a perplexing part of the epic!
ReplyDeleteHey Jackie! This was definitely a fun read. I like how you made Dharma the host, and Jeopardy is a good natural setting for riddles for sure. I feel like the brother's unwillingness to answer the riddles in this context was a little bit out of the blue though--why would they be on a game show if they weren't willing to play the game? So maybe giving a tad more background or explanation for where their heads were at would help out the reader. Overall though great story!
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