Story: The Orphans Dream

Image of Hindu God Vishnu by Wikipedia

There once lived a young orphan. He lived in a poor, run down orphanage and was beginning to lose hopes of adoption. Every family that expressed interest in him either mysteriously disappeared or adopted another child.




Full of distraught, the young orphan exclaimed "why will no one adopt me? I am always well behaved and polite, yet I can't find a family to call my own".




One night, the orphan had lost all hope and resorted to praying to the gods.




"Oh mighty gods, why am I cursed? What have I done to deserve such a life? When will I find a family and finally find a sense of belonging and purpose?"




To his surprise, a booming voice in the sky responded:




"Oh young orphan, little do you know, but you are destined for much greater things in this life. If you pray every full moon with the utmost devotion, a king and queen from a distant land will adopt you and make you their prince."




Very much confused, the young orphan asked the local Brahman what his vision meant as this was his first encounter with the divine. Smiling, the Brahman replied:




"Oh young orphan, you are destined for much greater things in life than this little orphanage or any ordinary family. You will grow up to be the prince of a far land, but even this isn't your true purpose for being on this earth. You are the savior of man, an image of God himself."




Confused, the orphan replied:




"If I am God himself, why have I lived in poverty my entire life?"




With a slight nod, the Brahman replied:




"Modesty is a quality that is hard earned and carved into one's persona. This life you have lived has shaped you to become a better person and thus the savior of man".




With this, the young orphan prayed to the Gods with all his devotion during every full moon for the next year. To his delight, a young king and queen visited the orphanage and immediately fell in love with the young orphan. While riding back to the far away kingdom, he thought about what the Brahman said and how he was to be the savior of man.







Authors Note: This is an adaptation of Life of Buddha: Maya's Dream. My adaption features a simple role reversal. In the original story, a king and queen are visited by the gods and told they would bear a son who would become the Budhha. The Brahmans foresaw the actions of their son and narrated with great detail the events in the future. For my story, I started with an orphan looking for a family rather than a family looking for a child. I wanted to put focus on the Buddha rather than his parents. I also thought the adoption dynamic was interesting as it puts a new wrinkle in the original story and adds complexity to the Buddha's character.



The original story is part of the Buddha unit. Story source: The Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922).