Tell the story with a large picture of Ram Parivar which includes Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman. This story for Toddler class is directed both at the children and the parents. The lines in italics will not make sense to the Toddlers and they will simply ignore it. The adults however will be touched even when the story teller makes no eye-contact with them.
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Do you know who this is? Rama is at the center. Sita is his wife. Lakshmana is his brother. Hanuman was a great devotee of Rama. He is actually a monkey. Can you see his tail? Can you see his face?
(The children will be reacting to the picture and may move up to the story teller at this point. Ask them to get back to Mom/Dad)
Now we start the story. This story happenened long long ago. Rama, his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana lived in a little hut in the forest. One day, a very bad guy called Ravana came and kidnapped Sita. He took her and flew away. So Rama and Lakshmana went searching and searching to find Sita. They could not find her. While they were searching they met Hanuman and Hanuman came with them to find Sita. A whole lot of monkeys and even some bears came with them to find Sita.
After a long long time, they saw a vulture called Sampati. Sampathi had very sharp eyes and could see far far away. Vultures are like that. Sampati said that he saw Ravana carry Sita away to the island of Lanka. Lanka was far far away. But how were to be sure if Sita was really there!?
Jambavan, a bear, knew that Hanuman was very strong and very special. He told Hanuman "Why dont you jump faaaaar --- all the way to Lanka and see if Sita is really there". Hanuman thought, "Yes, I can. I must help Rama and do this very important job".
So he gathered all his strength and all the blessings of his elders and grew bigger and bigger and taller and taller till his head reached the sky. He took one deep breadth and concentrated all his energy and shouted "Jai Shri Ram" so loudly the the sky rang with the sound and the earth shook. And he jumped high across the ocean towards Lanka.
He flew and flew and flew, in a straight line - steadily. A good worker knows that it is important to work steadily without stopping.
Finally he came near Lanka and saw Sita sitting sadly in a garden, crying because she could not go back to Rama. Hanuman realized that if she saw a huge big monkey she might get scared. So he became smaller and as small as a small monkey and sat on a tree above Sita . A good worker knows when to be big and when to be small when he needs to get the job done.
Then he gave Sita a ring from Rama to prove that he was a friend of Rama. The he took a jewel from Sita to give to Rama.
Then he realized that he needed to find out where Ravana was. A good fighter learns about the enemy before starting to fight. So he pulled out a big tree along with its roots. Ravana's soldiers came running. Hanuman just swept all the soldiers away with his big tree, like they were just a bunch of leaves. The soldiers got scared and went running to Ravana. Ravana told the soldiers "What a silly bunch you are! Catch the little monkey and bring him to me". The soldiers were really scared but they came to catch Hanuman.
Hanuman wanted to meet Ravana. So he made himself small and let the soldiers catch him, tied him with ropes and take him to Ravana. Ravana was sitting on a tall throne. Hanuman rolled up his tail to make an even taller seat for himself and sat on it. He said "Ravana, please send back Sita to Rama. Or you will get into trouble". Ravana got mad "What - you are such a little monkey! You have the nerve to make your chair higher than mine and then you talk as though you are better than me!". So Ravana ordered his soldiers to tie a cloth to the Hanuman's tail, put oil on it and set it on fire. Hanuman quietly watched the soldiers. As soon as they tied the cloth, he made his tail a bit longer. So the soldiers got more cloth and tied it. Hanuman made the tail a bit more longer. Poor soldiers walked to the market, got more cloth to tie. But the tail became even bigger! So the poor soldiers got a big cart and went to the market to get even more cloth. And the tail became longer and longer and longer......
Finally Hanuman decided to not tease the soldiers anymore and waited quietly. The soldiers got a lot of oil and poured it on the cloth. Hanuman waited quietly. Then the soldiers lit the cloth on fire. Hanuman immediately made himself very small. So the cloth tied to his tail just dropped off and the ropes tying him also dropped off. Hanuman was free! He jumped up and flew back all the way to Rama. He gave Rama the jewel from Sita.
Rama and Lakshmana realized that they needed to fight with Ravana and they got ready.
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Do you know who this is? Rama is at the center. Sita is his wife. Lakshmana is his brother. Hanuman was a great devotee of Rama. He is actually a monkey. Can you see his tail? Can you see his face?
(The children will be reacting to the picture and may move up to the story teller at this point. Ask them to get back to Mom/Dad)
Now we start the story. This story happenened long long ago. Rama, his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana lived in a little hut in the forest. One day, a very bad guy called Ravana came and kidnapped Sita. He took her and flew away. So Rama and Lakshmana went searching and searching to find Sita. They could not find her. While they were searching they met Hanuman and Hanuman came with them to find Sita. A whole lot of monkeys and even some bears came with them to find Sita.
After a long long time, they saw a vulture called Sampati. Sampathi had very sharp eyes and could see far far away. Vultures are like that. Sampati said that he saw Ravana carry Sita away to the island of Lanka. Lanka was far far away. But how were to be sure if Sita was really there!?
Jambavan, a bear, knew that Hanuman was very strong and very special. He told Hanuman "Why dont you jump faaaaar --- all the way to Lanka and see if Sita is really there". Hanuman thought, "Yes, I can. I must help Rama and do this very important job".
So he gathered all his strength and all the blessings of his elders and grew bigger and bigger and taller and taller till his head reached the sky. He took one deep breadth and concentrated all his energy and shouted "Jai Shri Ram" so loudly the the sky rang with the sound and the earth shook. And he jumped high across the ocean towards Lanka.
He flew and flew and flew, in a straight line - steadily. A good worker knows that it is important to work steadily without stopping.
Finally he came near Lanka and saw Sita sitting sadly in a garden, crying because she could not go back to Rama. Hanuman realized that if she saw a huge big monkey she might get scared. So he became smaller and as small as a small monkey and sat on a tree above Sita . A good worker knows when to be big and when to be small when he needs to get the job done.
Then he gave Sita a ring from Rama to prove that he was a friend of Rama. The he took a jewel from Sita to give to Rama.
Then he realized that he needed to find out where Ravana was. A good fighter learns about the enemy before starting to fight. So he pulled out a big tree along with its roots. Ravana's soldiers came running. Hanuman just swept all the soldiers away with his big tree, like they were just a bunch of leaves. The soldiers got scared and went running to Ravana. Ravana told the soldiers "What a silly bunch you are! Catch the little monkey and bring him to me". The soldiers were really scared but they came to catch Hanuman.
Hanuman wanted to meet Ravana. So he made himself small and let the soldiers catch him, tied him with ropes and take him to Ravana. Ravana was sitting on a tall throne. Hanuman rolled up his tail to make an even taller seat for himself and sat on it. He said "Ravana, please send back Sita to Rama. Or you will get into trouble". Ravana got mad "What - you are such a little monkey! You have the nerve to make your chair higher than mine and then you talk as though you are better than me!". So Ravana ordered his soldiers to tie a cloth to the Hanuman's tail, put oil on it and set it on fire. Hanuman quietly watched the soldiers. As soon as they tied the cloth, he made his tail a bit longer. So the soldiers got more cloth and tied it. Hanuman made the tail a bit more longer. Poor soldiers walked to the market, got more cloth to tie. But the tail became even bigger! So the poor soldiers got a big cart and went to the market to get even more cloth. And the tail became longer and longer and longer......
Finally Hanuman decided to not tease the soldiers anymore and waited quietly. The soldiers got a lot of oil and poured it on the cloth. Hanuman waited quietly. Then the soldiers lit the cloth on fire. Hanuman immediately made himself very small. So the cloth tied to his tail just dropped off and the ropes tying him also dropped off. Hanuman was free! He jumped up and flew back all the way to Rama. He gave Rama the jewel from Sita.
Rama and Lakshmana realized that they needed to fight with Ravana and they got ready.
