Little Arjuna was the youngest in the family. One afternoon while walking home from school, he saw something blue flash in the sand. Looking closely, he found it was a bright blue band.
It was like a friendship band. So Little Arjuna tied it on his wrist. Instantly everything around him started spinning and Arjuna could hardly stand. When things became steady, something had changed.
Arjuna looked down at himself. Instead of his blue school shorts, he was wearing a yellow silk dhoti. He was not wearing his white school shirt either. He had a long silk scarf flowing from shoulder to knees. Under it a shining metal armour covered his chest. On his head was a thin gold band. His hair had grown long too.
When he put his hand to his shoulder, he was astonished to see he was holding a shining silver bow. He plucked the bowstring and it went, “Twang!” On the ground was lying a quiver full of arrows. Some had shining, pointed heads while others had spiral heads.
Little Arjuna was amazed. Had he become Arjuna of the Pandava brothers?
Little Arjuna heard Mahabharata stories from Grandmother. So he knew that all the Pandava brothers were great warriors. But Arjuna with his bow was the sharpest shooter of them all. He was known to fight for justice and to help everyone in trouble.
Just then he heard a loud cry. “Help! Help!” Little Arjuna peeped around the corner. He saw a girl wearing dark glasses crying on the road. In her hand she held a leash. But there was no dog at the end of it. Further down Arjuna could see a man sprinting with a dog under his arm.
The wicked thief was stealing a blind girl’s dog!
Picking up the arrow with a spiral head, Arjuna put it to his bow and let it fly. The arrow flew through the air. It followed its target even when the man changed course. Then it struck the man on his back. The arrow stunned him.
When the man fell, the dog wriggled out of his hands. He ran yelping to its mistress.
The blind girl turned towards Little Arjuna.
‘Thank you,’ She said. ‘ I can’t see you but I know that you are very brave and you will help anyone in trouble. Just like Arjuna from Mahabharata did!
‘Now why did she say that?’ wondered Little Arjuna.
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