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Ram and Laxman realised that they had been tricked

They hurried back to the mud hut only to find Sita had disappeared. They hunted high and low for Sita, calling out her name till their voices were weak.

But there was only silence in the forest. Not a leaf moved and the birds and animals were silent.

The princes needed help. Help was on hand. The ‘monkey people’ arrived led by their king Sugreeva.

Ram and Laxman told Sugreeva all about Sita.

The monkey king offered to help them.

The monkeys could climb to great heights and travel long distances jumping from branch to branch of trees.

Sugreeva promised to reward the first monkey who found Sita.

Monkeys to the rescue

So hundreds of these nimble little creatures scattered in different directions to look for Sita.

Now there was one monkey called Hanuman.

Ram had a feeling that it would be this monkey that would discover where Sita had been taken.

Ram took the ring that he wore off his finger and gave it to Hanuman.

He knew that Sita would trust the carrier of this ring as a true friend of Ram.

Hanuman

A bird flying high, so high, saw Sita sitting crying in Lanka. The bird whispered the news to Hanuman.

But Lanka was an island… many miles of water would need to be crossed to reach the island.

Hanuman said he would leap across the ocean.

Hanuman leaps the ocean

He planted his feet firmly on the ground, took a deep breath and grew to an enormous size.

He launched himself into the air with a mighty roar.

He flew high up into the air, across the ocean, till he landed lightly on the sandy beach of Lanka’s shore.

Hanuman sneaked into the city. After searching everywhere Hanuman found Sita.

He told Sita that he was a friend of Ram and gave her Ram’s ring.

Sita took a jewelled ornament from her hair and told Hanuman to give it to Ram so that he would know that she was alive and well.

Hanuman knew that he must return to Ram. But being a monkey, Hanuman had mischief in his blood.

He uprooted trees and shook the house down.

Ravan ordered that the monkey be captured and brought to him.

Hanuman was taken to Ravan’s palace.

Hanuman causes trouble in Lanka

Knowing that his tail is a monkey’s pride, Ravan ordered that Hanuman’s tail be dipped in oil and set on fire.

Hanuman took a deep breath, and broke free. He charged around the city setting fire to everything with his flaming tail. Hanuman took another deep breath and disappeared into the sky with a thunderous roar.

Hanuman sets fire to the city

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