They Set His Tail on Fire. Bad Idea.

Ravana's men thought it was funny. Hanuman burned their whole city.

After delivering Rama's message to Sita in the Ashoka garden, Hanuman lets himself be caught and brought before the demon king Ravana. Ravana laughs and orders Hanuman's tail to be wrapped in cloth and set on fire. Hanuman makes his tail grow longer and longer, jumps from rooftop to rooftop, and turns the whole golden city of Lanka into a warning Ravana will never forget.

A Monkey in a Garden

Deep inside the island of Lanka, hidden behind tall white walls, there was a beautiful garden full of red ashoka trees. It was called the Ashoka Vatika.

In that garden, sitting under one of the trees, was Sita.

She had been there for many months. Ravana had taken her, and she was waiting for Rama to come and find her. Demon women sat all around her, watching her every minute.

And up in the branches of one of the trees, hidden among the red leaves, was a small grey monkey.

Not just any monkey. Hanuman.

He had flown across the ocean. He had jumped over walls. He had searched the whole city of Lanka. And finally, just a moment ago, he had found her. He had given her Rama's ring as proof. He had told her that the rescue was coming.

Now Hanuman could have flown straight back to Rama. His job was done.

But Hanuman was a clever little monkey. He thought to himself, "I have come all this way. Let me also send a message to that proud demon king. Let me show him what one little messenger of Rama can do."

And he had a plan.

Wrecking the Garden on Purpose

Hanuman jumped down from the tree. He grew bigger and bigger, until he was as tall as the tree itself. And he started to break things.

He pulled up red ashoka trees by the roots. He broke marble fountains. He smashed beautiful swings. He kicked down little garden temples.

The demon women screamed and ran for the palace.

"A monkey! A giant monkey is breaking the king's garden!"

Guards came running with swords. Hanuman fought them off easily. He was the son of the wind. They were just regular soldiers. He flicked them aside like leaves.

More and more guards came. Whole armies of them. Hanuman defeated each wave laughing, sometimes with a tree, sometimes with a broken pillar, sometimes with just his tail.

Finally, Ravana sent his own son, the great warrior Indrajit. Indrajit had a special weapon called the Brahmastra, a divine arrow that no one in the universe could escape. He shot it at Hanuman.

The Brahmastra wrapped around Hanuman like ropes of light. Hanuman could have broken free. He had the strength. But he chose not to. Because he had a plan.

"I will let them catch me," he thought. "I want to see this Ravana with my own two eyes. I want to give him a piece of Rama's mind, face to face."

The demon soldiers cheered. They tied Hanuman with extra ropes, just to be sure, and dragged him to Ravana's court.

Face to Face with the Demon King

Ravana's court was huge.

Golden pillars went up to the ceiling. Diamonds shone on the walls. Demon soldiers stood in long rows. And on a massive throne sat Ravana himself.

Ten heads. Twenty arms. A crown on each head. Eyes burning red with anger.

A little grey monkey, tied with ropes, was pushed in front of him.

The demon court burst out laughing.

"This? This is the great warrior who broke our garden? Look at him! He is the size of a child!"

But Hanuman did not look afraid. He looked Ravana straight in the eye and spoke in a calm, clear voice.

"I am Hanuman. I am the messenger of Rama, prince of Ayodhya, husband of Sita whom you have stolen. I have come with a message. Send Sita home. Bow to Rama. Ask his forgiveness. If you do, you will live. If you do not, this whole city of yours will be ashes within the year."

The court fell silent.

Ravana's twenty hands gripped his throne. His ten faces went red. "You little forest creature! You stand in MY court and threaten ME?"

He roared at his guards. "Kill him! Cut him into pieces!"

But one of Ravana's wiser brothers, Vibhishana, stood up and held up his hand.

"Brother, no. He is a messenger. In every kingdom in the universe, you do not kill a messenger. It is not done. It is the worst thing a king can do."

Ravana growled. He knew Vibhishana was right. So he thought of something else.

"Fine. We will not kill him. But let us teach him a lesson he will never forget. A monkey loves his tail more than anything else in the world. Wrap his tail in cloth. Pour oil on it. Set it on fire. Then march him through every street of Lanka so the whole city can laugh at him."

The demons cheered. They thought it was the funniest idea they had ever heard.

Hanuman's eyes twinkled.

"My tail?" he thought. "They are going to set my tail on fire? Oh, this is going to be wonderful."

The Tail That Kept Growing

The demons started wrapping Hanuman's tail in cloth.

They wrapped one piece. Two pieces. Three pieces.

But something was strange. The tail seemed to be getting longer. They needed more cloth. They sent for more. They wrapped that too. The tail got longer still. They sent for all the cloth in Lanka. They wrapped sarees, curtains, sails from ships, even the king's own robes.

The tail just kept growing.

This is the secret. Hanuman could change his size whenever he wanted. He had the gift. And he was making his tail grow on purpose, longer and longer, the way a child stretches a rubber band.

Finally, when there was no cloth left in the city, the demons poured oil on the long, fat, fluffy, wrapped-up tail.

And they lit it.

The tail caught fire with a great whoosh.

The demons started laughing. "Now march him through the streets! Let everyone see!"

Hanuman let them tie a rope to his hands. He let them lead him out of the palace. He walked slowly, looking sad and small. The demon children pointed at him from the windows. The demon soldiers banged drums.

Hanuman let them parade him all the way to the centre of the city.

And then.

He smiled.

A Monkey-Sized Lesson

In one quick movement, Hanuman shrank himself down to the size of a little kitten.

The ropes fell off his tiny wrists. The big rope on his neck fell to the ground.

The demons stared. Where did the monkey go?

Then they looked up.

Hanuman was already on the roof of the nearest house, with his giant burning tail waving behind him like a flag of fire. He laughed a great laugh.

"Ravana wanted to teach me a lesson? Let me teach Lanka one."

And he started to jump.

From roof to roof. From tower to tower. From palace to palace. Every place his fiery tail touched, the wood caught fire. Golden roofs lit up. Marble walls turned black. The famous palaces of Lanka began to burn.

The demons ran in every direction. Buckets of water came up from the ocean. But the fire moved faster than the water. Hanuman's tail was made of his own choice, and his choice was to teach Ravana that you do not steal somebody's wife and then hurt their messenger and laugh about it.

The golden city of Lanka, the proudest city in all the worlds, burned through the night.

Not one person was hurt. Hanuman made sure to leap over the houses where mothers held babies, where old people were sleeping, where good families lived. He targeted the palaces of demons who had laughed loudest at him. He targeted the towers where Ravana's army lived.

By morning, much of Lanka was black smoke and red embers.

A Quiet Walk to the Ocean

When the work was done, Hanuman dipped his burning tail into the cool sea and put out the fire.

Then, just for a moment, his heart sank. "Wait. The garden where Sita is. Did I burn that too? Have I burned my own friend?"

He ran back to the Ashoka Vatika as fast as his feet could carry him.

The garden was untouched.

The red ashoka trees stood tall. Sita sat under one of them, safe, looking up at the smoke from the city with worried eyes.

Hanuman bowed low to her. "Mother, I have given the demon king his answer. Tell Rama I am coming home with everything he needs to know. The path is clear. The bridge will be built. The rescue is coming."

Then he climbed to the top of the highest cliff, the same cliff he had landed on a few days before. He looked back at the burning city one last time.

He grew bigger. He spread his arms. And he leaped back across the great ocean towards Rama.

In Your Life

Most of the time, the right thing to do is to be quiet, kind, and small. To listen to your elders. To not get into fights.

But sometimes, when somebody powerful is doing something very wrong, you also need to be brave enough to say it out loud. Hanuman walked into the king's court tied with ropes and still spoke the truth. He did not lower his eyes. He did not change his message because he was scared.

And when the bullies laughed at him and tried to hurt him, he did not just take it quietly. He turned what they did to him into a lesson they would remember forever.

This does not mean go and burn things. It means this. Do not let bullies decide who you are. When they try to make you small, sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to stand up taller. When they try to make you ashamed, sometimes the bravest thing is to laugh and walk on.

Hanuman teaches us this. The wind cannot be tied with rope. And the truth cannot be set on fire.