66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

cross it with his army. He prayed and fasted for seven days
and summoned the sea god and ordered, “Make way for my
armies.”
The sea god said, “I am as much subject to the laws of
nature as other elements. What can I do?”
Whereupon Rama felt angry and threatened to shoot his
arrows into the sea so that all the water might evaporate and
facilitate his passage. The sea god implored him to desist
and not to destroy the sea and its living creatures, and
suggested, “I will accept and put to the best use whatever is
brought to me to bridge the sea.”
Rama’s angry mood left him and he said, “So be it.” Very
soon his monkey army brought in mud, huge rocks, and even
pieces of mountains; men, monkeys, and all animals helped
in this task. It was said that even the little squirrel rolled along
pebbles to fill up the sea, and a day came when there was a
passage created by their combined efforts, and Rama’s
army marched across and landed on the soil of Lanka.