History & Heritage

A black heart that turns red on hover

INDONESIA: FOLK TALES ON RICE

RICE IN INDONESIAN FOLK TALES

There’s more to rice than you think – Discover rice in Indonesian folk tales. Indonesia has a long and varied history, and its people are of most diverse origin and of different religious traditions and so are the rice stories.

Indonesia has a long and varied history, and its people are of most diverse origin and of different religious traditions. As might be expected, the folklore of Indonesia reflects this diversity of history and population. Folk tales, like other genres of folklore of any society, reflect emotions, needs, conflicts and other aspects of human psyche that people acquire as a result of growing up in a specific culture. They are probably the most crystallized and apt expression of human thoughts. And help to understand the common universal elements on the one hand and certain characteristic traits specific to that society on the other.

Across Indonesia, the extents of RICE stories are hardly to be seized here, there is still much more to discover…

Folklore from West Java

Cianjur

PakPelit is the head of the village. He also the richest man. He owns a lot of paddy fields. All the farmers work for him, they don’t have their own paddy fields.

The villagers call him Pak Pelit because he is very stingy. Pak Pelit has a son. His name is Budiman. Unlike Pak Pelit, Budiman is very generous to the villager. That’s why people call him Budiman.

It’s harvest time. According to their belief, the villagers have to hold a party to welcome the harvest. If not, the harvest will fail. They will not have good rice. The farmers then ask Pak Pelit to hold a party. At first Pak Pelit doesn’t agree. But he is afraid not to get good rice.

Then they have a festival. Suddenly an old woman comes. She asks for some food. Budiman sees what happens. He secretly takes some food and gives it to the old woman.

Nobody knows that the old woman has a supernatural power. She then stamps her foot on the ground On the place the old woman stamps up, slowly water comes out. More and more water comes out. Budiman asks his father to save himself. But Pak Pelit doesn’t want to do it. He wants to save his belongings first. Budiman then asks the villagers to go to the higher ground.

The water is now high, Pak Pelit and his belongings are down in the water. Budiman and the villagers are sad.

Their village was gone and becomes a lake. Budiman suggests the villagers to live at their new place. He also suggests the people to use the water in the lake as source of the irrigation for their paddy fields.

The farmers work hard. They produce rice with good quality. More and more people come and live there. The village now become a town. They call it Cianjur. Ci means water and anjur means suggestion. The villagers are thankful to Budiman’s suggestion.

Folklore from East Java

The Story of Pari Temple

Along time ago, an old man lived in Penanggungan Mountain. His name was Kiai Gede Penanggungan. He had supernatural power. Kiai Gede Penanggungan also had a beautiful daughter. Her name was Dewi Walangangin.

Although very beautiful, she was not married yet. That’s why Kiai Gede Penanggungan prayed days and nights for her daughter. Finally, God answered his prayer. A young handsome man came to his place.

“My name is Jaka Pandelegan. I came here because I want to be your student and want to learn a lot of things from you,” said the young man.

“I will take you as my student but you have to marry my daughter. Agree?” Jaka took a deep breath.

Then he said,“Yes, I agree. I will marry your daughter.”

Both Dewi Walangangin and Jaka Pandelegan lived a happy marriage. Especially Jaka, he was even happier.

Kiai Gede Penanggungan taught him many things. After several years living with Kiai Gede Penanggungan, now it was time for the couple to leave him and found a new life as husband and wife.

“I know you can’t live with me forever. Before you go, take this seed of pari. Every time people ask you, give them some. Don’t be arrogant when you are rich.”

After that, the couple left him and brought pari seed. Pari means rice.

Then, in the new place, they planted the seed. Soon, grew a lot of rice. Now the couple became very rich. The poor neighbours came to the couple to ask for some pari seed.

“No way! If you want to eat, you have to work hard like me!” said Jaka.

Kiai Gede Penanggungan heard his bad behaviour. So, he decided to visit him. He wanted to remind him about his promise. Kiai Gede Penanggungan immediately called their names when he arrived in the rice field.

“Jaka Pandelegan, come here! I want to talk to you.” But Jaka ignored him. He kept on doing his activity. “My daughter, Dewi. It’s me, your father.”

But Dewi also ignored him. Kiai Gede Penanggungan was really angry. He then said, “You two are like temples. You cannot listen to me.”

Right after he said those words, an incredible thing happened. Slowly, Jaka and Dewi turned into temples. Because the temples stood among the pari, people then named them as Pari Temple.

Jaka Tarub and Nawang Wulan

Tarub was a handsome young man. He was very popular in the village. Many young girls fell in love with him. However Jaka Tarub thought that they were not beautiful enough to be his wife. That’s why he was still single. He wanted to have a very beautiful wife.

As always, Jaka Tarub went to the forest to collect some woods. Suddenly he heard some noise from the waterfall. He was curious. The noise was from the girls taking a bath in the waterfall.

Slowly, Jaka Tarub walked to the area. When he arrived there, he saw seven beautiful girls taking a bath. He was really amazed by their beauty. After they were finished, the girls slowly took their shawls. Amazingly after they wore the shawls, they flew to the sky. They were not humans. They were fairies!

After that Jaka Tarub went home. He was very restless. He was still thinking about those seven beautiful girls.

On the next day, Jaka Tarub then decided to go back to the waterfall. When those fairies were taking a bath, he stole one of their shawls. And that made one fairy could not fly back to the sky. She cried. Jaka Tarub then approached her.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“I lost my shawl. I cannot go back home. All my sisters have left me. My name is Nawang Wulan. I will give you anything if you can find my shawl.”

“I’ll help you. But if we can’t find it, you can stay at my house. You can be my wife,” said Jaka Tarub.

Then Jaka Tarub pretended to look for the shawl. And of course they could not find it. After that they went to Jaka Tarub’s home. Later they got married.

They had a baby girl, had a happy life, always had enough rice to eat and did not have to work hard like their neighbors. It was because Nawang Wulan used her magic in cooking.

One day, Jaka Tarub asked her about the magic. Nawang Wulan did not tell him the secret and asked him not to open the cooking pan’s lid. She said that if Jaka Tarub opened the lid, they had to work hard to get a lot of rice to cook.

One day, Jaka Tarub was really curious. He then opened the cooking pan’s lid. He saw there was only a small portion of rice to cook. When she got home, Nawang Wulan knew that Jaka Tarub had opened the lid. She was angry because she already lost the magic in cooking. Now she had to take a big portion of rice to cook.

Slowly there was not enough rice in the silo. And when Nawang Wulan wanted to take the last portion of rice, she found her shawl. Jaka Tarub hid the shawl in the silo. Nawang Wulan was really happy.

She then said, “I will go home now. Take care of our daughter. When there is full moon, take her out of the house and I’ll come to get her.”

Nawang Wulan then flew to the sky. Jaka Tarub was really sad. And to keep the promise, Jaka Tarub always went out of the house with his daughter when there was full moon. But Nawang Wulan never came back.

Folklore from Banten

Nyi Banjarsari

It was a rainy season. The villagers were happy, most of them were farmers. Rain would water their rice field and soon they would harvest their rice. Pak Bong was one of the farmers. He was also very happy.

He wanted to buy some clothes for himself, his wife, and his beloved daughter, Nyi Banjarsari. She was a very beautiful girl. Her parents loved her because she was very obedient. One night, Pak Bong had a terrible dream. An old man came to him and said the rain would never stop. There would be a great flood.

At first Pak Bong thought it was just a dream but he had the same dream in the following nights. He decided to tell all the villagers about his dream and asked them to evacuate on a hill not far from their village.

“Ha ha ha? You are joking, Pak Bong. How can we leave our rice field? We are going to have great harvest, remember?”

Everybody was laughing at Pak Bong.

Pak Bong did not give up. He kept on asking the villagers to evacuate to the hill. Finally some villagers believed him. Together with his wife, and his daughter Nyi Banjarsari, Pak Bong and his friends went to the hill.

In the meantime, heavy rain fell days and nights. It continued until water entered the houses. The villagers were sorry they did not listen to Pak Bong and ignored his advice. Soon, the village was drowned! Pak Bong and his friends could not do anything. They were sad because their village was under water.

Then they prayed to God. They asked God how the water dried up from their village. The answer came in Pak Bong’s dream. In his dream, the same old man told him how to save their village.

“If you want the water to dry up, you have to sacrifice your daughter. She has to jump into the water!” said the old man.

Pak Bong was very sad. He then told his family about his dream. His wife did not agree at all. She did not want to lose her lovely daughter.

“That’s OK, Mother. If this is the only way to save our village, I would jump into the water,” said Nyi Banjarsari.

Her parents could not say anything. They could not prevent their daughter from jumping into the water. Slowly, water dried up. Pak Bong and his friends then returned to their village. They built their houses and had their lives back. To show their thankfulness and gratefulness to Nyi Banjarsari, the villagers named their village into Banjarsari.

Folklore From Riau

The Legend of Senua Island

Once upon a time, there lived a poor fisherman. His name was Baitusen. His wife’s name was Mai Lamah. They lived in Natuna, Riau. They were so poor and they were not satisfied with their lives. They decided to go to another island. They planned to go to Benguran Island. The island was rich with the natural resources. They hoped they lives would be better. They wanted to be rich.

When they arrived in Bunuran Island, they were so happy. The people were very nice. They were kind and helped each other, They also helped Baitusen build his house.

Baitusen and Mai Lamah were also happy to live in Bunguran Island. They were so grateful. The people did not treat them differently although they were new comers on the island. One of the people in Bungutan island was Mak Semah. She was a midwife. He helped pregnant women in childbirth. Besides that, she also helped sick people.

“Remember. Whenever you are not feeling well, do not hesitate to call me,” said Mak Semah to Mai Lalmah.

Baitusen worked very hard. He really wanted to be rich. He never complained. His work hard finally gave him plained. His work hard finally gave him great wealth. Slowly he became very rich. He build a bigger house. His wife also started to buy jewelries.

Mai Lamah changed her appearances. She wanted to look like rich woman.

She did not want to look dirty and poor. Sadly, it was not only her appearance that changed. Her attitude also changed. Previously, she was a nice and kind woman. But after she was rich, she became arrogant. She did not want to get along with her neighbors.

In one night, Mah Semah went to Baitusen’s house. She wanted to ask for some rice to cook. She was poor and hoped that Baitusen could help her.

“Please help me. May I have some rice? I’m so hungry and I don’t have any money to buy rice,” said Mak Semah.

Mai lamah was upset. “What? If you want to have some rice, you have to buy. And if you don’t have any money, you have to work. No, I don’t want to help you.”

“But, I really don’t have any money. And I’m too old to work.” said Mak Semah.

“I don’t care. Now go away!”

May Lamah’s bad behaviour made the people hate her. However, she did not care. Indeed, she felt very happy when the people did not talk to them. So, they did not disturb her anymore.

Mai Lamah and Baitusen were happy. Mai Lamah was pregnant. They soon would have a baby. And finally it was time for Mai Lamah to deliver her baby.

She was in great pain. Baitusen asked Mak Semah to help his wife. But she refused to help. He asked other neighbors to help, but they also refuse to help.

“Don’t worry. Let’s go another island. I’m sure the people there will help us,” said Baitusen to Mai Lamah.

“Okay, but don’t forget to bring our jeweleries,” said Mak Lemah.

Then, they were sailing in their ship. It was loaded with their wealth.

Unfortunately, there was a great storm. Thunder attacked their ship. they asked for help. But no one helped them. Slowly their ship was sinking.

Mai Lmah’s body turned into a big stone. Slowly the stone turned into an island.

People named it Sanua Island. Sanua mean one person with two bodies. Meanwhile her jewelries turned into swallow birds. Until now, Bunguran island is known as home for swallow birds.

Folklore from Bali

The Legend of Catu Island

Along time ago there was a village in Bali. The people worked as farmers. One of the was Jurna. He was a diligent farmer. He always had a great harvest. However he was never satisfied. He wanted to have better and better harvest.

“I will promise to gods. If they give me better harvest than I have now, I will give them offerings and I will share the harvest to the neighbors,” said Jurna to his wife.

“I agree, But remember, you have to keep your promise,” said his wife.

Soon, Jurna had better harvest. He had more rice than he had before. He was happy. And as promised, he prepared offerings to the gods and he also shared to his neighbors. They were very happy.

Jurna was not satisfied. He wanted to have better and better and more harvest. Therefore he promised to gods that he would double his offerings and his sharing to the neighbors.

His wish came true. His harvest was much better than before. The other farmers were amazed. They were also very thankful because he shared his harvest to them.

One day, Jurna went to his rice field. When he arrived, he saw a pile of soil on the ground. It looked like a catu. Catu was made of coconut shell. People used catu to measure the amount of rice. At home, Jurna talked about a soil which looked like a catu to his wife. She had an idea.

“Let’s make catu from rice,” she said. Jurna agreed. Later they formed the rice just like catu. On the following day, Jurna went to his rice field. He saw the soil catu was getting bigger.

“Hmm…I will make rice catu bigger than this,” said Jurna himself. He asked his wife to make bigger rice catu. He felt very satisfied. He wanted to show his rise catu to his neighbors. He hoped that his neighbors would prise him as a rich man.

And they did! All the neighbors praised him. Jurna became arrogant. On the next day, Jurna went to his rice field. He hoped the soil catu were not getting bigger and bigger. But he was wrong. Strangely, the soil catu was bigger.

“Don’t worry, I have much rice. I can make rice catu bigger,” said Jurna arrogantly. While he was making the rice catu, he was thinking how the neighbors would prise him.

And his wish came true. All the neighbors were so amazed by the size of the rice catu. They all said that Jurna was very rich. Jurna became more arrogant.

Then Jurna went to his rice field. He hoped the soil catu would stop growing. But he was wrong. Again, it became much bigger than before. Jurna was really upset. He made rice catu bigger than before.

It always repeated. Every time he went to his rice field he always found the soil catu became bigger and bigger.

His wife always reminded him to stop making rice catu. She said that their stock was getting lesser and lesser. She asked him to stop wasting the rice.

But Jurna ignored her. He was only thinking how he could make his rice catu bigger than the soil catu. Soon he lost all of his rice. He became poor. He regretted his bad behaviour. Meanwhile the soil catu became very big. It was like a hill. People then named it as Catu Hill or Bukit Catu.

Folklore from Jambi

There was a village in Jambi. The people were farmers. One of them was Putri Tangguk. She lived with her husband and her children.

Putri Tangguk and her husband had a very small rice field. Amazingly, the rice field was able to harvest a lot of rice. Their harvest was always abundant. They put their harvest in their big barn. They were very happy with their life.

Putri Tangguk always helped her husband in the rice field. One day, she said that she wanted to quit helping her husband. She wanted to take care of the children and mingle with the neighbours.

In the morning, Putri Tangguk wanted to cook some rice. However she could not find any rice in the kitchen. She was surprised and she felt that she just took some rice from the barn and put it in the kitchen. Then, she went to the barn. Surprisingly, there was no rice in the barn. She immediately told her husband about the missing rice.

“Look! The rice is gone. Our rice is stolen!” said Putri Tangguk.

Putri Tangguk and her husband immediately went to the rice field. And after they finished, they brought the rice. On the way home, rain fell down heavily. The rain made the road slippery. Putri Tangguk fell down several times.

She was really upset. Later, she asked her husband to put the rice on the road.

“What for?” asked the husband.

“The road is slippery. If we throw the rice on the field, we can step on it. Therefore the road is not going to be slippery. Don’t worry, we have an amazing rice field right?” asked Putri Tangguk.

Although he did not completely agree with her idea, the husband still threw the rice in front of them. The idea worked. Every time they stepped on the rice, they did not fall down.

When they arrived home, their rice was only left a little. It was only enough for their dinner. However they were not worried. Tomorrow morning, they planned to go to their rice field and took a lot of rice. They planned to fill their barn.

Surprisingly when they arrived, their rice field was full of grass. There was no rice at all. They were really confused.

At night Putri Tangguk had a dream. An old man came to her and said, “You were really ungrateful. You treated us badly.”

“I am one of the rice you threw away on the road. You stepped on us! The god of the rice was really angry. He decided not to give you a lot of rice anymore. You can only get a little rice,” said the old man.

Putri Tangguk then woke up. She really regretted what she did. She knew it was wrong to throw away the rice but it was too late. She could only feel sorry.

Folklore from West Kalimantan

A Farmer and a Hedgehog Statue

It was a very hot day. A farmer was working on his field. He was there for several hours and very tired and wanted to get some rest. Just before he found a nice place to rest, he saw something very shiny.

He came to the shiny object and took it. It was a hedgehog statue. It was very beautiful. Its eyes were made of diamond. Those were the shiny objects he saw. The farmer then brought the statue home and wanted to show it to his wife. She was very happy, they were so poor and planned to sell the statue.

At night, the farmer had a dream. A giant hedgehog came to him. He said, “Please let me stay in your home. As a return, I will give you everything you want. Just caress the statue’s head and say the prayer. There are two kinds of prayers, one is to start your wish and the second is to stop your wish. Now memorize the prayers.”

The farmer told his wife about his dream. They really wanted to prove it. The farmer slowly caressed the statue’s head. He said the prayer and asked for rice. Suddenly, a magic thing happened. Rice came out of the mouth of the statue. The rice kept on coming out from the statue’s mouth.

The farmer immediately said the prayer to stop it. It worked! The rice then stopped coming out from the statue’s mouth. Now the farmer mentioned other things, they were jewelry and other stuffs they needed. In just a moment, the farmer and his wife became very rich.

They then shared their materials with the neighbors. There was one neighbor who was very jealous. He was actually a thief and wanted to know how the poor farmers became rich.

After the thief found out, he stole the magic hedgehog statue and immediately took it and ran away. Tired from running and was very thirsty, he wanted to get some water from the statue and said the prayer. His wish came true. Water came out of the statue’s mouth.

The thief was very happy, drank and drank the water. As he wanted to stop drinking, he did not know how to stop the water, because he forgot the prayer to stop the wish. Water kept on coming out. Not knowing what to do, he panicked and asked for help. People who saw the incident were really scared. They ran away to avoid the water. More and more water surrounded him.

Slowly, it became a small pond. Water flowed on the ground. It became a river. People then named the river as Hedgehog River or Sungai Landak.

Folklore from East Kalimantan

The Legend of Pesut Mahakam

Along time ago, there was a village in East Kalimantan. The village was near the Mahakam River. The villagers always worked hard. Although they were poor, they were very happy. They also helped each other.

In the village, there was a rich family. The head of the family was Pak Pesut. Everybody knew Pak Pesut. He was known not because of his wealth, but because his stinginess. He did not like to help others. His family always ignored people. That’s why Pak Pesut’s family always lived alone and never mingled with others.

It was a very long dry season. All the rice fields could not get water properly. The villagers could not harvest the rice.

Therefore, all villagers were planning to leave their village and find other place to stay. Then they sent some young men to look for a place that had enough water for their rice fields.

After several weeks looked for a new place, finally those young men arrived. They brought good news. There was a waterfall and it was enough to water their rice fields. Later, all the villagers rushed to the new place. Some villagers went to Pak Pesut’s house to inform about the waterfall. Although Pak Pesut was stingy, the villagers did not hate him.

“I’m not going with you! I will stay here. I have enough rice for my family.We will survive!” said Pak Pesut arrogantly.

The villagers knew it was useless to ask Pak Pesut to join them. So, they all left him and his family alone in the village. When they arrived at the new place, they all were very happy. They had enough water from the waterfall.

In the mean time, Pak Pesut and his family were beginning to worry. Their rice slowly was gone. Soon they would not have enough rice to eat.

It was in the morning when Pak Pesut’s wife was cooking their last portion of rice. Suddenly, someone knocked the door. A beggar came to his house.

“Go out! I don’t have enough rice,” said Pak Pesut. He was lying.

“Please mercy me. I’m so hungry. Give me a little rice please,” asked the beggar.

Pak Pesut immediately asked his family to eat the rice. He was worried the beggar would enter his house and stole the rice.

“But the rice is still in the cooking pot. Mother is still cooking it. If we eat the rice, it will be very hot,” said his son.

“I don’t care! If you all don’t eat now, you will never eat again,” said Pak Pesut.

Later, Pak Pesut and his family ate the rice. It was very hot. They needed water to drink. They rushed to Mahakam River. It was so hot that they finally jumped to the river.

The beggar saw the incident. He then prayed to God. Amazingly, Pak Pesut family slowly changed into fish. The fish looked like dolphin. Since then, everybody named the fish as Pesut fish.

Folklore from Nusa Tenggara Barat

The Legend of Golog Stone

Once upon a time, there was a family of farmers. The father’s name was Amaq Lebain and the mother’s name was Inaq Lebain. They had two children, a son and a daughter. They lived happily.

The parents really loved their children. Every time they went farming, they always brought they children to the rice fields.

One day the father went to the market to sell their harvest Meanwhile, the mother went to the rice field alone to pound the rice. And as always, she brought the children to the rice field.

“Please take care of our children. I won’t to be long in the market and will go to the rice field after I finish selling the harvest,” said the father.

“I will be careful,” said the mother.

“Okay, Mother,” said the children.

Later the mother was busy pounding the rice. It was quite noisy. Strangely, every time the mother pounded the rice, the stone where the children were sitting down was growing. The children were scared. They screamed.

“Mother? The stone is getting taller!”

The mother could not hear them well. She thought the children asked her to go home.

“Just the minutes kids, I will finish this soon,” said the mother.

“But mom, the stone is getting taller. We were scared,” the children were crying.

“Be patient, I will finish pounding the rice soon,” said the mother.

Again, she could not hear them well. It was repeated again and again. The golog stone was getting taller and taller and finally it reached the clouds. The children could not be seen it anymore.

When the mother finished pounding the rice, she was shocked! She could not find her children, was crying, then prayed to God and wanted to bring her children down but she did not know how to do it. Somehow God answered her pray. She had to use the rice pounder to cut down the Golog stone.

Then she hit the stone with the rice pounder. Amazingly, the stone broke down into three pieces. The first part fell in an area which later called Gembong Village. The second part fell in area which was later named Dasan Batu, and the last part fell in area which later was named Montong Teker. Unfortunately, the two children could not come back to their mother. They had changed into birds.

Folklore from Banten

The Legend of Tanjung Lesung

The met a very beautiful woman. The woman was standing in front him. Raden Budog tried to touch her. Suddenly, a twig of the tree fell down and hit him. And that made him wake up from his sleep. He was upset!

Raden Budog could not forget that woman, he wanted to meet her. He traveled days and nights and never stopped to rest. And finally he arrived in a village. All of the villagers were farmers. Some girls were pounding rice in a mortar. The people called the mortar as lesung. They were busy pounding and the sound they made was like a harmony. The girls pounded the rice everyday, except Friday. Friday was a holy day for them, because it was time to pray to God.

Raden Budog enjoyed the sound. He was looking at all the girls one by one.

And suddenly, Aha! He saw the girl he met in his dream.

Raden Budog was very happy. He came closer to the girls. All the girls were afraid and they all went home. Raden Budog followed the beautiful girl.

And when the beautiful girl arrived home, Raden Budog knocked the door. An old woman opened the door.

“Who are you, young man,” asked the woman.

“My name is Raden Budog. May I spend the night in your house? I’m a traveler and I don’t have a place to stay,” said Raden Budog. He was trying to find an excuse to stay in the house.

“My name is Nyi Siti and I live with my daughter. Her name is Sri Poh Haci. My husband passed away. If you want to spend the night here, you can sleep in the terrace. I’m so sorry, I don’t allow men to stay in my house,” said Nyi Siti.

In the morning, Sri Poh Haci woke him up.

She also gave him a glass of coffee. Raden Budog was extremely happy. He then tried to find a way how he could stay in the village and got married with her. Later, he told Nyi Siti that he would help her in the rice field. Nyi Siti agreed.

Days passed by and later Sri Poh Haci also fell in love with him. Then they got married.

Raden Budog still worked in the rice field and Sri Poh Haci also continued to pound the rice in the lesung. One day Raden Budog wanted to pound the rice. He also wanted to make the good sound. However it was Friday, and he forgot that pounding rice in the lesung was not allowed on Fridays. And when he was busy making the sound, the villagers screamed.

“Hey, look! A monkey is pounding the rice!”

Slowly the villagers came closer to Raden Budog. He did not notice that all the villagers were looking at him, until one man yelled at him. “Hey, monkey! Stop it! It is Friday!”

Raden Budog did not understand why the villagers called him monkey. And when he looked at his body, he was surprised! His body was full of hair. He even had a tail. He had changed into a monkey! Raden Budog was so ashamed. He ran away to the jungle.

Since then people named the village as Lesung Village or Kampung Lesung.

And since the village is located in a cape, people then named the village as Lesung Cape or Tanjung Lesung.

A Folktale from North Sumatra

Glutinous Rice

Olih and her mother live in a village in North Sumatra. They are poor. Their neighbors love them because they are kind and always help other people.

In the evening, seven old women come to Olih’s house. Those women look dirty, and they are wearing ragged clothes. They are also very hungry.

“Good evening. We are hungry. Could you please give us some food?” ask one of the old women.

“Don’t worry, Ma’am. We have some food for you. Just wait for a moment.”

Olih then goes to his house. He opens the cupboard then takes some food. A moment later he gives the food to the old women.

“Thank you very much, Kid. It’s very kind of you. We are also very tired. Would you let us stay here to spend the night? Nobody wants to let us stay in their house. We are strangers here, we have no place to go.”

“Don’t worry. You all can stay here,”says Olih’s mother.

“Thank you very much. You two are very kind to us.”

In the morning, those seven old women are still sleeping. Olih’s mother asks Olih to wake them up to have breakfast.

Suddenly Olih screams! “Mom! Come here!!!

Olih’s mother then runs to the bedroom. She finds the room full of rice. The old women are gone. But there is one beautiful girl sitting on the bed.

“Don’t be afraid. I am one of the women. My father sent me here. He has a great super natural power. He changed me into an old woman and ask me to deliver this special rice to a family that helped me, “says the girl.

Olih and her mother are very happy. Now they have enough rice to eat. They also share the rice to the neighbors. The rice is so delicious. They call it beras pulut or glutinous rice, it means sticky and delicious rice.

Wa Lancar

WA Lancar was a poor young man. However he always wanted to study hard. He did not have enough money to go to a teacher. Fortunately he met a kind teacher. He was willing to teach Wa Lancar. For a return, he asked Wa Lancar to help him in the rice field. Wa Lancar agreed. The teacher taught him everything.

After several years, the teacher thought it was enough for Wa Lancar as his student. Before Wa Lancar left, the teacher gave him one advice.

“If you are hungry don’t eat immediately, Just wait.”

Wa Lancar then left, still wanting to study, he met the second teacher.

Like the first teacher, Wa Lancar also did not have to pay. He was just asked to help the teacher in the rice field. Wa Lancar studied for several years and then teacher asked him to leave. He also gave advice to Wa Lancar.

“When you are tired walking, stop and get some rest.”

Wa Lancar still was not satisfied. He met the third teacher. Again, he did not have to pay money. He was also asked to help the teacher in the rice field. Later, it was time for him to leave. Again, the third teacher gave him an advice.

“Get a stone and a knife, and then grind the knife.”

Wa Lancar was very thankful. He wanted to help all the poor kids. He then taught them. At first, he just had few students, after that he had more and more students. And that made another teacher jealous.

The jealous teacher went to the palace and told the king that Wa Lancar taught bad lessons to the children. The king was angry aand he punished Wa Lancar. The punishment was Wa Lancar had to marry the king’s daughter. Wa Lancar was scared. It was because any man who married the king’s daughter, would die mysteriously.

At the wedding reception, the guests were served with delicious foods. The jealous teacher gave Wa Lancar food. Wa Lancar remembered his first teacher’s advice, not to eat immediately when he was hungry. Wa Lancar refused the food. However the man next to him ate the food. Not long after that, the man suffered terribly stomachache. Later the man died. Apparently, the food was poisoned.

In the following morning, the jealous teacher told Wa Lancar that the king asked Wa Lancar to give the king a black stone from the hill. Wa Lancar went with some soldiers. After several hours walking, Wa Lancar was tired. He remembered his second teacher’s advice, to stop and get some rest if he was tired walking.

Wa Lancar told the soldiers to walk first. Wa Lancar was lucky. The soldiers were trapped in a big hole. Wa Lancar then took the black stone and brought it to the palace. When he arrived at the palace, Wa Lancar wanted to sleep.

Suddenly he remembered his third teacher’s advice, to grind a knife with a stone. Wa Lancar took a knife and ground it with the black stone.

After he was finished, he went to bed. He saw a centipede on the bed! He killed the centipede with his knife. His wife woke up. She heard all the noise. She was surprised to see a dead centipede on the bed.

Wa Lancar told his wife everything. He was sure that all the bad things happened because of the jealous teacher. His wife immediately told his father, the king, all the bad things. The king asked the jealous teacher if it was true. The jealous teacher could not do anything. He told everything and confessed his mistakes. The king then punished the jealous teacher.

~ ○ ~

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