Folklore from Nusa Tenggara Barat

Dae La Minga

Folklore from Nusa Tenggara Barat.

THERE was a very beautiful princess in Sanggar Kingdom. Her name was Dae La Minga. The king and the queen loved her very much. The people also really loved her. Dae La Minga not only a beautiful princess, but also a very kind girl. She liked to help other people.
Dae La Minga was very popular. Her beauty was spread all over the places. many men fell in love with her. Many of them were princes from other kingdoms. One by one, the princes came to Sanggar Kingdom.
Dae La Minga was kind to everyone. And that included to the princes. She was very polite and treated them nicely.
All the princes thought that they had a channce to be her husband. They all thought the princess loved them. Therefore they started to compare to one another.
"Hey, you'd better leave this kingdom now. Dae La Minga only loves me. She was very kind to me," said one prince.
"No way! She only loves me," said another prince.
However, other princes also argued that they had the best chance to marry Dae La Minga. Then the fight was unstoppable.
Since they were princes, they had soldiers. The little fight start to become worse. It started the war!
The king of Sanggar Kingdom really worried with the condition. He did not want to see the war in his kingdom. He was really concerned with his people. He knew he had to do something to solve the problem. He asked all his adviser to give him solution.
The king and the adviser knew that Dae La Minga could not choose one of the princes. Other princes could be jealous and it would started the war. Therefore they decided to ask the princess to leave the kingdom.
"My Dear Daughter, I know this is very difficult for you. This is also very difficult for me and your mother," said the king.
He continued, "We hope you understand. If you don't leave the kingdom, there will be war. Our people will suffer."
Dae La Minga was very sad. However she completely understood with the situation. She really loved her people. She did not want the people to suffer because of her.
"Where should I go, Father?" asked Dae La Minga.
"The advisor told me to put you in a place that all the princes cannot see you. The place is very far and very high. It is in the Tambora Mountain," said the king.
The king then told his people that the princess would leave the kingdom in order to avoid the war. The people were very sad. Most of them cried. They really did not want to lose her. But they knew war would happen if she still stayed in the kingdom.
Then it was time for her to leave the kingdom. Some soldiers accompanied her. They would guard her tto go to Tambora Mountain.
Until now some people still believe that Dae La Minga spiritually still lives in Tambora Mountain. She often shows herself in certain occasion. Not everybody can see her, only the lucky people can see her. ***

The Legend of Golog Stone

Folklore from Nusa Tenggara Barat

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 Meantwhile, the mother went to the rice field alone to pound the rice. And as always, she brought the children to the rice field.
Pllease take care of our children. I won't to be long in the market. I will go to the rice field after I finish selling the harvest, said the father.
I will be carefull, 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!" They screamed.
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. She was crying. She then prayed to God. She 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.***

Princess Mandalika

Folklore from Nusa Tenggara Barat

ONCE upon a time, there was a kingdom in Lombok. The king had a very beautiful daughter. Her name was Princess Mandalika. She was very beautiful; many young men fell in love with her.
Princes from all over the place wanted to marry her. One by one, they came to propose her. Princess Mandalika was a kind girl. She hated to make people sad. So, when those princes came to propose her to be their wives, she was very confused. She could not decide, and she also did not want to make them sad.
The king then held a competition in Seger Kuta beach, Lombok. He asked all the princes to take part in archery competition. The rule was simple: whoever shot the target perfectly, he could be the husband of his beautiful daughter.
One by one, all participants tried their best. They all wanted to be the winners. After several time, there was no winner. All the participants were great. Those princes were great in archery.
Because there was no a winner, then they started to argue. They claimed to be the best. The argument was getting hotter and hotter. Finally, they all were fighting. Soon, the fighting was bigger. It was like a war, because all princes brought their soldiers in the archery competition.
Princess Mandalika was really worried. She did not want the war to get bigger and hurt many people. Finally, she had an idea.
"Everybody, listen up! I know you all love me and want me to be your wife. But I can't be all your wives. I don't want you to fight because of me. And I don't want you to be sad either. I want you all to have me, but not as your wives. I want to be someone that everybody can have. I want to be useful for you. I want to be nyale that you all can enjoy together," said Princess Mandalika.
The king and all other people in the beach did not understand what she meant. The king then came to her. But before he came closer to his daughter, Princess Mandalika jumped to the sea. She was disappeared in the big waves.
It was chaos on the beach. People were screaming. All the princes tried to swim to find the princess. But no one dared to jump in the sea, the waves were too high.
After several hours trying to search the princess, suddenly they found a lot of sea worms on the beach. The king then realized that his daughter had returned as sea worms. Later he named the worms as nyale.
Until now, people in Lombok always try to catch nyale. Nyale is very delicious and that is why more and more people come to Lombok to catch it. However, they cannot catch it anytime they want. They can only find it once a year, in February or March. The tradition to catch the sea worms is called Bau Nyale. ***