Folklore from West Kalimantan

The Legend of Ruai Bird

Folklore from West Kalimantan

ONCE upon a time, there was a kingdom in West Kalimantan. The King had seven daughters. The queen had passed away. The king did not want to remarry.
The seven daughters were beautiful. However, the youngest daughter was the most beautiful. She was also the kindest. She often helped other people. Her sisters were very much different. They were lazy. They also had bad attitude. They were cruel to people.
The king knew about his daughters behaviours. He often advise his older daughter to behaviours. He often advise his older daughters to behave like the youngest daughter. Sadly, they never listened to the king's advice. They hated their youngest sister because the king often praised her good behaviour.
The older daughters often did terrible things to the youngest daughter. They often hit her. She was very sad. She often cried. She could not tell it to her father because her older sisters always intimidated her. They would hit her even harder if she told their father.
One day, the king asked all her daughters to meet him.
"I'm going to the neighboring kingdom. I'll go for several months. While I'm gone, my youngest daughter will rule the kingdom. Do you understand?" asked the king.
"Yes, we do, Father, "said all the daughters.
The older daughters were angry. They very upset about their youngest sister was asked to rule the kingdom.
After the king left, they planned something bad. They wanted to get rid of their youngest sister. They pretended to be nice to her. The youngest daughter was happy. Finally, her older sisters were nice to her.
The older sisters asked her to go fishing. They asked to go to Gua Batu or a stone cave. There was a river flowing inside the cave. And there were a lot of fish in that river.
The youngest daughter was so happy when they finally arrived at the cave. She did not know that her sisters were going to do something bad to her.
"Hurry up, let's go inside the cave. You can find a lot of fish inside the cave," said the oldest daughter.
The youngest was so eager. As she went inside the cave, she did not know that her sisters stayed outside the cave. They kept on asking her to go inside the cave.
She kept on walking until she was lost! She was calling out all her sisters, but they did not respond. She then understood that her sisters did not want her to rule the kingdom anymore.
She was very sad. She cried. Suddenly an old man came. He was a holy man. He was meditating in the cave. She changed her tears into eggs.
"Don't worry, I can help you. You can go back to the kingdom but you have to change into a bird. I name you Ruai Bird. After that, Brood these eggs. After they hatch, the birds will accompany you," said the old man.
She agreed. Slowly she changed into a beautiful bird. And after all the eggs were hatched, they went back to the kingdom. They all stayed at the tree near the kingdom. They all saw how the king punished the older sisters.***

The Greedy Fisherman

Folklore from West Kalimantan

A long time ago in Sintang, West Kalimantan, lived a fisherman with his family. The fisherman was poor.

Everyday he went fishing in the river using his fishing rod, because he did not have a net. That was why he always caught a few fish.

In one morning the fisherman rowed his sampan in the river. As always, he brought his fishing rod. He stopped his sampan and put the bait.

He was waiting but no fish caught the bait yet. He changed the bait. He hoped this time a fish would catch the bait. Sadly, he was not lucky yet.

After waiting for a long time, finally he felt that a fish caught his bait.

“Aha!”, he said. He slowly pulled the string of his fishing rod. It was hard!

The fisherman could not pulled the string.

Wow! The fish must be very big!

The fisherman thought.

He was thinking about the size of the fish. He knew that the big fish was very expensive. He hoped he would get a lot of money if he could sell the fish.

After thinking about the money, he suddenly had more power to pull the string of his rod. He pulled the rod with great power, but still, he did not succeed. The fisherman was very tired, he had been pulling with great power. The fisherman decided to get some rest.

It was almost dark, the fisherman thought that he already had enough rest. He hoped that the fish would be weak.

He took a deep breath and counted, one, two, three! He pulled the String, and yes! This time he succeeded! He lifted the fishing rod.

He wanted to see the size of the fish.

However, he did not see any fish!

Instead, he found some wire on the hook.

At first he was very disappointed.

But when he looked at the wire carefully, he was so happy. The wire was made of gold. He wanted to sell the wire and had a lot of money.

So he pulled the wire, he pulled more and more wire. The wire covered all area in his sampan.

Suddenly, there was a voice. “Enough, don’t take the wire anymore”.

The fisherman ignored the voice.

He wanted to take the gold wire as much as he could. He wanted to be rich.

“Enough! Don’t take the wire anymore, stop now!” Again, the voice asked him to stop.

“No! I don’t want to stop now!” said the fi sherman. He continued pulling the gold wire. The sampan was fi lled with the gold wire. It could not hold the wire anymore. Slowly, the sampan sunk to the bottom of the river.

The fi sherman did not realize that because he was busy pulling the wire.

When he found out what happened, it was too late. The sampan was completely sunk and the fi Sherman panicked!

He wanted to save the wire but the sampan sunk very fast. Finally, the fisherman swam to the river side. He regretted his bad behavior.

People heard about the fi Sherman and his wire. Since then people named the river as Wire River or Sungai Kawat. ***

The Crying Stone

A Folktale from West Kalimantan

IN a small village, a girl lives with her mother. The girl is very beautiful. Everyday she puts make-up and wears her best clothes. She doesn't like to help her mother work in a field. The girl is very lazy.
One day, the mother asks the girl to accompany her to go to the market to buy some food. At first the girl refuses, but the mother persuades her by saying they are going to buy new clothes. The girl finally agrees. But she asks her mother to walk behind her. She doesn't want to walk side by side with her mother.
Although her mother is very sad, she agrees to walk behind her daughter.
On the way to the market, everybody admires the girl's beauty. They are also curious. Behind the beautiful girl, there is an old woman with a simple dress. The girl and her mother look very different!
"Hello, pretty lady. Who is the woman behind you?" asks them. “She is my servant,” answers the girl.
The mother is very sad, but she doesn't say anything.
The girl and the mother meet other people. Again they ask who the woman behind the beautiful girl. Again the girl answers that her mother is her servant. She always says that her mother is her servant every time they meet people.
At last, the mother cannot hold the pain anymore. She prays to God to punish her daughter. God answers her prayer. Slowly, the girl's leg turns into stone. The process continues to the upper part of the girl's body. The girl is very panicky.
"Mother, please forgive me!" she cries and ask her mother to forgive her.
But it's too late. Her whole body finally becomes a big stone. Until now people still can see tears falling down the stone. People then call it the crying stone or batu menangis. ***

The Wise King

A Folktale from West Kalimantan

"Hello everybody, come and visit my restaurant. I have delicious food for you," Pak Razak is standing in front of his restaurant. He is inviting people to come and eat in his place.
A moment later a farmer comes. He is standing in front of the restaurant. He smells the aroma of the delicious food.
"Hmm...yummy," says the farmer.
"Hey! What are you doing? Do you want to come to my restaurant or not?' asks Pak Razak.
"No, I don't. Smelling the aroma of your delicious food makes me full," says the farmer.
"But you still have to pay! You smell my delicious food," Pak Razak is angry.
"No way! I don't want to pay! It's impossible!" The farmer is also angry.
Then Pak Razak and the farmer have an argument.
People come and ask to calm down. They suggest Pak Razak and the farmer go to the King to solve the problem.
"Please tell me what happened,” asks the King.
Pak Razak and the farmer tell the King about the problem.
"Hmm...I have the solution. Now put your coins into this bottle."
"Do you hear the sound of the coins?" asks the King to Pak Razak.
"Yes, I do," answes Pak Razak.
"Then, the farmer has just paid you. He pays your delicious aroma with the sound of his money," explains the King.
Pak Razak is silent. He knows the King is right. The King just gave him a lesson. He then apologizes to the farmer. ***

A Farmer and a Hedgehog Statue

A Farmer and
a Hedgehog Statue
Folklore from West Kalimantan

IT was a very hot day. A farmer was working on his field. He was there for several hours. He was 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. He wanted to show it to his wife. His wife was so 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 jewellery and other stuffs they needed. In just a moment, the farmer and his wife became very rich. They then shared their materials with the neighbours. There was one neighbour who was very jealous. He was actually a thief! He wanted to know how the poor farmers became rich. After the thief found out, he stole the magic hedgehog statue. He immediately took it and ran away. He was very tired from running and was very thirsty. He wanted to get some water from the statue. He said the prayer. His wish came true. Water came out of the statue’s mouth. The thief was so happy. He drank and drank the water. He wanted to stop drinking but he did not know how to stop the water. He forgot the prayer to stop the wish. Water kept on coming out. He did not know what to do. He was really panic. He 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. ***