Putri Tangguk

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.***

Putri Bungsu and the Dragons

Folklore from Aceh

ONCE upon a time, there were two dragons lived in Aceh. The dragons were male and female, they were husband and wife. The dragons really wanted to have a child. They always prayed to God to give them a child.

One day the dragons were resting at the river side. Suddenly they saw a baby beside a basket. The basket was drifting by the current of the water.

"My husband, look! There is a human baby inside the basket. Let's save the baby!" said the mother dragon.

The father dragon immediately swam fast. He brought the baby to the side.

She was a baby girl. The dragons were very happy. They had a child. Although the baby was a human child, the dragons really loved her. They named her Putri Bungsu.

Days passed by, Putri Bungsu was adult. She was very beautiful. The dragons always took care of her. They also always protected her.

In mean time, putri Bungsu real parents were looking for her.

In the mean time, Putri Bungsu real parents were looking for her. There was an incident and accidentally Putri Bungsu was drifting in the river.

After years looking for her, Putri Bungsu's real parents finally found her.

"My child, thank God we finally found you. You are our daughter. We know it from the mark in your hand," said the mother.

The dragons were angry! they said Putri Bunsu was their daugter.

"No! She is our daughter! We have raised her since she was a baby. We loved her and she loved us," said the mother dragon.

Putri Bungsu's real parents and the dragons were arguing. They each claimed to be Putri's Bungsu's parents and they asked Putri bungsu to stay with them.

They were arguing and they did not get any solutions. Putri Bungsu's real parents asked for help. They asked Tuan Tapa to help them. Tuan Tapa was a holy man. He also had supernatural power.

Tuan Tapa then asked the dragons to let Putri Bungsu leave and stay with her real parents. The dragons were angry. They asked Tuan Tapa not to interfere.

Tuan Tapa realized that the dragons could not negotiate. Therefore Tuan Tapa challenged them to fight.

"If you win, you can keep her. However you have to let her go and stay with her real parents if you both lose the fight," said Tuan Tapa.

"Ha ha ha...No problem! We will win the fight!"

Then Tuan Tapa and the dragons were fighting bravely. Although he was alone and had to fight with two dragons, Tuan Tapa was very brave. he used all his skills to fight them.

And finally he won the fight! The father dragon was dead. The mother dragon was very sad and angry. She knew she could not win the fight. She escaped.

The mother dragon was very angry. She wagged her tail. It broke an island into two small islands. people named the islands as Pulau Dua.

The tail also wagged another big island into many small islands. People named the island as Pulau Banyak.

While the body of the father dragon changed into a big stone.
People named it as Batu Hitam. And the blood dried into a big red stone, people named it as Batu Merah.***