The Hanging Stone

Folklore from North Sumatra

ONCE upon a time, there lived a family near Lake Toba, North Sumatra. The parents had only one child. She was a beautiful girl. The girl was adult. The parents thought it was time to get married.

The parents planned to arrange her marriage. They have already matched her with a young man they chose. They did not know that they daughter already had a boyfriend. She loved him very much. Sadly, the parents did not agree with their relationship. They still asked her daughter to marry the man they chose.

The girl was very sad. Everyday she cried. She did not love the man her parents had already chosen for her. She only wanted to marry her boyfriend.

The time to get married was getting closer. Everyday the girl just sat near the Lake Toba. She was very hopeless. Her only friend was a dog.

The girl wanted to end her life. She wanted to jump to the Lake Toba. She was walking slowly. She approached the edge. She was very confused. She did not want to die or leave her boyfriend.

While she was thinking very hard, suddenly she slipped and fell to a big hole. The girl thought that it was time for her to die. She was surrounded by big stones. She felt the stone were getting closer to her. The stones were squeezing her.

Then she said, "Prapat... Prapat..." It means moving closer. amazingly, the stones were slowly moving closer to her. She was being squeezed!

Meanwhile, the dragon was barking. He was looking downward and keep on barking. It attracted people's attention.

They came to the dog and also looked downward. They heard a girl's voice saying, "Prapat... Prapat."

The people recognized her voice and her dog. They tried to help her. Some of them went to the girl's house. They wanted to tell her parents.
The parents immediately went to save their daughter. More and more people came. They all tried to save the girl.

Unfortunately it was too late. The stone were finally squeezing her. However, they were still able to hear voice saying, "Parapat... parapat."

Her parents were sad. They regretted their plan to marry her. Since then people named the area as Parapat.

Time passed by and several years later earthquake attacked the area. Stone were falling down to the lake. and when the quake stopped, people saw a big stone which looked like hanging. Actually the ctone clung to the cliff.

People said that the stone was the girl who was trapped inside the stones. Since the stone looked like hanging, so people named it as the hanging stone or Batu Gantung. ***

Breaking the Sun

Folklore from Papua

A long time ago, the sun did not shine too long. It was only shine for a while then it set to the west. Earth was in the dark most of the time. People did not like it. There were not many things they could do during the day. The wished to see the sun shine longer.

There was one man who really hated to be in the dark. His name was Rangga. Everyday he was thinking how he could make the sun shine long enough. One day he had an idea.

"I think the sun is too big to move. If we can break it into some pieces, the sun can move quickly. Therefore we can have enough light from the sun," said Rangga to his friend.

"But how can we break the sun?" asked one of his friend.

"We can break it by throwing a spear. But it should be a magic spear," said Rangga.

"How can we get the magic spear?" asked his friend. We ask the elf to guide us to find the magic spear," asked Rangga.

Then Rangga and his friends meditated in the jungle. It was not an easy thing to do. They were disturbed by wild animals. Luckily they had strong concentration. They were save from the animals. after a while, an elf finally came to them.

"What do you want my child?" asked the elf.

"We want to break the sun. We need to find a magic spear," explained Rangga.

"Hmm.. the magic spear belongs to the great thief. You have to fight him and grabs the spears from him, said the elf.

Rangga and his friends understood. They knew about the great thief. They herd that he had a supernatural power. Luckily the elf had also give them the supernatural power to fight against the great thief. Rangga and his friends were looking for the great thief. They finally found him. At first Rangga nicely asked the great thief to give him the spear, but of course the thief refused.

"Why should I give you the spear so you can break the sun? I love darkness. I can steal easily, ha.. ha.. ha.." said the thief.

Rangga and his friend knew that they did not have other choice. Then they were fighting. Thanks to the supernatural power given by the elf. Rangga and friends won the fight.

Finally Rangga held the magic spear. He held it firmly. he did not want to waste the time. He wanted to throw the spear and break the sun.

Rangga concentrated and threw the spear with great power towards the sun. and it worked! The sun was breaking into some pieces. The biggest piece became a moon and the small pieces became the stars.

Since then, the sun shines long enough. and when it set to the west, the earth was not completely in the dark. The moon and the stars gave people enough light. ***