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Folklore from Jambi
The Legend of the Tiger Eating Durian
SOME people believe that besides eating meat, tigers also like eating durians. Well, how could this happen? Do you want to know the story behind this? Read on!
It happened a very long time ago. There was a village named Kemingking in Jambi. The land in Kemingking was fertile. All kinds of trees grew very well. People could find all kinds of fruits there. However, there was one favorite fruit that lots of people like. It was durian.
The durians that grew in Kemingking village were very famous. It was so delicious. Many people from other places came to Kemingking to buy the durians. And during harvest time, Kemingking was full of people from other places. To avoid their durians being stolen, the villagers often stayed in the fields days and nights. When the durians were ripe, they would fall from the trees. The durians which fell out by themselves were very delicious.
Sadly, the villagers' happiness was disturbed. There was a big tiger coming to the village. The tiger was so hungry. It often attacked the villagers' cattle and ate them. And when the tiger could not find any cattle, it attacked the villagers!
Read another tiger Story: The Story of Panyalahan Village (The Faithful Tiger)
The villagers were restless! They reported their problem to the king.
"Your Majesty, we have a big problem in our village. A tiger came and attacked our cattle. It also attacked us,Your Majesty," said one villager to the king.
"Don't worry. I will send you my best soldier to your village. Now go home with my best soldier," said the king.
It was not difficult for the soldier to find the tiger. He immediately attacked the tiger. And the tiger fought back. The soldier used his sword. Unfortunately, the sword was broken when the soldier tried to smash the tiger's body.
Later the soldier used his spear. The tiger was so big and it had great power. And again, the spear was broken. The soldier did not have any other weapons! He ran away!
The tiger chase the soldier. And the soldier ran as fast as he could. Finally, the soldier arrived in the durian field. The field was full of fall-out durians. And when the soldier saw the durians, he had an idea.
Read also: Tigers of Indonesia
"Aha!" he said.
"I will use the durians as my weapons. There are so many durians here, so I don't have to worry I will run out of durians," said the soldier to himself.
The soldier immediately collected the durians. And when the tiger approached him, he threw the
tiger with the durians. The soldier threw repeatedly and the tiger could not save himself anymore. It was bleeding badly. Suddenly, the tiger talked.
"Enough... I give up. Please don't kill me," begged the tiger.
"OK, I will not kill you. But you have to promise that you won't disturb us again," asked the soldier.
"And you have to guard the durian fields at night. When you are hungry, you can eat the durians," said the soldier.
"Alright, I promise," said the tiger.
Since then the villagers in Kemingking did not have to stay at nights to guard their durians fields. They were not worried because the tiger would guard their fields from the thieves. And until now, people believe that tigers like to eat durians. ***
Did You Know?
First used around 1588, the name "durian" is derived from the Malay language word for duri or "spike", a reference to the numerous prickly spikes of the rind, together with the noun-building suffix, -an. (wiki)
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