The Legend of The Holy Stone
A Long time ago, up on the Kamboi Rama mountain, there were two villages, Kamboi
Rama and Aroempu. Kamboi Rama was a residence for Kamboi people, and Aroempu was a
sago plantation owned by God Iriwonawani, who also owned a tifa. Whenever the tifa is
played, the Kamboi people would gather. Every day, the Kamboi women would go to
Aroempu to cut sago for their meals. As time passed by, the sago trees were becoming
scarcer. God Iriwonawani got really angry, “Get out of here! Don’t just cut but sow and
plant!” Because they were scared, the Kamboi people moved to the coastal area and named
themselves Randuayaivi. However, upon the mountain, there still lived a couple of husband
and wife, Irimiami and Isoray.
One day, on their way home after a hunt in the jungle, being tired, Irimiami and
Isoray decided to rest. Irimiami sat on the ground leaning on a tree. Meanwhile, Isoray was
still finding a place to sit. She saw a large stone and thought that it would be comfortable to
sit on. As she sat, all of a sudden, Isoray shouted and jumped off the stone. “Ouch! The stone
is so hot that I almost got burned!” Isoray cried. “What is it, dear?” Irimiami who almost fell
asleep immediately stood up, startled by his wife’s screams. “I don’t know what happened
either, but this stone feels really hot.” answered Isoray in panic.
A short time later, in their astonishment, smoke came out of that stone. Curious,
Irimiami tried to sit on that stone. “Ouch! It’s really hot!” he shouted. Becoming more
curious, the couple decided to test the stone’s heat. “How if we put this venison on that
stone?” said Irimiami. “Let’s just try, dear,” answered Isoray. Exquisite smells came from
the burning meat. As it was ready, they ate them up. “What a delicious piece of meat” or
“This meat is so delicious,” Irimiami said happily. Unsatisfied with what they had found,
they continued testing the stone. “Let’s try to put these bamboo stems,” said Isoray. “Let’s
try these grass and leaves,” Irimiami added. “How about that timber!” shouted Isoray. Day
by day, they kept on testing the stone.
One bright day, they gathered more grasses and put them on the stone. The grasses
burned quickly and spread to the surrounding plants, the fire got bigger. They started to
panic. “My husband, we’ve burned this place.” Isoray cried in fear. “It’s a big disaster and
we can’t stop. Let’s meet God Iriwonawani for help,” said Irimiami in tremble. They ran to
God Iriwonawani.
“My Lord, please help us put out the fire,” begged them. “Well, I shall help on the
condition that you stop that harming act of yours,” said the God.
“We promise, my Lord,” they said. With a magical power, the fire could finally be stopped.
Nevertheless, it seemed that they had not learned from their mistakes. They kept on
testing the stone, until one day they started a really big fire that did not stop for seven days
and
nights. They were really terrified and could not do anything but asked God Iriwonawai for
help.
Finally, the sounds of the tifa were heard again after a long time. All Randuayaivi
people ran to Kamboi mountain, witnessed the burning forest which was again successfully
extinguished by God Iriwonawani. On the mountain, Irimiami and Isoray finally told the
story of ‘the holy stone.’
The following day, all Randuayaivi people came back to the mountain bringing food
items. All those food items were put on the holy stone and the traditional feast took place
for three days and nights. All the people chanted and danced around the holy stone,
worshipping it and passing the holy stone story. People of Papua, particularly those of the
Yapen islands, sanctify the fire stone hitherto. The stone has become a sacred stone that
they worship annually.
source: http://ceritarakyatnusantara.com/en/folklore/59-the-legend-of-the-holy-stone
The Legend of N’daung Snake
Once upon a time, on the slopes of a mountain in Jambi province, there lived a 1.
pour/poor mother and her three daughters. For their living the mother and the youngest
daughter had to work hard all day long, while the first and second daughters were lazy and
did nothing.
One day, mother got such a severe pain that she could not move from bed. Then, the
daughters called a shaman. “Sir, please help us heal our mother,” said the daughters. The
shaman said, “Based on my insight, your mom must be treated by a special 2. flour/flower
that grows at the top of the mountain. Then, it must be boiled in a magical pot kept in a
dark deep cave guarded by a large mighty serpent named N’daung.” “But, according to the 3.
tale/tail, no one could ever go back home save as the snake would swallow them whole,”
warned the Shaman. Hearing that, no one dared to go, 4. accept/except for the youngest
daughter.
“I will go to the top of the mountain to get them from the snake,” said the youngest
daughter bravely. “Oh, we all will pray for you, sister,” uttered the first and the second
daughters in relief. “You really have a pure 5. soul/sole. Go and get them, girl. But, you have
to be really careful. I will take care of your mother here,” said the shaman. Without waiting
any longer, the youngest daughter went to the mountain. After three days of walking, she
finally reached the mountain peak. “Ah, that’s the 6. flour/ flower. I have to go really quick,”
said the youngest daughter. It was just in front of the cave door. When she grabbed it and
was about to put it inside her bag, she heard a very loud snake hiss. Of course, she was
scared to death.
“Hiss... You are so brave to come to this place. Did you just 7.steel/steal something
from my place? You’ll surely be a perfect breakfast. You have a nice 8.scent/cent, so
appetizing!” hissed the snake horribly. “O magic snake, please, pardon me. I certainly don’t
dare to bother you, but my mom is seriously ill. I am here to beg for only one flower and
borrow your magic pot to treat my mom,” the youngest daughter fell on her knees while
crying.
Unexpectedly, the snake started to shed tears, “What a nice girl. You risk yourself
coming here to treat your mom.” “That’s right, o snake. I love her so much and I am begging
for your help,” she still could not stop her tears. “Alright, I will let you bring the flower and
lend you my magic pot with only one condition. You have to promise to return here as your
mother gets better and stay here in this cave with me,” said N’daung snake. Because she
loves her mother, the youngest daughter nodded in an agreement, “Thank you, o magic
snake. I will certainly return to fulfill my promise.” The youngest daughter then went back
home, gave the flower and the magic pot to the shaman, and immediately went back to the
mountain. Even though deep in her heart, she did not really want to go back.
Just then, the youngest daughter returned to the top of the mountain in the middle
of the night. To her surprise, she did not meet N’daung snake but a well-built man. “Don’t
be surprised. I am Prince Abdul Rahman Alamsyah. I was cursed by my uncle and became a
snake. Every night I will return to my true form as a human and return to be a snake as the
sun rises,” said the prince. Meanwhile, when the mother heard the story of the youngest
daughter, she wanted to see her. She asked her other childern to go to the top of the
mountain.
In the middle of the night, the three of them could finally reach the top of the
mountain. How surprised they were to see the youngest daughter with a very handsome
man. The youngest daughter was so happy to see her family and introduced them to the
prince. The youngest daughter told them the story of the prince. Feeling jealous, while all of
the people already fell asleep, the first and second daughters took the prince’s snake skin,
burned it all, and put the ash next to the youngest daughter. On the following day, when the
prince could not find his snake skin but some ash next to the youngest daughter, he
thanked her. He was so happy because the curse was gone forever as the snake skin was
burned. Finally, the youngest daughter and the prince were married and returned back to
the kingdom. They lived happily ever after.
Adapted from https://opac.perpusnas.go.id/DetailOpac.aspx?id=1169895
