How The Queen of The Sea Punished Greed
How The Queen of The Sea Punished Greed
(Central Java)
It was a very dark night. On the beach everything was quiet. Only the song of the waves broke the deep silence. There was nobody to be seen on the sand. There was not a single man or a single animal.
At one place near the sea there rose a high rock. The waves had been throwing themselves for centuries against the walls of this rock and had made holes in them. Some of the holes were small, but some were big and formed little caves.
On this dark night a man was sitting alone in the biggest cave at the foot of the rock. He sat, without moving, on a dirty bamboo mat that was spread on the sand. His hands were folded on his chest and his eyes straight ahead towards the sea. That man was Karta. For seven days and six nights he had sat like this, alone in that little cave. That night was the seventh night. What was he doing there? What did he want?
Karta was a poor peasant. He had been poor all his life and he desperately wanted to be rich. All his work on his paddy field could not bring him the wealth he desired so much. So he had to look for other ways to get rich. One day a friend told him about the Queen of the Sea. According to the old people the Queen of the Sea lived in a beautiful palace on the bottom of the ocean not far from the coast. It was said that sometimes she gave some of her wealth to people who asked her for help in time of need. Those who wanted to meet her had to fast and to sit on the beach for seven days and seven nights, calling her name in their minds. If she agreed to help them, she would appear to them on the seventh night. But if she didn’t come on the seventh night, it was clear that the Queen was not willing to help them.
And this was the seventh night for Karta. Would the Queen come and make him rich? Karta was tired of being poor, of working hard, and of living in a hut, wearing old torn clothes, and always eating the same food everyday: rice and salted fish.
Midnight passed. Karta grew sleepy. But he didn’t want to fall asleep, not now, on this special night.
The hours passed, dawn would come soon, but still Karta waited patiently. Then suddenly, a strong wind rose from the sea and blew away the dark clouds which covered the sky. Now Karta could see the shining stars.
The wind became stronger and waves rose up high. In the middle of the waves Karta saw a figure appearing. It was the figure of a woman, coming nearer and nearer to the beach on the rolling waves.
When she was very near, Karta could see her beautiful face. Her long black hair fell loose over her white shoulders and her eyes were as bright as the stars in the sky. But when she lifted her body from the water, Karta could see that from her waist downwards she had the form of a big fish. Instead of legs he saw a fishtail. Now she spoke to him to him in a soft and kind voice.
“What do you want, Karta? I heard you calling through the walls of my palace. Why do you call me?”
Karta bowed low, so low that his forehead touched the sand. He answered softly, “Forgive me, Your Highness. People have told me that you are good and kind. They say that you like to help poor people like me, I’m so poor, Your Highness, please give me some of your wealth.”
“Karta,” the Queen of the Sea answered, “wealth that is not earned by hard work does not bring happiness.
Go back to your village; work on your paddy field. Take care of the young rice so that it grows well and gives a rich harvest.”
“I’ve worked hard all my life, Your Highness, and I’m still poor. My work doesn’t bring me more than dry ice and salted fish. Look at my clothes, they’re old and worn, yet I can’t buy new ones. Be kind to me, Your Highness, and make me richer. I’ll be grateful to you all my life,” said Karta.
“You have a good wife and lovely child. Aren’t they enough to make you happy?” said the Queen again. Karta shook his head.
“I will do as you wish then, Karta. But listen, listen carefully. I never give anything away without asking something in return. Are you sure you can do what I ask?” said the Queen in a serious voice.
“I shall do everything Your Highness asks of me,” answered Karta eagerly.
“Now listen and remember, Karta. I’ll make you the richest man in the village, but only for ten years.
After ten years you have to come back here, and I’ll take you with me to my palace. There I’ll change you into a pillow for my bed to rest my head on when I’m tired. Do you agree?”
“I agree to everything you’ve said, Your Highness,” answered Karta, who only thought of becoming rich.
“Good. Ten years from now I expect to see you here at this same place. Now, go home.”
The Queen of the Sea dived into the waves and disappeared from Karta’s sight. He was alone again on the beach. In the east the sky turned red. It was dawn.
Slowly and painfully Karta stood up. He felt stiff in every bone of his body. He stooped to pick up his mat and what was that? What was that on his feet? A pair of beautiful sandals! Never before in his life had Karta worn anything so fine. He looked more carefully at himself. His old shorts were gone. In their place was a pair of gleaming silk trousers. He had a snow white shirt on, and around his waist there was a sarong woven in many rich colors. Karta touched his head. His dirty old fez was gone too; instead he wore a new black one. He stretched out his hand and saw a big gold ring on his finger. The Queen of the Sea had made him rich. Proudly Karta walked home.
The sun had risen. In the village the cocks were crowing loudly, answering each other’s call. People were coming out of their houses, and going to the river to wash them. Nobody recognized Karta.
Even his neighbors just stared at him.
And now his little hut had changed! Instead of the thin bamboo hut, there was a big wooden house, surrounded by a big garden full of fruit trees. Karta also discovered chickens, and a horse in a stable. Inside the house everything was new and shining; the paint on the walls, the furniture, and the cupboards full of clothes. From the kitchen came the delicious smell of newly steamed rice and spicy curry. He found his wife and child in the bedroom. They were both beautifully dressed, but they did not seem to like this sudden change.
So Karta’s dream had come true. Now he was rich man. But strangely, he was not happier than he used to be. He was not at peace either. He was not satisfied. He was angry with his wife and child for being too friendly with their poor neighbors. They could not understand him. Hadn’t they been friend with their neighbors for many years? But Karta did not consider his neighbors friends any longer. He had other desires now. He grew tired of the simple people in the village. He grew tired of the peaceful, quiet surroundings: the paddy fields, the lonely beach, and the dusty road which liked to the village with the outside world. Now Karta wanted the excitement of town life. Who could help him find a place in town?
Ten years went by. The ten years passed as quickly as a gust of wind. One dark night Karta was sitting again in the dark cave on the lonely beach. When the Queen of the Sea came, he had a suggestion to make to her.
The wind rose and the Queen of the Sea appeared among the rolling waves. Her dark eyes shone and her black hair blew behind her in the wind.
“Come, Karta. Come with me to my palace, remember your promise,” sang her voice over the waves.
Karta bowed low, touching the sand with his forehead.
“Your Highness, please listen to your servant,” he said softly.
“What do you want?” asked the Queen impatiently.
“Don’t try to make excuses.”
“No, Your Highness, I have only a suggestion to make to you. I’m grown man; my body is stiff and hard.
I’m not fit to become a pillow for your head. But, at home, I have a baby that was born just one year ago. He’s soft and fat. Would he not make a better pillow than I,” said Karta.
“How cruel are you, Karta!” answered the Queen. “I shall take your baby. He’ll be happier with me than with you. He’ll live in my palace and the little fishes will be his friends. Is that all you want?”
“Your Highness, I want to live in a big town. Please.”
“Go,” said the Queen. You’ll live in the town for five years. After five years you’ll have to come with me to become a pillow in the hall of my palace.” With these words she disappeared into the waves.
For five years Karta lived in the big town like a rich man. He rode in a carriage pulled by two black horses. His house was made of bricks. A lot of servants waited on him. Yet he was not satisfied or at peace.
“If only I could become powerful and famous like the advisers of the Sultan,” he thought.
“People bow low when they pass. They’re allowed to go to the Sultan’s palace and talk to the royal family. Everybody talks about them. How sweet life would be, if only I could become a man like that.”
So his thoughts ran, on and on. He had given up his little baby, but didn’t he still have one son, a good looking boy of eighteen? And was not his son’s body strong and straight like a pillar?
Five years passed. Again Karta sat waiting on the beach. It was raining softly, as if Nature was crying to see such a greedy man. Karta didn’t need to wait long for the Queen. Soon she appeared in the middle of the strong waves. She shouted at him from far away, “Come, Karta, I need a pillar in my hall!”
“O Queen, forgive me, give me one moment,” Karta whispered.
“You cruel man, are you trying to get away from your promise again? Who is it now you want to exchange for yourself?”
The angry voice of the Queen rang in Karta’s ears, but he didn’t change his mind. He said, “Take my son. Your Highness. I am bent and weak, my son is straight and strong, and please make me a man of power.”
“One more year I give to you, Karta. One more year you may live as you please. I shall take your son and make him a guard to protect my palace; he’ll be friends with other guardians of the sea: the sharks, the whales, and the swordfish. But you enjoy yourself for one more year and the next time we meet again, I shall tell you what your fate will be!”
In an instant she was gone and Karta was alone with the wind and the rain.
How fast the days flew, how fast the weeks and months followed each other. For one whole year, Karta lived as a man of power. People bowed low when he passed. He made friends with other powerful men and often ate the same meal as the Sultan. His name was known throughout the country and thousands of people worked under his orders. Was he happy now? Was he content at last? His big house was empty and cold. His children were gone and his wife had died of sorrow. Never had Karta been so lonely, so afraid of the passing time. One year had only twelve months and was, after all, but a few hundred days.
What would happen to him afterwards? How he wished he could be a poor peasant again!
On the last night of that year the Queen of the Sea was waiting for him at the beach. She was riding a huge wave which seemed to reach the clouds. There was a storm blowing over the water. The thunder and the lightning struck, but above the noise Karta could still hear the Queen laugh!
“Hey, Karta! Come! Your last minute on earth was passed! Now I shall take you to my palace and I shall change you into a stove! On cold nights I shall light a fire in you, so that you can warm my body!”
“Forgive me, forgive me, Oh Queen,” cried Karta. But his voice was lost in the roaring of the wind. A huge wave rolled by and Karta was swept into the sea and disappeared forever.
Even now people say that on cold nights, one can hear a voice crying near that cave on the beach. They say that it is the voice of the greedy Karta, who is being burnt to warm the Queen of the Sea.
