The Clever Potalla
The Clever Potalla
( South Sulawesi )
Once, a headman lent a sum of money to a peasant called Potalla. When the time came to return the money, the headman came to visit Potalla and asked him for the money. Potalla had no money. He said to the headman, “I haven’t got the money yet. Somebody else has borrowed it from me. Please wait a few more days, so that I will have to collect what people owe me.”
The headman agreed and said that he would return in four day’s time. But when the fourth day came, Potalla still didn’t have the money. He decided to trick the headman. Early in the morning, he went to the river and caught a fish. He boiled the fish in a pot of water and when the soup was ready, he took out of the fish and put an iron axe into the pot instead. When the headman arrived, Potalla politely invited him into the house and served him a bowl of the delicious fish soup.
“Hm, that’s very nice,” the headman said. “What did you make the soup with, Potalla?”
“Oh, just this axe,” Potalla said pointing to the axe in the pot.
“Just… this axe? Nothing else?”
“Nothing else. This is a soup-axe, you know. Would you like another bowl? I made plenty of soup.”
After the two men had finished the soup, the headman asked for his money. “I haven’t got the money. Please give me some more time, sir,” said Potalla.
“You know what,” said the headman, “just pay me with that soup-axe.”
Potalla agreed, and the headman went happily home with the axe. He gave the axe to his wife and told her to make soup with it for the evening meal. His wife obeyed, but although the axe was boiled for hours and hours, the water remained just water. The next day, the headman returned the axe to Potalla.
“You lied to me, Potalla,” he said angrily. “This is an ordinary axe. I can’t make soup.”
“But sir, you saw yourself that there was only this axe in the pot yesterday, and you liked my soup,” said Potalla.
“I don’t want your axe anymore, Potalla. Give me back my money,” said the angry headman.
“I haven’t got your money yet, sir. Please give me some more time,” answered Potalla. The headman agreed to give him another three days.
After three days he came back to Potalla’s house.
“Where’s my money, Potalla?” he asked.
“Please sir, come in. I’m just going to prepare my lunch. Why don’t you eat with me?” said Potalla.
The headman agreed and climbed up onto the verandah. Then Potalla took a blowpipe and pointed it to the sky.
“What are you doing?” asked the headman.
“I am shooting a wild duck for our lunch, sir,” answered Potalla.
“But there’s no wild duck to be seen,” said the headman.
“They’re flying over the sea, sir. This blowpipe can shoot as far as the sea,” said Potalla. He pointed it once more at the sky and blew as hard as he could.
“Let’s go into the kitchen now. The duck will be on the table,” said Potalla to the headman.
Together they entered the kitchen and sure enough, there was a wild duck lying on the kitchen table.
“There she is,” said Potalla. “This is a special blowpipe. Not only can hit a duck far away, but it brings it back to the kitchen, too.”
“Oh, let me have that pipe, Potalla,” said the headman.
“Give me the blowpipe and you need not to give me back the money.”
“Well, if that’s what you wish, sir, of course you may have the blowpipe,” said Potalla.
The excited headman went home with his blowpipe. He was so impatient to try out that he did not want to wait for Potalla to cook the wild duck. As soon as he arrived home, the headman aimed the blowpipe at the sky and blew in it. Then he ran to the kitchen. But to his great disappointment, there was no duck on the table. He ran back to the verandah and blew and blew till he was red in the face. But still no duck appeared.
The whole day, the poor man ran to and from his verandah to the kitchen, until he fell exhausted on the floor. And still no duck appeared on the kitchen table. Then the headman understood that again he had been cheated by Potalla.
The next day, he went back to the peasant and demanded his money. “But sir, I’ve paid you with the blowpipe,” said Potalla innocently.
“Here’s your blowpipe. I don’t want it. Give me my money!” shouted the headman angrily. “You’ve cheated me, Potalla!”
“But sir, you saw yourself that I killed a duck with it yesterday,” answered Potalla.
“Give me back my money!”
“Please sir, I haven’t got the money yet. Can you give me some more time?”
Although he was angry, the headman agreed to give Potalla another two days to find the money. This time, Potalla caught a dog and put a silver coin under its tail. When the headman came and asked for his money, he said, “Sir, I haven’t got the money yet. The people who brought my rice and fruit have not paid me yet. But I was given a rather special dog who might be able to help a bit. Would you like to see this dog, sir?”
“Yes,” said the headman, “just bring him here.”
Potalla took the dog out of the house and put him on a mat. He stroke the animal and said, “Come now, give me a coin.” The dog wagged his tail and Potalla took his silver coin from under it.
“There you are, sir,” he said, offering the coin to the headman. “Can I give this coin for you? The dog only gives one coin at a time.”
The headman was delighted. “Oh, Potalla,” he said. “Give me that dog and you need not pay me the rest of the money.”
“As you wish, sir,” said Potalla obediently. So the headman took the dog home. At home, he tied the dog under his bed and waited impatiently for several hours. Then, when he thought the dog has rested long enough, he stroked his back and said, “Come now, give me a coin.” The dog wagged his tail happily, but that’s all it did. And again the headman understood that he had been tricked by the clever peasant.
“That’s it! Now I’m going to arrest him!” he shouted. He ordered two guardsmen to go to Potalla, put him in a bag, and throw him into the river. The men went to Potalla’s hut and carried out their orders. Fortunately, Potalla had his knife with him, and when he was thrown into the river, he cut a hole in the bag and swam to safety.
He left his village and went into the forest where he opened a new field. After some time, when his field had grown some sweet potatoes, he went back to the village to sell them. At the market, he met the headman who stared at him in amazement.
“Potalla! I thought my guardsmen threw you into the river,” he called out.
“Yes, sir, I was thrown into the river,” answered Potalla.
“But when I reached the bottom, the water folk rescued me. I lived with them for a while, but I got homesick for my village, so I asked them to take me back up to land.”
“Is it beautiful down there?” asked the headman curiously.
“Oh, it’s the most beautiful place one could ever see,” said Potalla.
“Then put me in a bag and throw me into the river, because I want to see the place where the water folk live,” said the headman.
“As you wish, sir,” said Potalla.
He put the headman in a bag and threw the bag into the river, where the headman drowned.
Then Potalla went back to his field in the forest and lived peacefully for the rest of his life.
