The Owl and The Moon
( a tale from South Sulawesi )
One day, Sri Maharaja Mambang, the King or a fairy kingdom in Heaven, called all the wise men in his country to his palace. His kingdom was rich and his people were happy and loved their ruler. There was only one thing that was missing in their lives of the king and queen. Although they had three handsome sons, the king and queen had no daughter – and how they wished for a little girl.
“Look at the palm of my Continue reading
One morning, a young man called Appu, came whistling down the road. He was leading a fat cow on a rope. He was going to sell it in the market for twenty rupees.
Suddenly a voice came from behind him, “Hey little fellow, where are you taking that skinny billy goat ?”
“Goat ?” Appu cried. He turned around and saw three big, ugly men behind him. “Goat ? Are you blind ? This is fine healthy cow. I’m taking her to the market, and I’ll sell her Continue reading
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 Continue reading
Antipka was too confused to think properly, and wandered back home in silence. As he stood by the stove, cooking a saucepan full of beetroot and cream soup, he tried to sort out his problems.
“Things seem to have gone wrong,” he murmured to himself. “First of all, my wife obviously hasn’t lost her bad temper during the night, and now I’ve let a hobgoblin escape into town. Who knows what harm he might do?” And he sighed and stirred his Continue reading
