Balinese Folklore (Story Telling)

English Club (Story Telling)

•   Balinese Folklore

Story 1

“MANIK ANGKERAN”

Long time ago, lived a very rich family in Bali. The father was Sidi Mantra. He was very famous for his supernatural power. He lived happily with his wife and his only son Manik Angkeran. Manik Angkeran was a spoiled son. He also had a bad habit. He liked to gamble.

Because of his bad habit, his parents soon became poor. They always advised Manik Angkeran to stop his bad habit, but he never listened to them. Instead he kept on begging for his parents to give him a lot of money.

The parents then did not have the heart to see him begging. Sidi Mantra then went to Agung Mountain. There lived a mighty dragon it’s name is Naga Basuki with his great supernatural power. He could provide jewelries to those who could say the right prayers and ring the bell. Sidi Mantra had the bell and he also knew the prayers.

"My name is Sidi Mantra. I have a problem with my son. My son likes to gamble. He made me poor. And now he asks a lot of money to me. I want to give him some, but now I want him to promise and stop his bad behavior," explained Sidi Mantra after he met the dragon. After hear the Sidi Mantra’s problem, the dragon give him a bell. To use that bell, Sidi Mantra must prayer and rang the bell and the dragon will come and help him.

Sidi Mantra then said the prayers and rang the bell. Suddenly, jewelries came out from the dragon's body. He was very happy and immediately brought the jewelries home. This time Sidi Mantra wanted Manik Angkeran really to stop gambling.

The son then promised. But soon he broke the promise and he did not have any money again. He heard that his father got the jewelries from the dragon living in Agung Mountain. So he stole his father's bell then went there.

After arriving at Agung Mountain, Manik Angkeran rang the bell. The dragon knew him.

"I will give you anything you want but you have to promise to stop gambling. Remember the karma!" then the dragon gave him the jewelries.

Manik Angkeran was very happy. Suddenly he had a bad idea. He wanted to kill the dragon and stole all his jewelries. The dragon knew his plan and with his great power he killed Manik Angkeran. Sidi Mantra was very sad. He asked the dragon to bring his son back to life. The dragon agreed but they had to live in different places.

After a few moments, Manik Angkeran lived again. Then Sidi Mantra used a stick to make a big line between them on the ground.

From the line, water flowed. Soon it became a river. Finally it became a strait. It separated Java and Bali. People then named the strait as Bali Strait.

Story 2

“THE LEGEND OF CATU ISLAND”

A long time ago there was a village in Bali. The people worked as farmers. One of the was Jurna. He was a diligent farmer. He always had a great harvest. However he was never satisfied. He wanted to have better and better harvest.

"I will promise to gods. If they give me better harvest than I have now, I will give them offerings and I will share the harvest to the neighbors," said Jurna to his wife.

"I agree, But remember, you have to keep your promise," said his wife.

Soon, Jurna had better harvest. He had more rice than he had before. He was happy. And as promised, he prepared offerings to the gods and he also shared to his neighbors. They were very happy.

Jurna was not satisfied. He wanted to have better and better and more harvest. Therefore he promised to gods that he would double his offerings and his sharing to the neighbors.

His wish came true. His harvest was much better than before. The other farmers were amazed. They were also very thankful because he shared his harvest to them.

One day, Jurna went to his rice field. When he arrived, he saw a pile of soil on the ground. It looked like a catu. Catu was made of coconut shell. People used catu to measure the amount of rice. At home, Jurna talked about a soil which looked like a catu to his wife. She had an idea.

"Let's make catu from rice," she said. Jurna agreed. Later they formed the rice just like catu. On the following day, Jurna went to his rice field. He saw the soil catu was getting bigger.

"Hmm...I will make rice catu bigger than this," said Jurna himself. He asked his wife to make bigger rice catu. He felt very satisfied. He wanted to show his rise catu to his neighbors. He hoped that his neighbors would prise him as a rich man. And they did! All the neighbors praised him. Jurna became arrogant. On the next day, Jurna went to his rice field. He hoped the soil catu were not getting bigger and bigger. But he was wrong. Strangely, the soil catu was bigger.

"Don't worry, I have much rice. I can make rice catu bigger," said Jurna arrogantly. While he was making the rice catu, he was thinking how the neighbors would prise him.

And his wish came true. All the neighbors were so amazed by the size of the rice catu. They all said that Jurna was very rich. Jurna became more arrogant.

Then Jurna went to his rice field. He hoped the soil catu would stop growing. But he was wrong. Again, it became much bigger than before. Jurna was really upset. He made rice catu bigger than before.

It always repeated. Every time he went to his rice field he always found the soil catu became bigger and bigger.

His wife always reminded him to stop making rice catu. She said that their stock was getting lesser and lesser. She asked him to stop wasting the rice.

But Jurna ignored her. He was only thinking how he could make his rice catu bigger than the soil catu. Soon he lost all of his rice. He became poor. He regretted his bad behaviour. Meanwhile the soil catu became very big. It was like a hill. People then named it as Catu Hill or Bukit Catu.