Title in Kulisusu: Laode Panuinta te Waode Sirinakamba
Told by: Wa Ode Samiyra
Date: circa 1978
La Ode Panuinta and Wa Ode Sirinakamba had lost their father, and they had a stepfather. La Ode Panuinta was the older brother, and Wa Ode Sirinakamba was his younger sister. Their mother was still alive and loved them very much.
One day their stepfather went fishing at the sea. Their stepfather was very stingy. After he had returned from fishing, he stored the fish in the rafters of the house. He didn’t give his stepchildren even a bit.
Later the children wanted to eat, but they didn't have any fish. Then they happened to see the fish that was in the rafters, and they took it without their stepfather knowing, and they ate some of it. When their stepfather returned and saw the fish which he had stored, some of it was missing. Then he asked, “Who took out this fish that I had stored in the rafters?” The children denied that they had taken it. But the stepfather knew it was them, and he was angry with them and determined to get rid of them in the forest.
One day after that, he took the children into the forest to hunt guavas. On the other side of seven mountains and seven valleys, there it was they hunted guavas. When they arrived at their destination in the forest, they began looking for guavas. The stepfather said to them “You two stay here and look for guavas. I’m going to go over there and look for wood for the mast bed of our boat.” In reality the stepfather was deceiving them, and as soon has he had gotten away he left for home.
The children were very happy to see so many guava fruits there. It wasn't long before they were able to pick lots of guavas. Then they came down from the tree, and they called for their stepfather. They screamed very loud for their stepfather, but no matter what they did he never answered them. When the two children realized their stepfather was no longer there, they began to cry because they were afraid to be in the forest alone.
At the time they were crying, La Ode Panuinta spoke to his sister, “Let’s stop it, because if we cry hard we won’t be able to think. How then should we be saved?” When she heard her older brother’s advice, Wa Ode Sirinakamba stopped crying.
When it got dark, the two children were worried about where they could sleep. Finally the climbed up into a guava tree to sleep, so they wouldn’t be threatened by wild beasts. The children climbed up into the crown of a guava tree, and all the guavas that they had picked earlier they threw to the ground. When they arrived up there, they hung their sarongs on branches as hammocks to sleep in.
While they were sleeping, a herd of pigs arrived in the forest below the tree that the children were sleeping in. The pigs set about eating up the guavas that the children had thrown out earlier. While they were busy eating, the pigs looked up and they saw the two small children sleeping.
Then the pigs began jumping up to the children, they were almost able to reach them. The children screamed in terror because they were afraid the pigs were going to eat them. As the pigs kept trying to jump up to the children, their fear mounted, and the younger sister was crying hard.
While they were crying with fright, they remembered that they had brought seven needles with them, a gift from their mother at the time they set out. The children began to think: how perhaps could they use the needles they had brought? The children thought, “Perhaps these needles are our weapons for when wild beasts come an threaten us.”
The children began to come up with a plan how they might be able to kill those pigs. The idea they came up with was to stick each needle into a guava fruit then drop them to the ground, so that if the pigs ate them they would die. So they took the needles, and they stuck each one in a guava, and they dropped them to the ground.
When the guavas fell to the ground, the pigs snatched them up and ate them, each pig that had gotten one. As he chewed, each felt his mouth being pierced by the needle embedded in the guava. Then the pigs fled, and in the end they died. In that way the needles were a blessing, all seven pigs were dead and the children were saved, the pigs were no longer threatening them.
After the pigs were dead, the two children climbed down, and they set off. Their path took them further and further from there. It wasn’t long before they came across a village, which had only a single house. That house was the home of Wangkinamboro. Inside the house they saw that it was filled with nice things. There were firearms, decorations, a chest, a cabinet, a table, chairs, and other things. In short, they saw that that house was completely furnished.
The children peaked inside the house, to see who the owner might be. But it turned out there was no one inside. Then the two children climbed up into the house. Inside the house they saw that there was rice inside a cook pot. They ate the rice, then they hid themselves in a cave which was beside Wangkinamboro’s house.
Not long after that, Wangkinamboro returned, and inspected his house, and his rice was gone, eaten by the children. Wangkinamboro knew that it was the two children who had eaten his rice. He also knew that they were hiding in the cave beside his house, and he planned to go eat them. Said Wangkinamboro to himself, “Just wait for me, you two. I know you, you are the ones hiding in the cave. After I finish eating, I’m going to go down and eat you.”
But when he had finished eating, Wangkinamboro never made it down to the cave to eat the children, because he was very full. He just promised, “I’ll eat you later.” After he had eaten, Wangkinamboro also said to himself, “I'm going to cook corn. If those children eat this food of mine too, for sure I'm going to eat them.” When the corn he was cooking was done, he left the house again.
Then the two children who had been hiding came up again and looked around for Wangkinamboro, but it turned out he was no longer at home. Then the children went in his house, and they saw that again there was cooked food. Again the children ate Wangkinamboro’s food. After they had eaten, they put fishberries (a kind of poison) in the leftovers, and they went down and hid themselves again in the cave next to Wangkinamboro’s house.
Not long after that, Wangkinamboro arrived, and saw that only a portion of his food was left. Wangkinamboro became angry again. At that time the two children were very scared, and Wa Ode Sirinakamba began to cry. But her brother forbade her to cry, lest Wangkinamboro should hear them.
Then Wangkinamboro ate the poisoned food. The two children listened to Wangkinamboro eating. Not long after that, they heard Wangkinamboro making noises doing whatever. The children guessed that Wangkinamboro was angry because they had eaten his food. And the two children were afraid.
Not long after that, the noises stopped. The two children were afraid. They thought Wangkinamboro might be sleeping. La Ode Panuinta told his sister, “Wait here for me, I’m going to go up and check out Wangkinamboro.” But his younger sister was unwilling. She said, “Let me go up with you too. If Wangkinamboro eats us, the two of us will die. But if only you go up and Wangkinamboro eats you, I will be left alone. It doesn’t matter. If you die, I will die too, because there will no longer be anyone to help me think.”
So the two children went up to check on Wangkinamboro. It turned out Wangkinamboro was already dead because he had eaten the poisoned food.
The two children worked at disposing of Wangkinamboro’s corpse, but they weren’t able to lift it, because it was very heavy. So they cut up Wangkinamboro’s body, and they put it in a chest, and they fastened it with seven lids. After that they put it near the door; in the case that thieves came, they would take it. After that they went up to the attic.
Not long after that when it was dark, forty thieves came to the house in order to rob it. They saw that there was a chest at the door, and they took it and fled with it. The commander of the thieves stayed in back, keeping watch lest Wangkinamboro overtake them. The two children just watched.
On the way, their commander said, “When we divide the spoils shortly, we must divide it evenly. If we are different by even just one needle, we will kill each other.” Some of the thieves said, “Let’s divide things here!” But their commander said, “Not yet. We’ll divide it over there lest Wangkinamboro come upon us here.” When they arrived over there where it was safe, they opened it.
When they had taken off the seventh layer, they saw the head of the dead Wangkinamboro, and his eyes were glowing. When they saw that, the thieves were frightened and fled helter-skelter. They lost their wits and ran into trees, so that in rapid succession they all died.
After that the two children came down and lived in that house. La Ode Panuinta’s work was hunting deer, and Wa Ode Sirinakamba’s work was weaving cloth for sarongs.
One day there came some people hunting deer, in preparation for the wedding of Balamancugi. At that time Balamancugi was also hunting. At that time they came upon a house in the forest, and they heard a voice as if was calling out Balamancugi’s name. In reality that voice with the sound of Wa Ode Sirinakamba’s loom.
Then Balamancugi ordered his companions to go take a look, and to offer the excuse that they wanted something to drink. They went over and saw a beautiful maiden weaving, and that the sound of her loom was indeed like it was calling out Balamancugi’s name. But when those people heard Wa Ode Sirinakamba’s voice, all of them died. Balamancugi also went to see what was going on, and when he heard her voice he died too.
Not long after that her older brother returned, and he saw all the people sitting about. He asked his sister, “Why didn’t you invite them inside?” Said his sister, “I don’t know who those people are, but when they heard my voice they all died.” But her older brother saw that they weren’t dead, and he invited them to come inside.
He asked Balamancugi, “Why are you all here?” Balamancugi answered, “Earlier I heard the sound of your sister’s loom calling my name, and I like this sister of yours, even though I’m engaged to be married.” When he heard his story, La Ode Panuinta queried his sister whether she wanted to marry Balamancugi. His sister replied, “It’s up to you, brother.” In the end they received him, because her brother accepted him.
They returned to their village with Wa Ode Sirinakamba. When they arrived there, Balamancugi informed the villagers that he wasn’t going to marry a woman of the village. “Me, I’m going to marry Wa Ode Sirinakamba.”
At that time, those orphans saw a man splitting firewood, and they called out to him, “Do you not have children, that you are doing that work yourself?” The man answered he didn’t have children. Then they saw a woman fetching water, and they called out to her, “Do you not have any children, that you are carrying water yourself?” The woman answered, “I have children, but their stepfather disposed of them in the forest.” The children knew that the man and the woman were their parents.
Then the children asked the old woman again, “Do you still remember what your children looked like?” The woman answered, “If I’m not mistaken, they looked something like you.” Then the children answered her truthfully, “We here are your children who were thrown away long ago by our stepfather in the forest.” When they had heard their story, then La Ode Panuinta took his stepfather and stepped on him and threw him into a duck pen, so that he was covered with the stinky mud of the pen. Then the left him all by himself, and the two children and their mother departed.
Finally one day Balamancugi and Wa Ode Sirinakamba got married. Beginning at that time their mother was very happy because she had been reunited with her children.
We hope you enjoyed this story. You can download a print version (pdf) which gives the story in all three languages.
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