Dan


 * __The Owl and the Moon__**

(a tale from South Sulawesi)

(in order of appearance) Sri Maharaja Mambang - The King of a fairy kingdom in Heaven Wise Men Queen - Married to Sri Maharaja Mambang, mother of the princess Princess (Daughter) Baginda Butala - A king of Earth whom wishes to marry the princess Old Fortune Teller Princess' Old Nurse - The fairy princess' old nurse whom protects her in her palace on the moon.
 * CHARACTERS:**

//There was once a King of a fairy kingdom in Heaven named Sri Maharaja Mambang who was loved and respected by all his people. One day he called in all the wise men in the land to come to his palace. The king and his wife were happy people, but there was one thing that they yearned for - a daughter. "Look at my palm, and tell me if I will ever have a daughter."// //After they had all looked at the king's palm, there was a sudden silence among the wise men. Finally, the oldest of the wise men told the king that he will have a daughter, but that she will bring war and the ruin to the fairy kingdom in heaven. "There is, on Earth, a giant ruler named Baginda Butala who is jealous of your majesty and your wonderful kingdom. When your daughter grows up and is old enough to marry he will attack this kingdom and turn it to ruin unless you give him your daughter in marriage and allow him to take her down to Earth. If you do not wish this to happen, you must keep your daughters birth a secret", said the wise men.//

//Everything that the wise men said eventually came true. After a year the queen gave birth to a baby girl, and in the king's happiness and joy, he forgot all that the wise men had said. The king and queen put on great feasts in celebration of the birth of their long awaited daughter. As soon as he heard of this news, Baginda Butala decided that he would marry the princess. He realised that the king of the fairy kingdom in heaven would not allow him to take the fairy princess in marriage, so Baginda Butala decided that he would capture the princess and carry her off by force. He secretly trained his many armies of giants in preparation for his attack.//

//Many years past, and the princess grew to be more beautiful every day. On her thirteenth birthday, the old fortune teller came to the palace. Again he warned the king to protect his daughter. "Where is the safest place in the universe for my daughter to live?" asked the king. The fortune teller answered "The moon is the one and only where Baginda Butala cannot reach your daughter, your highness. After hearing this, Sri Maharaja Mambang built a wonderful palace on the moon with a beautiful garden. When the palace was finished, the king sent his daughter secretly to live on the moon with her old nurse, and most nights the king and queen would visit her in her palace.//

//Year after year, Baginda Butala would send his messengers to the king asking his daughter in marriage, but every time the king would leave them with the same answer: "She is too young to marry. Tell your king to wait a while." But after four years, Baginda Butala did not wish to wait any longer. Instead of sending more messengers, he went to the kingdom himself with a great army of giants. Sri Maharaja Mambang and his kingdom fought bravely, but Baginda Butala and his army of giants were much stronger. Baginda Butala marched right into the palace, and when he found out that the princess was not there in the kingdom, he -in his anger- killed Sri Maharaja Mambang and his family, and set the palace on fire.// //The fairy princess' heart was shattered when she heard the terrible news of her family's death. Everyday she sat by the window of her palace remembering the happy times she had spent with her family. One night when the moon was beautiful the princess was in her garden. She looked over the earth and saw some beautiful white flowers. "Nurse," said the princess. "May I leave my palace for just a little while, so that I could pick some of those wonderful white flowers?" The old nurse told the princess that if she left her palace on the moon, she would be captured by the evil king, Baginda Butala. But the princess did not listen to her nurse. She flew down towards the flowers, but she was disappointed when she landed, for the flowers were but only sugar cane pulp. And when she tried to leave the earth, she found that her wings had lost all the strength to carry her up again. After trying and trying, she rested at the top of a tree. She could see her old nurse looking for her and calling her name. The princess tried to yell, but only a loud bird cry came out-the princess had changed into a night bird, an owl, so she would never fly up to the moon again.//

This story is set in Heaven, so unless heaven is a certain town in Indonesia, the stories' setting is not in Indonesia. The **moral** to this story is to listen and obey what the elders tell you. How the story was told seemed different to how our fairytales are explained. The language is very precise and sometimes because of the translation the story seems to repeat itself a lot. To me, this story seems to be a myth or legend for Indonesia, for I can't see a fairy-princess living in a palace with a garden on the moon, let alone a princess being a fairy. This story is a myth/legend.

Pak DantheMan!