The Origin Of Mermaid
Referring to Concise Oxford English Dictionary (11th
Edition), a mermaid is clearly defined as “a mythical sea creature with the
head and trunk of a woman and the tail of a fish.” The definition might be
globally accepted by all people around the globe, but not about its origin. The
below story is one of them. It tells about the origin of mermaid based on the
story spreading and developing amongst the people of Central Sulawesi,
Indonesia. Here it is…!
***
Once upon a time in a kampong
at the province of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, there was a family consisting
of a father named Beddolo, a mother named Maloti, and three children – two of
them were male and one female.
Beddolo worked as either a
fisherman or a farmer. He planted vegetables and tubers while he was not
fishing in the sea. One of the customs in this family was having breakfast
together every morning.
In a morning, all the family
members gathered in the kitchen for having breakfast. Menu for the day was
baked sea fish. The stock was so many at that time; thus they wouldn’t eat them
at the moment. Beddolo asked his wife, Maloti, to save the rest for the lunch
time.
“Honey, save the rest for
lunch!” Beddolo said.
“Alright!” Maloti answered.
By the end of breakfast,
Beddolo went to work, keeping an eye of his vegetable land. His wife put the
remaining baked sea fish at a meat-safe.
The day went on and it was
almost the midday. All of sudden, one of their children, the youngest, ran to
the house in hurry as he got starving. Maloti, as coming out of her affection
to her child, then at a moment’s notice served the youngest with a plate of
rice and baked sea fish for the side dish. He ate it hungrily. Just in a few
minutes, all the rice and the side dish were ate away. Then he got his mom to
add more.
“Mom, may I add some more? I’m
really hungry now,”
“OK…! But you may only have
little… Leave some for the lunch, baby!
Hearing his mother’s advice,
the youngest began crying uncontrollably. Maloti got panic with this; hence she
gave all the remaining baked fishes to him. Then he stopped crying.
In the mid of the day, Beddolo
went home. He was hungry after working a half of the day. He got his wife to
serve him with foods and drinks.
“Honey…! Would you please
serve me some foods and a cup of tea?” Beddolo said.
With a sneaking feeling,
Maloti spoke, ”I’m sorry. Before you went home, our youngest cried out loud
asking for more foods. He just stopped crying when he got more foods I gave to
him. So I gave the remaining baked fishes to him,”
Beddolo got angry. It appeared
that he didn’t want to know any reason; the only thing he wanted at that day
was a plate of rice and side dishes since he was really hungry.
“Really? I’ve told you to save
the rest of baked fishes for lunch! Why you served them all, leaving any rest
for lunch?” Beddolo barked.
Maloti was speechless. She
didn’t know what to do. She could only tear and apologize to her husband. But
several times she apologized, Beddolo just blinded over anything she said.
She was really sad of this.
She couldn’t shed her tears anymore; thus decided to go away from the homey
house.
“I can no longer stay here. He
has changed a lot just because of baked fishes. I have to go,” she mumbled
while tearing.
Maloti tried to scare up some
bravery to leave her family. In the mid of a night, when her husband and
children were sleeping, she tiptoed towards the door, and went away. Her
destination was the nearest beach.
When the sun was going to
rise, Beddolo and his children woke up from sleep. They gathered in the kitchen
but they didn’t see Maloti who used to prepare the breakfast for them.
Beddolo tried to find his wife
at the kitchen but he found nothing. He ordered the children to look around the
house as well, but nothing. They found no traces of Maloti.
Then being flashed on
Beddolo’s mind to get the children to find her on the nearest beach.
“Kids, try to find your mom on
the beach. Perhaps she is there now, looking for fishes to cook,” Beddolo said.
“Alright, Dad. We will,” the
eldest said.
Those three children went to
the nearest beach. While searching for their mother, the youngest one sang a
song about his deep yearning of his mother. Along the way to the beach he sang,
Where are you, mommy….
Where are you, mommy….
I miss you so much here….
All of sudden, when they had
reached the beach, Maloti appeared from afar. They ran quickly to her, happily.
“Mom, where were you this
morning?” the youngest asked.
“Now I’m here,” she smiled.
“Hey, I have some fishes to
cook this day. Will you bring this home?” she said pretending as if she wasn’t
sad.
“No, mom! We won’t go home
without you along with us,” the eldest shouted appealing her mother to go home.
“Oops, slow your voice down. You’re better going
home first; I’ll look for more fishes. I’m going home after this is done,”
Maloti ensured them.
Those children believed it.
They went home, bringing some fishes to cook that day. At home they told
Beddolo that their mother was on the beach at that day.
“You’re right, dad. Mommy was
on the beach, looking for fishes. And here are the fishes she got,”
“Ad why didn’t your mom go
along with you,” Beddolo quizzed.
“Oh… Mommy will seek more
fishes, dad!” the youngest replied suddenly.
“Ok… Are you all hungry now?
How about baking these fishes now?”
“Yes, of course. Let’s do bake
them!” the youngest shouted very happy.
They all baked the fishes
together in the back of the house. When it had been done, Maloti, their mom,
hadn’t been back yet.
“Kids, you said you’re hungry,
didn’t you?” Beddolo asked his kids.
“Yes we are. But where is
mommy?” the youngest said.
“Don’t wait for your mom going
home. Just eat them all now,”
“How about our mom? She net
these fishes alone, dad!”
“Just shut up, kids! You don’t
need to care about her. She didn’t care of me. All the foods were given to the
youngest yesterday, didn’t she? Now eat them all, no need to wait for your
mother,”
They scared of Beddolo’s
barked. The youngest was sad and cried. They’re not brave enough to deny their
father; thus ate all the fishes leaving no remnants. Until the mid of the day,
when they have finished eating, they went to the beach again to find their
mother.
Along the way to the beach the
youngest sang the same song,
Where are you, mom….
Where are you, mom….
I miss you so much here….
All even sang together until
the sun was going to set, but their mother didn’t appear. They sang more loudly
with hope that Maloti, their mother, would hear of it.
All of sudden, Maloti appeared
from the sea with slightly different physical appearance. Her head and trunk
was as a normal human, but she had a tail of a fish.
She called for them to get
closer, but they didn’t want to. They couldn’t believe it.
“You’re not our mother. She
has no scaly skin as you! Simply you’re not her! The eldest said loudly.
She could do nothing over this
situation. At a moment’s notice, she went away, deep beneath the sea. Those
children, they kept looking for their mother to the unknown places and never
got back home anymore after this. Beddolo then lived alone, without any wife as
well as kids.
***
Here is the story about the
origin of mermaid that persists amongst the people of Central Sulawesi,
Indonesia. The story is categorized fairy tale with a moral message that can be
derived; do not be harsh to all people as it might lead misfortunate. It is
seen from the figure of Beddolo. As he was harsh to his wife, Maloti, he was
left alone, without any wife and children around him. In the Tunjuk Ajar Melayu
(Tenas Effendy, 1994/1995: 55), it is said through a pantun:
Binasa diri kasar langgar
Binasa badan kurang ajar
It appears that the pantun
would like to suggest that we shouldn’t be kasar langgar (harsh) to everyone.
For such an evil deed, we would be rewarded with binasa badan/diri
(misfortunate).
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