|
|
|
|
Once upon a time a poor woman was pregnant. When her time had come she gave birth to a ruas, a length of bamboo between two nodes. The Tabaru word for such a section of bamboo is tabadiku, so she called her 'son' Tabadiku . Tabadiku grew quickly, and soon he could speak with the melodious voice of a bamboo flute. He said to his mother :" Go to the chief and ask for one of his seven virgin daughters in marriage." The chief had so many daughters that he was prepared to marry them off to anyone, even to a length of bamboo.
When the mother of Tabadiku arrived, the chief called his daughters and asked which one of them wanted to marry Tabadiku . The six eldest refused but the youngest agreed, saying :" if our father wants me to marry , I'll marry even a length of bamboo." She was to be rewarded for this piety one day. The other six girls laughed as their youngest sister followed the poor woman to her dilapidated hut to received a bamboo stick for a husband.
One morning, the chief's six daughters invited their married sister to come and pick mangosteen fruits. " We will clean the trees and pluck the fresh fruits. You may stay down here and collect the fallen ones."
While the girls were busy there arrived a prince on a beautiful horse. The six girl threw their peel at him from the trees , but the wife of Tabadiku offered him her best fruits. That evening the six girl went secretly to Tabadiku and said :" We have seen that your wife gave our fruits to a handsome horseman ." Tabadiku however, answered :" It does not matter, he may marry her and take her with him. I am only a piece of bamboo !" The fact is that the knight on horseback had been Tabadiku himself and his wife had shown her elder sisters how a guest ought to be received.
This scene is repeated three times by the Tabaru story-teller .Each time the girls pick a different type of fruit. Each time a glittering prince on a shining horse arrives, and is pelted with stones and peel by the girls, but Tabadiku's wife offers him the best fruits she has. Again the second time, the six girls run in front of their youngest sister to her house and tell Tabadiku what has happened. Again he says :" He may take her and marry her, I am only a piece of bamboo." The third time when the prince arrives, the girls mock their sister and shout at the prince :" You may take her and marry her !."
es on , the prince thereupon lifted Tabadiku's wife up and took her home. There, he pointed at the piece of bamboo and told her to burn it. She threw the length of bamboo into the fire and it exploded with a teribble noise. The splinters rose up and became walls. Soon, a large and beautiful horse, built of stone, was standing there and servants came out to bid the prince and his w
ife welcome. They lived happily in the house, which made her sisters jealous, so they invited her again, this time to pick pinang (betel leaves). In the plantation they seized her, pushed her into a snakehole, and piled stones on top of her so that it looked like a grave. Tabadiku went out in search of her. He saw some hair seeming to flow out of a grave. The grave cried and its voice called him. He opened it up and pulled his wife out. She appeared to be dead but the poured water over her from a bamboo container and she came back to life. This scene too is repeated three times, with variations. Finally, she found a knife in a bamboo sheath, and told her sister. " shut your eyes and i will give you something. " she gave each of them a mortal stab .
Tabadiku gave his father - in-law a well which he dug in one night during a teribble thundersstrom. he felt it with rains which he ordered to pour down. With the well he made a golden bucket and on a golden rope. Tabadiku was acclaimaed king , and he and his wife had a son .
South Sulawesi Center Sulawesi Back to Main Page Papua Laos Cambodia
Prepared by The Cyber Cafe Team SMKN 8 Makassar