Pottala, a peasant living in the southern part of the Sulawesi/Celebes
island, borrowed some money from the village's chief. When the chief asked his
money back, first Pottala asked for extension. When the extension period had
been over, Pottala still had no money.
Early in the morning, Pottala went to the river and caught a fish. He boiled
it, then took it out and put an axe into the pot.
When the chief
arrived to his house, Pottala served him that fish soup. The chief said it was
delicious and asked how did Pottala make the soup. Pottala said that the axe
made delicious soup. The chief then decided to swap Pottala's debt with that
'magic' axe. He brought the axe home, but the axe failed to change boiled water
into soup.
The chief returned to axe to Pottala and asked for his money.
Then Pottala asked him to go outside together. There, Pottala took a blowpipe
and blew it. He said that the blowpipe was a magic one. When they went inside,
the chief saw a duck on the dining table. He took the blowpipe home but it couldn't
bring any duck to his dining table.
Again, Pottala prepared another trick. He caught a dog and put a silver coin
on its tail. When it wagged his tail, Pottala convinced the chief that the dog
could produce coins from its tail. He took the dog home and was disappointed
once more.
Finally, the chief told his men to grab Pottala, put him in a bag and throw
it to the river. Pottala managed to bring a knife with him, cut and opened the
bag underwater and escaped. He hid in the forest, and after sometime went back
to the village. When the village chief saw him,Pottala said
that a tribe which lived underwater rescued him and invited him to live in their
beautiful realm. The chief asked Pottala to put him in a bag and throw him
to the river, so he could meet the river tribe. Pottala did so, drown the greedy
but foolish chief.
Written by Mario Rustan, July 2003.
Source: Marguerite Siek, More Favourite Stories from Indonesia, Remaja Rosdakarya,
Bandung, 2000
A Tribe Underwater
The story of the underwater kingdom is widely know in East and Southeast Asia.
Indonesian myth has another story as THE QUEEN IN SOUHERN
SEA and in Japan, it's the
story of gods.
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