This happened in a village near the city of Rantepao.
The rich peasant Massu di Lalong and the beautiful Datu Lai Bonna fell in love with each other, and although they were not married, they began to live as husband and wife. They swore to each other: when one of them dies, the other will immediately follow him.
And it so happened that Lai Bonna died. The funeral celebration ended, and they took her to the cave. Only Mass didn’t want to say goodbye to life and follow his sweetheart. He forgot to even think about the oath.
[A funeral feast that lasts several days. The whole district converges on him. At the end of the wake, the deceased is taken to the grave - a cave in the mountains. Each clan has its own birth cave. ]
One day the unfortunate Dodeng came to extract juice from a sugar palm that grew near the Lai Bonna cave. So he knocks on the trunk and hears a quiet, quiet female voice calling him by name:
[The Torajans extract juice from the flower cob of the sugar palm. The palm is beaten with a wooden mallet, then an incision is made on the cob, under which a wooden cup is tied to collect the sugar juice. The sap is drained daily and, to enhance its flow, the trunk is again beaten with a mallet. ]
- Hey Dodeng, can you hear me?
Dodeng was surprised and listened - the voice came from a cave four fathoms above the ground:
- Hey, Dodeng! Help me, convey my words to Massu di Lalong! Ask him why he doesn’t die, why he doesn’t want to go after his sweetheart, Lai Bonna. There was a time - he swore that death would not do us part!
Dodeng didn't know what to think. He felt uneasy, he didn’t say a word and, as soon as he finished tapping the wood, he immediately went home. He said nothing to Masso di Lalong.
In the morning he again went to the same palm tree. As soon as he started hammering on the wood, the voice was heard again:
- Dodeng! Dodeng! Did you convey my words to Masso di Lalong yesterday? Ask him why he doesn’t want to die after his sweetheart, Lai Bonna? Has he already forgotten about our love? Give him my words, Dodeng!
Dodeng heard this call more than once. He quickly beat the trunk with a mallet and set off on the way back.
And on the third day Dodeng returned to his palm tree. As soon as he began to knock on the trunk, he again heard Lai Bonn’s quiet voice repeating his previous speeches:
“Hey, Dodeng, why don’t you want to convey my order to Mass di Lalong?” Tell my dear: I miss him so much in the land of souls. I have to meet him. I've been waiting for him here for a long time. Give this to Mass di Lalong, Dodeng, let him know about it. I want to know if he loves me or has already forgotten me...
[The land of souls is the afterlife. ]
The woman's voice became quieter and gentler. Dodeng's heart trembled.
In the evening he met Massa di Lalonga at the cockfighting ground. He asked Dodeng:
- When do you want to go collect juice?
“Tomorrow,” Dodeng answered.
“I’ll go with you too,” said Massu di La-Long. - I want to taste the juice of your palm tree.
Dodeng did not tell him anything, he decided to lead Massa di Lalonga to the cave where his darling lay.
In the morning they went to the sugar palm tree. When Dodeng cut the cobs and began to collect the juice, Massu di La-long suddenly heard the voice of Lai Bonn coming from the cave:
– Hey Dodeng, thank you for conveying my words to Mass di Lalong! He's the one standing under the tree, isn't he? We swore before that we would live together and die together. So I died, and Massu di Lalong still doesn’t want to leave the earth! Apparently he loves himself very much. It’s strange to me, Dodeng, it’s strange that he forgot his oath.
Massu di Lalong was surprised to hear a voice calling his name. I asked Dodeng:
– Who is talking, Dodeng?
“I don’t know,” he answered, “listen carefully.”
The voice was heard again, the same words were heard. Massu di Lalong realized that his name was from the cave where Lai Bonna lies. He remembered his grave guilt, he felt ashamed that he had not fulfilled his duty, that he had forgotten his old oath. He was overcome by melancholy, he did not drink palm juice and returned home with a heavy heart.
The next day he told all his fellow villagers that he wanted to organize a Merauk holiday, to ask for mercy from the gods. The holiday will last three days and three nights, and each guest must bring a spear with him.
The warriors feasted for two days. They slaughtered a lot of buffalo and pigs, ate everything that was served, and drank palm wine to the last drop, had a friendly conversation and had fun from the heart. On the third day, Massu di Lalong asked the guests to stick their spears, points up, near his house. “Why did he need this?” - Everyone was surprised, but did not argue.
When all the spears were lined up with their points towards the sky, Massu di Lalong quickly went up to his house, went to the front window, jumped onto the windowsill and shouted loudly:
– Lai Bonna, my heart, Massu di Lalong is coming for you!
He jumped down onto hundreds of sharp spears, and they pierced his chest and stomach. His blood ran along the Shafts and flowed to the ground. At that very moment, Massu di Lalong died.
The funeral celebration passed, and Massu di Lalong's relatives carried his body to the family cave. As soon as the morning of the next day came, they saw: Massu di Lalong, wrapped in a shroud, lying at home, as if he had not been taken anywhere. The relatives again transferred the body to the tomb.
No matter how much they sacrificed pigs, nothing helped: they would take the dead man to a cave, and at night he would return home. Massu di Lalong's relatives did not know what to do, how to avert the misfortune. It was then that Dodeng came to them and said:
“If you allow me, I will take Massu di Lalong’s body to another cave, and he will never return home again.”
“We will be glad if you succeed, Dodeng,” his family told him. “We’ll give you a big buffalo for this.”
And Dodeng took with him the body of Massu di Lalong and placed it in the cave of Lai Bonna. When he laid Massa di Lalonga next to Lai Bonna, it seemed to him that the swaddled Lai Bonna moved and began to roll over, as if she wanted to hug Massa di Lalonga.
From then on, Massu di Lalong never returned home, and Lai Bonna did not call out to Dodeng when he came to the sugar palm to tap it or collect juice.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru