In ancient times, there lived a monkey king. His name was Tuaka-la, and he was called Karaeng ri Abbok Sombaya ri Ballianging, and he was single. He lived in Bantimurung on the mountainside, where the village of Batubassi now stands, near Maros.
One day the king sits on the throne, and around him are ministers, dignitaries and nobles, all of them monkeys.
Tuakala says:
- My glorious dignitaries! Know: our kingdom will only become a real state when we have a queen. Then all your wives will begin to revere her and ask her for advice about all sorts of women’s affairs, and especially about housekeeping.
Hearing these words of the sovereign, the minister Puto Man-gambi Kaleleng, which means “Dextly climbing branches,” jumped to the royal throne and said with a bow:
“My head is as big as a fist, I’m one quarter tall.” Order me to show you a worthy wife, great sir.
King Tuakala heard these words, smiled and said:
– Who do you have in mind?
And the minister deftly climbing branches answered:
– Princess Dampang Kokok of Earubaru.
The king thought for a moment, paused, then raised his glorious head and said:
“We know this princess, and she is pretty, and she laughs a lot, we don’t like it.”
Then the Minister Puto Mattete Ri-batang, which means “Dexterous Tree Walker,” stepped forward and said respectfully:
- From an early age I have walked in your trust, great sir. It is fitting for me to name the princess fit to be your wife. I don’t know anyone more deserving than Dampang Chichit ri Biraeng, nicknamed Yi Chambueri Tammua.
The sovereign heard these words and was even angry in his soul, but he did not give up. He says:
“It’s true, this princess is from a noble family and rich, but we don’t like her: her eyes are sunken, her eyebrows are too wide, and her teeth are long.”
So they went through all the princesses of the monkey tribe, but not one pleased the sovereign. The whole point was that the king wanted to see a girl from the human race as his wife.
So all the ministers, heroes, generals and nobles gathered again and began to think about how to marry the sovereign to a wife. The council decided to send matchmakers to the daughter of the headman of the village of Pattiro - it was located west of Bantimurung.
They reported to the king, he agreed with joy, only asked:
- Oh, most respected ones, when will you go to match the princess? Tell me - we order everything to be prepared by then.
Minister Puto Mangalawing Boyok, which means “Carrying pumpkins on his back,” answered with a bow:
– Our embassy with gifts will leave in seven days. Order to assign to us, great sovereign, forty bodyguard warriors and the same number of slave porters.
The time has come, the embassy has set off. The minister who carried pumpkins behind his back was appointed in charge. By noon they arrived in Pattiro. At this time, the headman’s daughter was drying rice in the garden near the house. She saw that a crowd of monkeys was coming, quickly ran into the house and told her father about this trouble. Headman Pattiro immediately set his huge and ferocious dogs on the embassy.
A fierce battle ensued, and the dogs gained the upper hand.
Minister Carrying Pumpkins on His Back returned empty-handed and with a thinned retinue. He immediately appeared before King Tuakala with sad news. The king heard and was overcome with anger and vexation. He ordered all his people to gather.
No sooner said than done, everyone gathered: old and young, big and small, husbands and wives. They bowed to the king and asked:
- Why did you call us, great sir? It's been a long time since you gathered all the people. What would you like to order? We are ready to serve you without sparing our lives.
When the king saw that the people were faithful to him, his heart was relieved. He thanked his people and said:
“You all know how headman Pattiro disgraced us: he killed our servants, and your friends and relatives.” You've probably already mourned them. But we came to him with honor, we wanted to woo his daughter, as befits his position, we sent our worthy minister Carrying pumpkins on his back, famous warriors, and respected persons as matchmakers. And the headman responded to our appeal so brazenly!
“Such an insult cannot be tolerated by any living creature, and yet we, monkeys, are the most glorious tribe in the world.” Let's give him a lesson! Get ready, everyone, go after his daughter. If he doesn’t give it away peacefully, take it by force!
Let him forever remember that our people know how to behave on the battlefield. Don't hesitate for a minute! Go there today!
Hearing the order of the sovereign, everyone who was there raised a loud cry and, jumping, overtaking each other, ran to the house of the elder Pattiro.
In less than a few hours, the headman’s house was already surrounded and rows of monkeys were approaching him from all sides: in front, behind, right and left. The most determined warriors jumped from the trees straight onto the roof.
This time the dogs could no longer help the cause - they did not have enough strength to withstand the mighty army of King Tuakala. The surviving dogs hid in the chicken coop, saving their skins.
The headman himself fell into the hands of the Minister Carrying Pumpkins behind his back. When he wanted to break free, the minister grabbed him under the arms and hit him on the floor, so much so that he let the winds fly. The floor broke, the headman fell under the house and went into the ground. He lost consciousness, and his daughter was put on a stretcher and taken to Bantimurung to the just king Tuakala. Truly, his subjects loved him with all their hearts!
For many days now, the headman’s daughter had been living in the royal palace. During all this time, she never took off her sarong, did not throw back the covers - only her voice was heard by Tuakala. Finally, the king began to ask his wife how people’s husbands communicate with their wives. The girl says to him:
– Among good people, the husband does not touch his wife for forty days after the wedding.
Forty days have passed. She called Tuakala:
“For some reason I wanted to try pantou, I don’t have the strength.” Only when they are caught, let them be sure to be strung on a rope made of enou palm fiber.
The king ordered all his people to go for the pantou, and strictly ordered them not to come back without the pantou.
So all the monkeys - old and young, big and small, husbands and wives - went for panto. They went around all the Savakhs, caught all the fish and caught countless pantos. But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t string the pantou onto the rope, it was too thick!
Tuakala waited for a long time, could not bear it and went to the fields himself, and ordered the queen to be guarded by Sydney and the Blind Man. He goes and sees monkeys sitting, trying to string a pantou on a rope, but nothing works out for them. Tuakala got angry, beat them, then snatched their pantou from them, unraveled the rope into fibers - and he succeeded. He took the pantou home.
While he was away, a snake crawled into the queen’s chambers. Tammusisik said:
- Hey, granddaughter, why are you here? This place is not suitable for you, only wild animals live here.
The queen told him about her fate and admitted that most of all she wanted to return to her parents' home. She asked old Tammusisik to help her. And a long time ago, when Tammusisik was still small, the queen’s grandfather did a service for him, saving him from a hunter. Tammusisik then swore to faithfully serve his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. So he ordered the queen to crawl into his belly, and he quickly crawled into Pattiro.
Siden and Blind began to call for help, but there was not a soul around - all the monkeys were in the fields.
The sun had almost set when King Tuakala returned to the palace. He saw that the queen’s chambers were empty, and at the entrance there was a trail as if a large snake had crawled. The king was greatly saddened and wanted to run in search, but by that time it had become completely dark. Tuakala sat all night, thinking, and never closed his eyes for a moment. The next day, early in the morning, he ordered his people to follow in the footsteps of the cursed snake.
Soon messengers arrived with news: the snake carried the queen to her father's house. And an ambassador from the elder Pattiro came for them.
“Do not be angry, King Tuakala,” he said. – Your wife bears no ill will towards you. She only wants you to have a wedding according to all the rules, as it should be when Karaeng ri Abbok Sombaya ri Ballian-ging and the daughter of the headman Pattiro get married - she, too, is not sowing in the field. We also need to prepare wedding gifts: in a week they should be at your father-in-law’s house.
A week passed, and all the monkey people moved to Pattiro. There were ministers, dignitaries, brave warriors, nobles and simple monkeys. It was impossible to complain about the gifts - they carried with them durians, duku, langsats, mangoes, pandans, bananas, pineapples, ram-butanes and many other fruits.
[Duryan, duku, langsat, mango, pandan, rambut are tropical fruits. ]
On the occasion of the holiday, the headman built a special barn so that there would be a place to receive guests. Here the monkeys are sitting in the barn, and the headman asks them to wash themselves before the treat - this is how people are supposed to do it. He already had some basins in stock.
The monkeys had no idea that the water in the basins was mixed with sticky tree sap - they obeyed and washed themselves, every one of them. Soon the potion made itself felt: after a few minutes the monkeys began jumping around the barn, screaming in pain, their eyelids were stuck together, they could not open their eyes. Then the elder and his comrades went out into the street, locked the barn and set it on fire. All the monkeys were burned.
And King Tuakala still sat on the throne and waited for the ambassadors to return. Without waiting, he became alarmed and sent Sidney and the Blind Man to find out if anything had happened. The blind man put Sidney on his back, and they went to Pattiro.
Whether they walked for a long time or a short time, they heard a crash. It was a barn that was burning, and they thought that in the village they were firing cannons in honor of the ambassadors. The seat began to urge the Blind Man, but he himself ran, afraid of being late for the feast. They went out to Pattiro, saw the fire, heard screams, and then they understood everything.
The Blind Man ran back with all his might. The seat was scared for its life; it barely managed to shout: “To the right! To the left, you blind devil! To the right!” Both were tired and thirsty. The Seat sees: there is a tabung attached to the sugar palm, into which the juice is collected. He told the Blind Man, who climbed the tree and began to drink the juice. The seat sees that the Blind Man does not want to share with him, and let’s scold him:
- After all, I showed you the tree, you would never have found it without me! Do you really want to lap up all the juice? Come here tabung!
The Blind Man got angry and launched a tabung at Sidney. He caught him and also drank to his heart's content. They got drunk, started spitting at each other, and then got into a fight. Sidny wanted to claw out the Blind Man’s eyes, but he suddenly regained his sight, and the Blind Man bit Sidny on the knee, and he jumped to his feet.
They rejoiced and ran to the palace of King Tua-kala. They run and sing:
The minister wearing pumpkins on his back turned into a fool, to be his widow as my wife!
So they sorted through all the dead daredevils and their widows; they wanted to marry each one.
They reached the palace, appeared before King Tuakala, and told him about the trouble. At first the king lost his tongue from grief and almost lost consciousness. Then he came to his senses and asked:
- How were you cured of your illnesses? The Seat and the Blind answered at once: “Through your prayers, great sovereign.” Apparently, the Lord sent down his help to us so that the monkey race would not dry out, because besides us, there were no men left in the tribe! Fortunately, we are now healthy and will happily take all the widows as our wives. Our children and grandchildren will be multiplied on earth.
King Tuakala said nothing; he sat and remained sitting on his throne. He didn’t want others to see his sadness, so he shut himself up in the palace forever and gradually turned to stone.
This stone is still intact, and local girls and boys often go to it and ask for good luck in matters of the heart. After all, they say that Tuakala of Bantimurung became the god of love.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru