Once upon a time there lived a peasant named Tumhileng. For a long time he wondered why the rice on earth was so small. And then Tumhileng heard that there was very large rice in the sky, the size of a langsat fruit, and this rice was called malansot. But the inhabitants of the sky do not sell malansot to the people of the earth.
[The langsat fruit is sweet in taste and the size of a plum.]
And Tumhileng began to think about how to get a few grains of malansot. He consulted with his friends Makaela and Sumelenduk, and they agreed to go with him.
On Mount Lockon there grew a tree as tall as the sky. Notches were made on its trunk, along which people could climb and descend. Tumhileng and his friends climbed up the tree to the sky.
Having climbed there, they saw heavenly maidens drying malansot.
- Why did you come, people of the earth? - asked the heavenly maidens.
“We are looking for the blue hen that flew here,” said Tumhileng.
- Blue chicken? There are no blue chickens here, only white ones. But try, look.
Tumhileng pretended to be looking everywhere for the chicken, and meanwhile he got to the malansot, which the heavenly maidens were drying. He cut his heel and collected several grains of malansot into the wound.
The friends went back to earth. Halfway there, Tumhileng took out twelve malansot grains from his heel.
But the inhabitants of the sky must have always counted their rice, for after Tumhileng left they immediately discovered that several grains were missing. Thousands of heavenly inhabitants rushed in pursuit of Tumhileng and his friends.
- Come on, show your strength, Makaela! Tumhileng said.
Makaela unsheathed his saber and waved it towards the east. The magic saber reached the place where the sun rises. He waved it towards the west - the saber reached the place where the sun sets.
- Show your strength too, Sumelenduk! - exclaimed Tumhileng.
Sumelenduk blew into the shell - and a terrible wind rose. The pursuers could not stand it, begged for mercy and turned back.
To make malansot grow well, friends advised people to plant it under a dadap or valantakan tree—shade trees.
Indeed, malapsot grew very lush, but its grains turned out to be as small as those of ordinary rice and did not look like langsat fruits.
Tumhileng was very upset that malansot had turned into ordinary rice, and cut down a tall tree on Mount Lokon, along which they climbed to the sky. And he broke off the top of Mount Lokon and threw it into the sea. This is how the island of Manadotua appeared.
[Manadotua is a small island off the northern coast of Sulawesi.]
And from that time on, the connection between the people of earth and the people of heaven ceased.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru