Story Telling

                                                                SI PAHIT  LIDAH

  

A long time ago in South Sumatera, there was a prince named Serunting. He was a descendant of a giant called Putri Tenggang. One day, Pangeran Serunting    married a girl named Sitti. He asked his wife to live in the palace. Nevertheless Sitti was confused. She did not want to separate herself from her younger brother, Aria Tebing. On the other hand, she had to obey her husband.

            “I don’t know what to do, Honey. I am not brave to leave my brother, Aria Tebing, my only brother,” Said Sitti to her husband.

            Pangeran Serunting suggested Aria Tebing lived in the palace. Sitti accepted the suggestion. Nonetheless, Aria Tebing refused it. He preferred leaving freely in the village to the palace that was full of rules. At last, Sitti and Aria Tebing agreed to devide the farm from their parents into two equal parts. Pangeran Serunting proposed to make a border between the two farms in order that there would not be a quarrel about the farms.

            The next day, Aria Tebing with Serunting went to the farm and brought a wooden fence as a border. As they arrived at the farm, the fence was penetrated deeply in the middle of the farm.

A few days later, on the wooden fence there grew mushrooms. Apparently the mushrooms grew differently. The mushrooms grew to Serunting’s farm were common ones, yet the ones grew to Aria Tebing were golden mushrooms. Aria Tebing sold them and he became prosperous. It made Serunting envious of the good fate of his younger brother in law.

One morning, Serunting met Aria Tebing who was picking the golden mushrooms in the farm. He could not bear his envious feeling overwhelming his heart.

“Hey Aria Tebing! What did you do to my mushrooms?” asked Pangeran Serunting.

“What do you mean, brother? I did not do anything to your mushrooms,” Replied Aria in confusion.

“Ah, you must have deceived me!” accused Pangeran Serunting. “You have swerved the bar of wood so that the golden mushrooms direct towards your farm.”

Aria Tebing got more bewildered about the accusation. He was sure he never swerved the dividing bar of wood. The mushrooms grew by themselves. Although Aria Tebing had apologized and explained the real condition, Pangeran Serunting did not accept the arguments. He even challanged Aria Tebing to fight.

Aria Tebing was confused to respond the challange. He realized that he would not be able to confront his powerful brother-in-law. Nevertheless, if he had refused the challange, Pangeran Serunting would have killed him. At last Aria Tebing had to accept the challange.

Since then, Aria Tebing felt hard to close his eyes at nights. He was confused to find ways to defeat Pangeran Serunting. A day before the fight was held, he found the wayout. He would ask his sister –Sitti- to reveal the weaknesses of Pangeran Serunting. Aria Tebing met his sister secretly. He then asked his sister in order to tell the weaknesses of Pangeran Serunting. At first, Sitti did not answer. She was confused. She did not want her younger brother to die. On the contrary she would not betray her husband.

Aria Tebing said to his sister if he knew the weaknesses of Pangeran Serunting, he would not kill him, though Pangeran Serunting  would surely kill him. Aria Tebing said to his sister whether or not she could stand of seeing him killed by her husband.

Sitti just kept silent. She was touched by her brother’s utterances. She would tell her brother, but he had to promise not to kill her husband. Aria Tebing said he would keep the promise. Siti explained that the secret of her husband’s magic power was on the coarse grass which vibrated though it was not blown by wind. If Aria Tebing threw a spear to the coarse grass, his magic power would dissapear.

On a chosen day, Pangeran Serunting and Aria Tebing went to a grassland. As soon as they arrived, the fight began. As the fight was going on, Aria Tebing was cornered by his brother- in- law’s attacks. It showed the high level of Pangeran Serunting’s magic power.

However Aria Tebing was not afraid since he knew the weakness of Pangeran Serunting. On a right moment, he threw the spear onto the vibrating coarse grass in the grassland. Soon Pangeran Serunting fell to the ground with serious injuries.

Feeling that he was betrayed by his wife, Pangeran Serunting left his campong towards Mount Sidagunting to meditate. Arriving there, he heard a magic voice of Sang Hyang Mahameru. Sang Hyang Mahameru explained the prerequisite to gain magic power that he should meditate under bamboo trees. Without a long consideration, Pangeran Serunting soon accepted the demand.

 Pangeran Serunting began meditating with full concentration. As time passed by, he was more engrossed and did not realize his meditation had been two years. His body was covered by fallen bamboo leaves.

“Hey, young man. Since you have fulfiled the demand well, it is the right time for me to bequeath my magic power to you.” Said Hyang Mahameru.

“What magic power, oh Sang Mahameru?’ asked the curious Pangeran.

“Whatever you say will become a curse,” Replied Sang Mahameru.

With a happy feeling, immediately Pangeran Serunting returned to his village. On his way home, he had an idea to try his magic power he just gained. When he found a sugar cane plantation beside a lake, he said,”Be stones, Hey sugar cane trees.” Due to the magical power of his tongue, the sugar cane trees turned into stones. Since then Pangeran Serunting was dubbed Si Pahit Lidah or the bitter tongue. Another day, when he reached a village, Si Pahit Lidah fulfiled an old couple’s wish to have a baby. With his magical tongue, he transformed a hair of the old woman into a baby boy.

In the rest of his way to Sumidang, Si Pahit Lidah kept on learning to do good things to all creatures. Arriving at his village, his vengeful feeling to Aria Tebing had ceased along with his increasing good deeds during his return trip. He also apologized to his younger brother-in-law as well as his beloved wife.

  

GLOSSARY

accept                             : menerima

accuse                            : menuduh

apologize                         : minta maaf

arrived                            : sampai

be betrayed                      : dikhianati

be blown                          : tertiup

be cornered                     : terpojok

be dubbed                        : dijuluki

be touched                       : disentuh

bear                                : menanggung/menahan

bequeath                         : menurunkan    

bewildered                       : bingung

border                              : batas

brave                               : berani

campong                          : kampung

challenge                         : menantang/tantangan

coarse                              : ilalang

common                          : umum/ biasa

confused                          : bingung

consideration                   : pertimbangan

curious                           : ingin tahu

deceive                            : menipu

defeat                              : mengalahkan

demand                           : tuntutan

descendent                      : keturunan

devide                              : membagi

direct                               : mengarah

dissapear                         : lenyap

due to                              : disebabkan

envious                            : Iri

equal:                             : sama

fate                                  : nasib

fight                                : pertarungan

gain                                 : memperoleh

grassland                         : padang rumput

grew                                : tumbuh

in order to                        : Agar

injuries                           : Luka

mushrooms                      : Jamur

nevertheless                     : namun demikian

nonetheless                     : namun demikian

obey                                : mematuhi

on the contrary                : sebaliknya

on the other hand            : sebaliknya

overwhelm                       : menguasai

penetrated                       : menembus

prefer                              : lebih menyukai

prerequisite                     : prasyarat

promise                           : janji

propose                           : mengusulkan

prosperous                      : sejahtera

quarrel                           : berselisih

realize                             : menyadari

refuse                              : menolak

respond                           : menanggapi

reveal                              : mengungkapkan

rule                                 : aturan

secretly                            : secara rahasia

separate                         : memisahkan

spear                               : lembing

stand of seeing                : mampu melihat

suggestion                       : saran

swerve                            : membelokkan

though                            : walaupun

throw/ threw                   : melempar

transform                        : berubah

utterance                         : ucapan

vibrate                            : bergetar

wayout                            : cara

weakness                        : kelemahan

younger brother-in law     : adik ipar laki-laki

1.                                                                                                                                 COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
      Where did the story take place?

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2.      Who was Pangeran Serunting?

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3.      Why did Sitti feel confused?

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4.      What was the problem faced by Aria Tebing?

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5.      How did Aria Tebing solve his problem?

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6.      How was Pangeran Serunting’s feeling after he was defeated by Aria Tebing?

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7.      What experience did Pangeran Serunting undergo after he left his campong?

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8.      How did Pangeran Serunting try his magic power?

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9.      Why was Pangeran Serunting dubbed  Si Pahit Lidah?

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10.  What change did Pangeran Serunting make during his travel back to his campong?

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11.  What did Pangeran Serunting do to wife and brother-in-law?

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12.  What is the moral value of the story?

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