The Goloq Stone

Here is a story about a plain-surface stone, which is called the goloq stone by the local inhabitants of West Nusa Tenggara. There is an interesting story about it.

It is said that the names of three villages in West Nusa Tenggara have the correlation with the legend of the goloq stone. Those three villages are now known as Gembong, Dasan Batu, and Montong Teker villages.

So, how come such a stone could be said as the origin of three villages? Here this!

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Once upon a time, there was a family of tenant farmer consisting of a spouse and two kids. The man was known as Amaq Lembain, while the woman was Inaq Lembain.

They earned their livings from farming and serving as sharecroppers. No matter how poor they were, Amaq Lembain, Inaq Lembain, and their kids lived in happiness. They had so many times to get around with their kids as they used to bring their kids along with them when they were working.

One day, someone asked for help from Inaq Lembain. That person bagged her to pound the paddies from harvest. Before working, she left her kids and sat them on a plain-surface stone, which was known as the Goloq Stone.

“Kids, stay calm there! I‘ll work for now,” she told her kids.

“Alright. Mom!” they replied.

Just a few minutes after she began working, there was something miracle. The stone on which the kids were sitting then gradually grew up higher.

“Kak,[1] why is the stone moving?” asked the younger one.

“I don‘t know, Dik![2]” the elder said.

As the stone became higher, they began to be panic, totally panic as far as they can.

“Mom, it‘s growing higher! Help us….!” the elder shouted calling his mother.

“Just wait and see, kids! I‘m working now, you can see it!”

For many time they called their mother Inaq Lembain, but she kept working and ignoring what her kids were doing. Nothing they could do as the stone had grown as high as a coconut tree. They yelled as loudly as they could for help, but their mom was enjoying pounding the paddies.

Worse, the stone had reached the sky. The kids‘ voices couldn‘t be heard anymore.

When realized of her kids were not there, Inaq Lembain tried to look for them. She was in totally panic, until one time she‘d just known that the stone on which her kids were seated had grown reaching up the sky.

For a moment she ruminated on her mistake for ignoring her kids. All of sudden she got a divine inspiration as the answer of her prayer. From this, now she had the divine powers that enabled her to cut the stone using her belt.

In a short, she swung heavily the belt to the stone. Miraculous, the stone broke into three pieces.

The first one fell to a place that is now known as Gembong Village. “Gembong” is derived from the local language of West Nusa Tenggara that means “vibration.” It was named as such because the land was shocked heavily when the stone fell upon the village.

The second piece fell to Dasan Batu. Such a name came out from the witness who saw the stone falling from the sky. And the third piece is now acknowledged as the village of Montong Teker, which means “thundering sounds.”

Unfortunately, Inaq Lembain could not take her kids back. They had changed to a couple of birds that were named Kekuwo and Kelik. Though physically they were birds, but they were not able to lay eggs as they still had the complete set of human organs within their bird-bodies.

***

Here is the story about the Goloq Stone of West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The above story is a legend with some moral messages can be learned to be applied in daily life. One of them is a learning urging us to lean upon God if we face any suffering.

God has a master plan for us. God examines us with the problems and the only God that possesses the way of coping with those problems. We can take a look at the figure Inaq Lembain. She leaned her problem upon God, thus she got a divine inspiration and magical powers to cut the Goloq stone.

In the Malay perspective, such an attitude is badly recommended. This is can be found in the Tunjuk Ajar Melayu saying:

Wahai ananda mustika ayah

Dalam beriman janganlah goyah

Betulkan akal luruskan langkah

Mohonlah petunjuk kepada Allah

However, there is bad side from the figure Inaq Lambain; that is her ignorance towards her kids. She kept working even though her kids were calling out for help when the stone was growing higher. Lastly, from reading the story, we are indirectly suggested to take care of our children so that they can be the generation for a better future.

Samsuni (sas/102/10-08)

Translated by Irfan Nugroho (ter/97/01-09)

Reference:

• Adapted from I Nengah Kayu, et. al. Batu Goloq: Cerita Rakyat Nusa Tenggara Barat, Jakarta: Departemen P dan K, 1981.
• Anonymous. “Batu Goloq.” Available online at "http://www.budaya-indonesia.org/iaci/Batu_Golog", Retrieved on October 6^th, 2008.
• Anonymous. “The Legend of The Goloq Stone.” Available online at http://mediaindonesia.com/data/pdf/pagi/2008-07/2008-07-11_21.pdf. Retrieved on January 22nd, 2009.
• Effendy, Tenas. 2006. Tunjuk Ajar Melayu. Yogyakarta: Balai Kajian dan Pengembangan Budaya Melayu bekerja sama dengan AdiCita Karya Nusa.

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