Suri Ikun and Two Birds

There was a boy named Suri Ikun who lived with his parents and his 13 brothers at a village in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. His family earned their living from farming, but they lived in poor.

One day, a group of ghosts kidnapped Suri Ikun. They wanted to swallow him, but they thought that he was too thin. They bred him with hope he could be bigger someday. Did the ghosts swallow him finally? Might he be able to escape away from the ghosts? Here is the story.

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There was a poor family at a village in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The family consisted of a spouse and 14 kids, seven boys and seven girls. The youngest one was named Suri Ikun. He was a brave boy, totally differed from his six brothers. They were cowards; even when a pig‘s squealing, they ran as fast as they could.

Ikun‘s family lived from farming. They cultivated vegetables on their farm that was wide enough. However, that‘s not enough for fulfilling their needs because often, their crops were destroyed by deer herd.

In a relenting night, the family members gathered in the living room. They discussed the best way of chasing the deer herd away, so that they could reap abundant harvest.

“Kids, you know we could no longer get in good harvest at this recent time. Now I want you all to keep an eye on the faming land in turn at night. There must be someone to watch out the crops from the deer herd,” the father said.

“Is there any other option, Dad?” the oldest boy asked.

“Why did you ask it?” the father asked him back.

“To be honest, we are afraid of deer herd, Dad,”

“Yes, we are afraid of that, Dad,” the other boys spontaneously added.

Ikun‘s father got completely confuse with the situation in which none of his kids agreed their father‘s opinion. The discussion shifted to solitude. They were all silent, and all of sudden, Ikun appeared to shout.

 “Dad, upon your approval, I want to take the turn. Let me keep an eye on the farming land, alone!” he said.

“Really? Are you going to take it alone?” his father seemed to doubt on him.

“Yes, I will! Let me use my archer to kill the deer, I promise!” he answered.

How proud Ikun‘s father of this thin boy. When no one of his boys was brave to handle such a duty, Ikun then appeared up, answering his father‘s challenge.

In the following day, Suri Ikun commenced his first day of watching out the farming land from the deer herd. He looked so brave with a set of bow and arrow on his back. Soon after reaching the farming land, he looked around the place, but no one deer appeared before him.

Thus, he took a rest for a moment. He leaned upon a leafy tree, while kept looking out the surrounding, just in case there would be the deer herd. All of sudden, there were three deer passing by the farm. He kept an eye on the biggest one. He pulled the bow, and released it.

A big deer had been killed upon the arrow of Suri Ikun. He walked to the deer to bring it home in the morning.

“How big this one. It must be delicious. I‘ll bring it home after this,” he mumbled.

With all happiness and proud, he brought the deer home, and gave it to his mother to be cooked. The deer was so big and heavy, thus during the way back home, often he rested for a while. When he reached home, his parents and the other brothers were so happy to know that big deer.

“How amazing you are, my brother! I am so proud of you,” the oldest said.

The entire family members were so happy at that time. All worked together to dice the deer meat. When the cooking had been complete, the family members were gathering in the living room, tasting Ikun‘s work. Such a dish, for them, was a special one because rarely did they eat delicious food made of meat.

However, the eldest, who was appointed by Suri Ikun‘s parents, never gave equal portion to Ikun. In fact, the deer was caught by the hand of his younger Suri Ikun. No matter, Ikun could still be happy as he pleased to see his family happy.

In another day, the father went back home from working at the middle of the nearest forest. But, he forgot something; the parang was left behind at the forest. He asked his kids to find it at the forest, and take it back home.

“Kids, will you help me now?”

“What can we do, Dad?”

“I forgot leaving the parang at the forest; will you all find it and take it home?”

There was no any debate and bargaining when the father asked them to the forest. The oldest appeared foremost and promised to find it back, along with his brothers.

They went to the forest, all the seven brothers including the oldest and Suri Ikun. The day then turned dark soon after they reached the forest.

Suri Ikun kept following his brothers in the back row, while hanging his archer. Unfortunately, Ikun was severed from the group as the day had been really dark. He was left behind, while the other went home.

Further he walked through the forest, further was he lost. He was alone; no one accompanied him that night. Suddenly, there was a group of ghost came up to him calling…

“Hi..! Why are you here now?” one of the ghosts asked.

“Who are you?” Ikun wondered.

“Your arrival this night has annoyed me. You should know that I am the owner of the forest, the place where you are standing now!”

“I‘m not afraid of you! I‘ll kill you with my archer,”

“Just try if you can,”

On the spur of the moment, before he could release his arrow, another ghost caught him. He was not able to do nothing as the ghost was really strong.

Fortune seemed to come to Suri Ikun at the time. The ghost‘s will to swallow him had to willy-nilly be postponed. They thought he was too thin, hence wouldn‘t satisfy them. They decided to “breed” him until he grew up taller and bigger.

The ghosts put him inside a cave. They fed him as if he was their livestock that would be slaughtered for eat when it gets fat.

He spent so many days inside the cave, no time to hang out. Nevertheless, he could still enjoy the light of the sun from a small crack on the cave‘s wall. From that crack he took a look at the green scenery of the forest outside the cave. As well, from this another story about him began.

Someday he saw two birds that were suffering from salvation. He felt deep empathy for the birds, thus he gave his meal for them. Time goes by but he kept spending his meal for the birds for several days later. Until one day, something miraculous happened.

Suri Ikun was shocked to know that the birds were able to speak in human language. They spoke to him about their gratitude for all the good deeds of Suri Ikun.

“We are grateful to you, Boy! Thank you very much for spending your meal to us for several days ago,” one of the birds said.

“Don‘t mention it. Everything was just going on, and I did it from my deepest heart, so you don‘t need to say it,” Suri Ikun‘s remarks.

“For all you have done to us, I would like to help you escape away from the cave. But, let me know first your name, Boy,” the bird asked.

“I am Suri Ikun, I was caught by the cave‘s guardian when I was lost at the forest some days ago,” Suri Ikun replied.

“And how will you bring me away from here? In fact, they‘re too much stronger than me,” Suri Ikun added.

“We‘ll fly at them when they‘re walking into the cave. At the time, we‘ll claw at them using our talons. So please, make them busy when they‘re inside the cave,” one of the birds gave some instructions.

“Ok! I see, I wish it could be done well,” Ikun said.

“Alright, Boy! We‘re getting outside the cave, waiting for the time they bring some foods for you. At that time we start operating,” the bird said.

In the following day, at the time when the ghosts were walking into the cave, the birds flew at them, and clawed at the ghosts‘ bodies using their sharp talons. Knowing such, Suri Ikun attempted to help the birds using his archer, then a arrow was stabbed on the ghosts deeply. Just in a few minutes, the ghosts fell down and the birds took him away from the cave.

Their flight ended on the peak of a hill, far enough from both the cave and Ikun‘s village. There, the birds built a beautifully elegant palace completed with the officials and some consorts for Suri Ikun. He was inaugurated into the king of the palace and he lived there in happiness forever.

At the distance, the former family of Suri Ikun kept living in poor as none of Suri Ikun‘s brothers was typically hard worker. All the family‘s farms were destroyed by the deer herd at all the time when harvest was coming.

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Here is the story about Suri Ikun and Two Birds from East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The story is a legend with some moral messages that can be derived from it to be applied in our daily life. At least there are two messages that can be drawn from the story; first is helping each other, and second, bad result from coward.

Living in society requires us to be able to get along with them and to help each other. Suri Ikun was a person who deliberately helped his family and the hungry birds. Such a philosophy is highly suggested in the Malay society as what can be inferred from the pantun below:

Wahai ananda dengarlah manat,

Tulus dan ikhlas jadikan azimat

Berkorban menolong sesame umat

Semoga hidupmu beroleh rahmat

Though he was just a thin boy, but he had big courage to keep an eye on the family‘s farming land from the deer herd until the time he was caught by a group of ghosts at the forest. As the remains of his brother were not brave enough to guard the farm from the deer herd, the family was not capable of harvesting anymore, especially after Suri Ikun had a beautifully elegant palace on a green hill. It is said in Tunjuk Ajar Melayu that:

Takut ke laut, mati hanyut

Takut ke hutan, mati tak makan

 

Siapa penakut, makan kentut

Siapa pengecut, besarlah burut

The above pantun is a criticism to those who don‘t have any courage of sailing across the sea and hunting at the forest. Those who are cowards will certainly be left behind.

Samsuni (sas/111/11-08)

Translated by Irfan Nugroho (ter/98/01-09)

Reference:

• Adapted from “Cerita Rakyat”, available online at http://www.seasite.niu.edu/indonesian/Budaya_Bangsa/Cerita_Rakyat/default.htm, retrieved on November 18th, 2008.
• Effendy, Tenas. 1994/1995. “Ejekan” Terhadap Orang Melayu Riau dan Pantangan Orang Melayu Riau. Pekanbaru, Bappeda Tingkat I Riau.
• -------. 2006. Tunjuk Ajar Melayu. Yogyakarta: Balai Kajian dan Pengembangan Budaya Melayu bekerja sama dengan Penerbit AdiCita Karya Nusa. 

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