Precil dan Paipai

20 |
MINGGU, 17 OKTOBER 2010 | MEDIA INDONESIA
Precil dan Paipai
FUN WITH ENGLISH
FOLKLORE
FROM
EAST KALIMANTAN
A Dragon and a Baby
O
NCE upon a time, there was a small village in East
Kalimantan. The head of the village lived alone with
his wife. They did not have any children yet.
Rain was falling for days. There was a big storm.
The sound of thunder scared all the villagers. They did not have
any courage to go outside of the house, and that’s including the
head of village.
The head of the village and his wife were running out of fire
woods to cook. He went outside to find some woods. His wife
asked him to be careful. And after he got some woods, he went
home. On the way home, he saw a small worm lying on the
ground. It looked helpless. The head of the village felt sorry. He
carefully picked the worm and brought it home. Amazingly, rain
stopped. There was no thunder anymore. Sun
was
shining brightly. The sky was clear!
At home, his wife was surprised to see the worm. Soon,
she also felt sorry to the worm.
She picked some leaves
and fed the worm. It ate all
the leaves. The head of the
village and his wife were
happy to see the worm was
not weak anymore.
The wife took care of the
worm with love. Slowly, the
worm was getting bigger. It
was slowly changing into a
dragon! The head of the village and his wife still loved
the dragon. They treated the
dragon just like treating their
own child.
One night, the head of the
village had a dream. A beautiful
girl came to him.
She said, “Don’t be afraid, Father. I’m your child, I’m the
dragon. I want to
thank you
a n d
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Mother for taking care of me and loving me since I was small.
However, it was time for me to leave you. I want to go back to
my home in the river. Please, bring me to the river, and you will
get a good surprise there.”
When he woke up, the head of the village told his wife about
his dream. She asked him to do what the girl in his dream asked
him.
Later, the head of the village and his wife brought the dragon to
the river. And when they arrived, the dragon swam in the river.
Suddenly, the dragon was able to talk. The voice of the dragon
was exactly the same as the voice of the girl in his dream.
“Thank you very much, Father and Mother. You are very kind. I
will never forget you. I know you both really want to have a child.
Just wait for a moment, and your wish will come true.”
The head of the village and his wife were standing at the river
side. They were waiting what would happen next. They saw
the dragon was swimming and was getting far from them,
until they could not see the dragon.
After a while,
the dragon
came back.
There was
a small
basket
i n f ro n t
of the
dragon’s
nose. It was
swimming
and pushing
the basket towards the head
of the village
and his wife.
And when
the dragon was
at the
river
s i d e ,
they were
surprised!
They saw a baby
girl inside the
basket!
The dragon
said, “Please take
good care of her
very well. She is
your daughter and
she will be a very
important person
someday.” The dragon was slowly leaving
them.
The head of the village and his
wife were very happy. Their wish
finally came true. They had a baby!
They took care of her and loved her
very much.
Until now, people in the area believe
that when the baby girl was adult, she married to the King of Kutai Kertanagara, a kingdom
in Kalimantan. And the people named the dragon
as Erau Dragon. And to commemorate the dragon, people
always hold sampan competition. They decorated their sampans
like dragons.
D
AHULU kala sebelum zaman kuda gigit
besi, tersebutlah sebuah rukun tetangga
yang tersohor dengan nama Kapling
Dokjing. Penghuninya sangat kompak, rukun,
suka gotong royong. Kapling Dokjing terkenal
sebagai kampung yang aman, damai, makmur
sejahtera.
Pemandangannya indah, telaganya berair biru
maya. Di tepiannya pohon nyiur melambai-lambai mengundang tetangga kampung seberang
datang berwisata.
Suatu ketika terjadilah kebakaran hebat di hutan Dwipangga. Maka, berbondong-bondonglah
pasukan gajah menyedot telaga Kapling Dokjing
sampai kering, untuk memadamkan api yang
melalap hutan Dwipangga. Penduduk Kapling
Dokjing kehausan, telaganya kering, pohonpohon layu kepanasan.
Kaum tupai melubangi buah kelapa untuk
mengambil air dan makan dagingnya. Wangsa
katak menggali lumpur untuk bersembunyi di
dalamnya agar kulitnya tidak keriting.
Si Precil, seekor katak yang sudah lepas ekornya, kehausan hingga merengek minta dikucurkan air kelapa oleh sahabatnya, Paipai, anak
bajing. Tapi apa jawabnya? “Jangan, ini pohon
kelapa emak, airnya buat emak.”
Begitu selalu jawabnya setiap ada hewan
yang minta.
Sambil menangis, Precil mengadukan perihalnya kepada Mak Kodok, emaknya. “Sabar nak.
Kita undang Mak Bajing makan enak. Nanti di
tengah kesempatan itu kita rayu dia agar mau
membagi sedikit air kelapa.
Pasti akan malu dia kalau
menolak.”
Mak Kodok lalu masak gulai ikan yang
tinggal memungut
dari dalam lumpur.
Bumbunya istimewa resep rahasia
dari keraton. Bau uap
kuahnya mengundang
selera tercium sampai
pucuk kelapa. Belum
pernah Mak Kodok memasak gulai sememikat
selera seperti itu.
Paipai meneteskan air
liurnya tergoda nikmat uap
gulai sesedap itu. Ia segera
meluncur turun dari sarangnya, meloncat-loncat menuju
tempat Precil.
Paipai merengek-rengek
minta dibagi gulai kepada Mak
Kodok. “Jangan, gulai ini untuk
Precil. Mintalah emakmu memasak sendiri!” bentak Mak
Kodok.
Paipai tak berhenti merengek,
bahkan mendesak mendekati
kuali gulai. “Paipai sabar! Gulainya baru setengah matang.
Panggillah dulu emakmu, nanti kita makan
bersama.” Kemudian
Mak Kodok berseru
sendiri ke arah pucuk
kelapa memanggil
Mak Bajing.
Katanya, “Mak Bajing! Ini anakmu Paipai ada
di sini. Tak sabar menunggu kedatanganmu,
mau mencicipi gulai masakan kami. Turunlah
segera!”
Paipai kurang hati-hati mendekati kuali gulai.
Ia terpeleset dan tercebur ke dalamnya, menjadi
bagian dari gulai.
Nyaris pingsan, Mak Kodok menyaksikan peristiwa yang sangat mengerikan itu. Bagaimana
nanti menyelesaikan dan menjelaskan kecelakaan yang menimpa Paipai kepada emaknya?
Tanpa mengetuk pintu, Mak Bajing langsung
masuk ke dapur Mak Kodok. Tanpa dipersilakan
lagi ia menyendok gulai ke mangkuk yang sudah dipersiapkan dari sarangnya. Panas-panas
dicicipinya gulai masakan Mak Kodok. Mata
Mak Bajing berkedip-kedip karena merasakan
nikmatnya.
Baru beberapa saat kemudian ia ingat kepada
anaknya. Di mana ia berada?
“Mana Paipai, anak bengal bin badung itu? Ih
kalau aku bisa menelannya, sudah kulakukan
sejak dulu.”
Precil yang mendengar kata-kata Mak Bajing itu lalu menyahut, “Itu yang Mak Bajing
cicipi tadi kan gulai ikan campur anak Mak, si
Paipai.”
“Oh, astaga!” ujar Mak Bajing, sesaat kemudian ia pun pingsan. (M-2)
Catatan:
Cerita lisan kakek, digubah kembali
oleh Azarine Pandita Widyadhara (10 tahun)
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