Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup t5o4g

BATU BELAH BATU BERTANGKUP (The Devouring Rock ) A Famous Malay Folktale

This story is about

Mak Minah , a widow, her two children, her

daughter Mawar , and her young son, Bulat. Mak Minah would work hard at several jobs in a day . She would work in both a field and as a fisherwoman to her fairly young children as best as she could. One morning , while fishing , she catches a tembakul fish ( local river fish ). She of course is really happy, and fantasizes all day about eating the fish with her children for dinner. At noon , Mak Minah goes home and starts to clean the fish, and is happier when she realizes that there is fish roe inside. Fish roe back then was very very expensive and was a delicacy, one that poor people like herself would very

rarely be

able to enjoy. she happily fries it before she goes to work in the fields and cuts it into three equal parts , one for her older daughter, one for her young son, and the other for herself. As she heads out the door, Mak Minah tells her children that they may each have their portion , but she asked them to leave one of the pieces to eat when she comes home. Mak Minah spent the entire evening at the field thinking of eating the roe. When she came home , she finds all three portions eaten. Mawar explained to her that she and her brother had both eaten their portions , but after finishing his , Bulat demanded the other portion and threw a horrible tantrum when she said no , and that he had taken the piece anyway. Mak Minah was so devastated that she didn’t say anything and just went to bed. That night Mak Minah was kept awake by the calling of the batu belah batu bertangkup , the eater of suicides. She heard the rock calling her, saying “You never managed to eat your roe because as much as you desired it , it never desired to be eaten by you. This is the way of the world : what we desire to touch has no desire to be touched by us. But I am your death and I have longed for you since you were born. And now all I ask you is that you have the same longing for me.” She then snaps and runs to the rock . Mawar , hearing the commotion of her mother storming out of the house, wakes up Bulat and they try to chase her down. They called out after their mother , but it was no use , the voice of the rock drowned out everything else. Mak Minah stopped only once on her way to the rock , and just long enough for her children to catch sight of her , right in front of it , where she made a funnel and filled it with her breast milk for her

young son. As she did so , the rock split , and beckoned her to enter. Mak Minah left the funnel on the floor and fled deep into the rock.