SI TANDUK PANJANG (THE LONG –HORNED BOY)

A FOLKTALE FROM NORTH SUMATRA, INDONESIA

The poor family was very happy. That evening, the wife just delivered a baby. They had been waiting for the moment for so long. However, their happiness

faded at once when they took a look at the baby boy. He had a pair of hideous

horns on his head.

“What should we do if people know about this? I can’t face the

humiliation!” the father panicked.The baby’s mother cried. “Don’t let them know. I can’t face it, either!”

“Okay, then. We are going to drift this baby in the river.”

SI TANDUK PANJANG (THE LONG –HORNED BOY)

A FOLKTALE FROM NORTH SUMATRA, INDONESIA

The baby’s sister, who overheard them talking, felt very sad. Quietly, the girl followed her father who got out of the house. He put the baby into a wooden box, together with an egg and a cup of rice. Then he plunged the wooden box

into the river.

After her father left, the girl followed the box to the other end of the river. She was very sad every time she heard her brother crying. She tried to soothe her brother from the riverbank.

“Oh, dear brother, don’t you cry! If you are hungry, eat a grain of rice so that you will be full,” she said.

After she said that, the cry stopped. A few days later, a cheep of a chick was heard from the wooden box. The baby sister thought that the egg must have hatched at last.

The girl followed the box for months. She always tried to entertain her brother whenever he cried. Until one day, the wooden box was washed to the riverbank. The girl happily picked it up.

“Thank God, finally I can get this box,” she said.When she opened the box, a handsome and healthy boy jumped out of it. No horns were seen on his head. Behind him, a handsome rooster was accompanying

him. The girl was excited.“Is that you, my brother? Finally I can hold you. I am so happy.” She held her brother tightly.

Her brother smiled. ‘Thank you, sister, for always looking after me,” he said sincerely.Then, they walked together to the nearest village and greeted the people. A few days later, they reached their hometown. People asked them where they came

from.“We live here, uncle. But we left this village a long time ago. Our parents live near the river,” the girl said.

Hearing their explanation, the villagers recognized them. The news about the two siblings soon spread across the whole village. Their parents, who had thrown Si Tanduk Panjang when he was a baby, heard it too. Happily, they went to greet them.

At first, the girl felt angry to her parents. She was so disappointed that they had got rid of her brother. However, her brother persuaded her. “Sister, they are our parents. We have to forgive them. We have to respect them.”

The girl then smiled and hugged her parents. From then on, they lived together again and started a new happy life.

THANK YOU…..Translated from: 33 Cerita Rakyat Menakjubkan