A Young Princess Who Married a Wild Beast
Once upon a time there was an old women who lived in the Pontianak region of Borneo. She was very poor. She was not able to farm padi but was able to gather fruits and vegetables and sold them to the Rajah. In return the Rajah gave her rice, sugar, salt, coffee powder and other things.One day while she was out collecting and it became very hot. She was very thirsty and drank the water from the leaves in the jungle. She drank the water until it was finished.
After several days, she became very weak. She did not know what was wrong with her until she discovered she was pregnant. She was ashamed to see the Rajah. She gave birth to a small beast. Seeing it she wanted to kill the swine but she decided to keep it.
After her confinement, she resumed gathering food for the Rajah. When asked why she had not come for many weeks she told the Rajah she had given birth to a beast. The Rajah, feeling very sorry for her, gave her of food to take home.
After many months had passed, the Rajah, his men and the dogs went out on a hunt. The beast was standing outside by the door but quickly ran to his cradle. The entourage was confused as they thought the beast ran into the jungle.
One day and feeling tired, the old woman rested at home. Her son, the beast asked her to ask the Rajah whether any of his seven daughters would marry him. She said no but after being nagged by the beast she finally said yes. The Rajah was startled at her request but he had known the old women for many years did not give her any trouble.
The first daughter was presented to the beast and she said no, spat in her face, told her she did not want to marry a beast and told not to come back to the palace.
The second daughter was meaner than the first. She spat several times in the old woman’s face and told not to return with such a disgraceful request.
The third, fourth, fifth and sixth daughters all said they would not marry the son. “What a disgrace for you to demand our marriage to your son!”
Lastly, the youngest and most beautiful daughter came out. She kept quiet but was moved to pity the poor woman who was covered by spittle from her six sisters. Then she told her father that she would accept the proposal.
The father, aghast, said she could only marry the beast if there was gold road built between the palace and the home of the old woman. If this was not provided, then the old woman and the beast would be killed.
Before the old woman reached the house, the beast ran out to meet her. She told him the Rajah had agreed to the marriage only if the golden road could be built. If not, they would be killed and cut to pieces to appease the gods.
Her son agreed to the request. He told his mother to boil some langir fruit peel. His mother went to sleep and, at midnight, he transformed from the beast to a handsome young man. After he had cleaned himself, he went out to pray. He prayed that if he was the real son of the highest angel, a large golden bridge would be made from his house to the Rajahs palace together with several beautiful homes, each with servants to work in them.
At the end of his prayers, a golden bridge was erected to the Rajahs house along with the houses and servants. The handsome young man then returned to the skin of the beast. The old woman did not know what had happened because the handsome young man returned to the skin of the beast.When the Rajah awoke he saw the golden bridge stretching far into the distance. He could not believe his eyes so he called his officials to investigate. They did confirm the bridge was made of gold. He announced the marriage would take place in one weeks time.
The six sisters became angry with the seventh as nobody had ever married a beast. She smiled demurely and said this was her only chance to marry such a husband and she was going to grasp this opportunity. The Rajah declared the wedding must be carried out according to the rites of the Muslim ceremony.
The Rajah ordered the slaughter of buffalos, goats and cows. It took a week to prepare for the wedding. Many people came. A procession to the old woman’s house took place. The beast was returned to the palace in a carriage while the people chanted and beat gongs. The procession arrived and the beast sat next to the princess. She was dressed in her wedding finery. A great cheer was heard. “Long life and a happy wedding to the youngest Princess who wed the beast.”
After seven days, everybody went home and the palace returned to normal. In the bedchamber, the princess slept on the top while the beast crawled under the bed. After many days, the Princess became curious about her husband who was still under the bed.
She had a betel nut tray brought to her bed. She then had the finest foods prepared and also had those set on plates on her bed. Very late that night the husband felt hot. The handsome young man appeared from inside the skin of the wild boar. The young man got very drunk from chewing betel leaves and fell to the floor. The Princess took the beast skin and had it burned. She then had the young man placed on her bed. They slept and played together until late the following morning.The Rajah and his six princesses arose early and had breakfast. They were surprised to see the seventh princess was not there. One of the other princess went to the bed room and peeped behind the mosquito netting. She was surprised to see the young man with the seventh princess. She quietly searched the entire room but there was no sign of the wild beast. She ran to the Rajah, and he with the six princesses entered the room. The Rajah was overjoyed with the young man.
Several months passed. The six princesses went to the seventh and demand she share the young man with them. The youngest disagreed thoroughly and scolded them for being so rude to her mother in law, the elderly lady who brought jungle foods to the Rajah.
The six princesses became madly in love with the seventh’s husband. One of the Princess demanded of her father that he hunt a wild beast for a husband for her. The Rajah acquiesced and set forth on the hunt. He returned with a wild beast and kept it inside a fence. He was hopeful the beast would marry the princess and turn into a handsome young man.
The princess in her fine clothes was seated during the bersanding ceremony and the beast was let loose near her. However, this newly caught wild beast squeaked as loud as he could, wrecked the room and trampled everyone he could find. He made a mad dash and ran into the jungle. The old woman who was the mother of the beast smiled from a distance.
From: A Young Princess who Married a Wild Boar: A Malay Version by R. Nyandoh in The Sarawak Museum Journal December 1971
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