(Sumatera)
Buaya
the Crocodile lived a life of ease and pleasure in a river on whose
banks grew a large coconut palm tree. Buaya never had to go to the
trouble of moving his long body up or down the river to look for
food. After a long refreshing sleep, all he had to do was to push
himself slowly up to the river bank, lie in the warm sunshine, and
wait for one of the coconuts to ripen. He knew when the fruit would
fall, and then he would pick it up and eat it.
One
day Beruk the Ape came to the edge of the river. He climbed the tree,
and after a careful examination to see which fruit were ripe, he
picked them and ate them, one by one. Buaya watched this procedure
from below, and he felt anger spreading throughout his length and
breadth as he saw what he considered his own food supply disappear
before his very eyes. He felt must do something, otherwise he would
be forced to change his whole way of life, which he under no
condition wished to do. But he felt very frustrated and helpless
because Beruk the Ape could climb and he could not.
“He
must be gotten rid of,” he said to himself, with conviction. “He
must be killed, and I wish to kill hi ! But how ?” Since the usual
way, pursuing the ape, was out of question, Buaya decided that the
only way he could rid himself of this threat to his good life, was to
trick him. He thought and thought, and finally a clever idea struck
him.
The
next time Buaya saw Beruk come to the river and begin to climb the
tree he called to him.
“Hi,
Friend Beruk ! I have been watching you from the water - admiring you
and also envying you. What a good and happy life you lead! I only
wish I were as lucky as you ! ”
Beruk
looked down at Buaya in surprise. “Why, what’s the matter with
you ?” he asked.
“I’m
great in trouble, Beruk,” replied Buaya sadly. “In fact, I have
so many troubles I worry about them all the time. But there’s one
that bothers me above all the rest.”
“What
could that be ?” asked Beruk, beginning to show interest.
“If
I tell you my trouble, would you be willing to help me, or at least
sympathize with me ?” asked Buaya.
“Of
course,” replied Beruk. “Tell me now.”
Buaya
the Crocodile now shed tears as he said to Beruk, “It’s my
father. He’s very, very ill.”
“Oh,
I’m so sorry to hear that,” replied Beruk.
“Haven’t
you tried to find medicine for him ?”
“Yes,
I have. In fact. I’m about to take the medicine to him now. Would
you like to accompany me ?”
“Yes,
I would, ” said Beruk. “Where does your father live ?”
“Not
very far from here,” said Buaya. “A little farther down the
river.”
“How
can I go with you ?” asked Beruk the Ape. “I cannot swim.”
“That’s
easy,” said Buaya the Crocodile. “Just climb on my back, and
we’ll be there in no time at all.”
So
Beruk the Ape climbed on the back of Buaya the Crocodile, and in this
way they travelled down the river.
They
had not gone far when Buaya broached the real point of their journey.
“Beruk,”
he called, “Beruk, I might as well tell you now, Beruk. My father
is so seriously ill that his life is in real danger, and the only
remedy for his malady is the heart and intestines of an ape.
Therefore, even though it pains me,I shall have to kill in order to
make my father well again.”
Beruk
the Ape was silent so long that Buaya had to look around to make sure
he was still there.
Beruk
was thinking, “I’m as good as a dead ape. If I don’t think of
some way out, and quickly, too, I’ll be swallowed by Buaya this
minute.” But Beruk’s wits did not fail him in this moment of
peril.
“If
your father is so ill, Buaya,” Beruk said evenly, “and if nothing
will cure him except my heart and intestines, then I suppose you will
have to have them. But the fact I don’t have them with me. ” He
rubbed the parts of his body where his heart and intestines would
ordinarily be. “I left them hanging on the tree after I had
finished eating. If you don’t mind swimming back, I’ll fetch them
for you.”
Buaya
the Crocodile, as usual, did not think twice, and began at once to
swim back to the tree. As soon as they reached the river’s edge,
Beruk leaped from Buaya’s back and sprang up into the tree, from
where he called down to Buaya.
“Buaya,
Buaya, how stupid you are ! Food is in your mouth and you spit it out
again !”
Ashamed,
Buaya disappeared into the dark waters of the river.
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