HOW COCONUT PALM CAME INTO THE WORL

HOW COCONUT PALM CAME INTO THE WORLD

Have you ever wondered how the coconut palm with its long slender trunk and waving leaves came into being? Here is the story.

Long, long ago, there was a beautiful young goddess by the name of Ratna. She was the only daughter of the mountain god Semeru, so he loved her very much and fulfilled all her wishes. Ratna lived inside her father's mountain where the rooms were always lit by burning lamps as it was always dark. The wind could not penetrate the thick mountain walls, nor could flowers grow. As a result Ratna, who had heard many stories about the world outside from her friends, longed to enjoy the sunshine and see for herself the blue sky, colorful flowers, and the green trees. But Semeru was afraid of losing his daughter, so he always refused her request to leave the mountain.

One day, when Ratna turned seventeen, the god gave a splendid feast for her birthday. Many rich and powerful gods were invited, for Semeru hoped to find among them a good husband for Ratna. On this special day, Ratna once again expressed her longing to experience the world outside on her own. Her father's staunch refusal made Ratna very sad indeed. When the guests learned the cause of Ratna's unhappiness, they all pleaded for her. At last Semeru gave in.

The next day Ratna woke up very early and dressed in her loveliest clothes. Once outside, she found it so beautiful that she did not wish to return to her dark mountain home. So she sat down by a small river and cried. Now, the crown prince of the country happened to be sitting nearby. He was a very handsome young man. When he heard her story, he promptly fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. He told her about life on Earth, the joys and sorrows of men, their little huts and paddy fields, the goats and buffaloes, and all the little things that make life easy or difficult for mortals. The more Ratna heard, the more she wanted to share his life.

The prince accompanied Ratna back to her home where her father was waiting impatiently. Semeru became very angry when he saw that a mere mortal had dared to follow his daughter. Ratna told her father that she loved the young prince and wished to marry him. Semeru in his anger had already resolved to kill the crown prince. He did not however, want to directly insult the boy's father, who might have powerful friends among the gods. So he thought of a scheme which the prince would find very hard to accomplish. The prince had to move the mountain which blocked Semeru's view of the sea and set it down a little further away all in one night. The task was to be finished before the first cock crowed at sunrise. Moreover, if the prince failed to complete the task, he would be turned to stone for daring to ask for the hand of a goddess in marriage.

The prince agreed to the condition. When he returned to his kingdom, he told his father all about the task which he had undertaken in order to marry his goddess. Now the king was a powerful magician. He told his son a magic spell which would turn him into a mighty giant. He also gave the prince a magic bowl which could cut through the stone of the mountain like a knife cuts through butter.

At sunset, armed with these things the young prince started shoveling the sand and stones away from the mountain top. The magic bowl made his impossible task very easy, so that it appeared that he would accomplish what he had set out to do. This meant that Semeru would lose the daughter he loved so dearly despite all his scheming.

When only one shovel remained to finish the task, Semeru imitated the sound of a cock crowing. This woke all the other cocks, who started to crow loudly. Immediately the prince started turning to stone, and the magic bowl fell from his hands. Ratna, who had recognized her father's voice, appealed to the gods against her father's treachery. The gods took pity on her and changed her into a tree near her prince. Her long slender body changed into the trunk, her arms became the branches and her flowing hair the leaves. Her head turned into the fruit of the tree. Thus the coconut palm had come into being!

Thus god Semeru remained alone in his mountain after all. When he sighed out aloud, clouds of smoke came out of his crater. He did not get to look out at the sea either, because the gods changed the prince's magic bowl into a mighty mountain that blocked Semeru. To this day, the two mountains stand side by side, one called Mount Bromo, and the other called Mount Batok which means ---"coconut shell.