Folklore From East Kalimantan

A Dragon and A Baby

ONCE upon a time, there was a small village in East Kalimantan. The head of the village lived alone with his wife. T,ne did not have any children yet. Rain was falling for days. There was a big slorm. The sound of thunder scared all the villagers. They did not have any courage to go outside of the house, and thats including the head of village.

The head of the village and his wife were running out of fire woods to cook. He went outside to find some woods. His wife asked him to be,careful. And after he got some woods, he went home. On the way home, he saw a small worm lying on the ground, lt looked helpless. The head of the village felt sorry. He carefully picked the worm and brought it home. Amazingly, rain stopped. There was no thunder any- more. Sun wasshining brightly. The sky was clear!

At home, his wife was surprised to see the worm. Soon, she also felt sorry to the worm. She picked some leaves and fed the worm. It ate all the leaves. The head of the village and his wife were happy to see the worm was not weak anymore.

The wife took care of the worm with love. Slowly, the worm was getting bigger. It was slowly changing into a dragon! The head of the village and his wife- still loved the dragon. They treated the dragon just like treating their own child.

One night, the head of the village had a dream. A beautiful girl came to him.

She said, "Dont be afraid. Father. Im your child, Im the dragon. 1 want, to thank you and

Mother for taking care of me and loving me since 1 was small. However, it was time for me to leave you. I want to go back to my home in the river. Please, bring me to the river, and you will get a good surprise there."

When he woke up, the head of the village told his wife about his dream. She asked him to do what the girl in his dream asked him.

Later, the head of the village and his wife brought the dragon to the river. And when they arrived, the dragon swam in the river. Suddenly, the dragon was able to talk. The voice of the dragon was exactly the same as the voice of the girl in his dream.

Thank you ver) much, Father and Mother. You are ver) kind. I will never forget you. 1 know you both really want to have a child. Just wait for a moment, and your wish will come true." The head of the village and his wife were standing at the river side. They were waiting what would happen next. They saw the dragon was swimming and was getting far from them, until they could not see the dragon.

After a while, the dragon came back. There was a small basket in front of the dragons nose, lt wasswimming and pushing the basket towards the head of the village and his wife. And when the dragon was at the river side, they were surprised! They saw a baby girl inside the basket!

The dragon said, "Please take good care of her very well. She is your daughter and she will be a very important person someday." The dragon was slowly leaving them.

The head of the village and his wife were very happy. Their wish finally came true. They had a baby! They took care of her and loved her very much.

Until now, people in the area believe that when the baby girl was adult, she married to the King of Kutai Kertanagara, a kingdom in Kalimantan. And the people named the dragon as Erau Dragon. And tp commemorate the dragon, people always hold sampan competition. They decorated their sampans like dragons.