Batu Badaong || Maluku Folklore

In a small village situated in Tanibar Island, Maluku, there live a very rich man with his wife and a daughter and a son that had become young girl and boy. Since kids, they had been spoiled by their parents and it was no wonder that they were growing having a lazy and boastful attitude.

"O..Stonem open your body and let me in" whisper the mother

 

One day, bad thing happened in the family. The father, the one supporting the family passed away. Instead of changing their attitudes after the death of their father, the kids still had the same manner. They still treated their servants bad. And because of bad treats they had from the kids, all the servants decided to stop working on the family.

With all the servants gone, now all the housework had to be done by the mother. The kids? They didn’t bother to voluntarily help their mom, and even when asked, they will rudely refuse it. The mother now had to clean the house, wash the clothes and dishes, and prepare for the meal everyday by herself. All the work she had done never seemed to get decent reward or positive feedback from her kids. It was not money that she wanted, it was just a grateful attitude that she expected to receive after all the hard work. But, her kids just never changed. They treated their mother the same way they treated the servants. If there were something done by her mother that did not go the way as they wanted, they would undoubtedly yell at her. And this happened as often as it could.

As a human, the anger of having such treatment arose in her heart but as a mother, she just could not show it to her kids since she also realize that she had contributed in shaping how her kids were now by spoiling them when they were kids. Every night, after all the hard day she had been through, she would sit in the corner of her bed praying to God for their kids. Among all tears she shed, she would whisper

Dear God, have mercy on me

I have failed raising my kids

I have failing teaching them

I have Failing to be a good parent

Dear God

With all your blessing, please bless my kids

Knock their heart, change their attitude

Change the way they treat other people

Change the way the treat me, their mother

Guide them into a right way

One day, in the middle of the day, the kids just woke up from their sleep. Feeling hungry, they walked straight to kitchen to find something to eat. But how angry they were, as they open the food container, they found nothing there. They were really upset that they started to yell while throwing everything in the kitchen.

As they didn’t find their mother in the house, they then went to the river because they knew if she wasn’t in the house she would be in the river washing clothes. As they had guessed, their mother was there in the river, washing clothes with other women from the village.

The kids walked hurriedly to their mother and “wesss”, the boy kicked the basket full of clothes to the river. The mother looked shocked and terrified of what her son just did.

“What happened?” said the mother with a shaking voice

“What happened? Really? Did you realize that we are hungry now?!” yell the son

“Why don’t you cook for us? Don’t you know your duty every morning? Cook for us!” the girl also yelled and then started to hit her mother. All woman in the river seeing what was happening in front of their eyes looked terrified and upset.

“Please stop! I am really sorry. I was in hurry this morning” said the mother and she started to cry.

“No excuse!” said the girl and she kept hitting her mother. The mother’s cry went louder and louder as she also kept begging her daughter to sop hitting her. Until suddenly she stopped crying.

“Stop it!” yelled the mother that made her daughter and son shocked because they never heard their mother yelled before.

“Your father has gone now. And yes! He has left you all with a lot of money and wealth. But remember! All those wealth will not last longer. And it is true I am your mother but what you are doing to me now is too much. I couldn’t bear it anymore! From now, don’t call me your mother! Because I am not now! I will not go home and you can do everything as you please!”

After said that, the mother then pulled herself into a big stone near the river. She said something to the stone in a small voice. Then magically, the stone cracked opened, and there were small room inside it that fitted her body. The mother then sit on it and the stone joined into one again.

All people in the river were really angry of what just happened. They then took the kids to the village hall to decide what the best thing they should do with the kids. After the discussion, all people in the village agreed to kick the kids from their village. And started from that day, they kids lived inside the forest. They often visited the big stone near the river, calling their mom, regretting of what they had done to her. But, the stone stayed still, their mom would never be back and their regret meant nothing now. They couldn’t take back what they did.