The Balinese have a rich oral tradition. All the stories in this book have been handed down from one generation to the next and many are still told in Bali today. But their origin is obscure.
Some of the tales are clearly taken from the Fables of Aesop, here freshly retold in a Balinese setting. Aesop himself is an unknown—some believe his name was a nom deplume of an anonymous author, others think he may have been a Phrygian slave of the Romans; in any ease all his tales teach us that pride goes before a fall, that humility is a virtue, and vanity a folly.
For some of the other stories, I simply could not find a source. The simpleton and the effete young rajah, for example, and the tale of the two sisters, are all peculiarly Balinese—but to my knowledge they have never been written down. I have seen them, or parts of them, enacted on the stage in Balinese Gambuh and Ardja performances, and they are part of the vast repertory of Balinese tantric tales which are derived from a common source somewhere between Europe and Asia—but of written records, I found none.
I would like to thank Dewa Nyoman Batuan from Pengosckan in the Regency of Gianyar; and Pak Dewe, who gave me the ingredients for these tales over 30 years ago. Without him, there would have been nothing to write about— and no book at all.
I hereby dedicate this book to my grandchildren, Arjun and Natasha.
— Victor Mason
Published by Periplus Editions (HK) Led
Text Copyright © 2001 Victor Mason
Illustrations Copyright © 2001 Trina Bohan-Tyrie
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0793-9 (ebook)
Printed in Malaysia
Editors Kim Inglis, Jocelyn Lau; production Violet Wong
09 08 07 06
8 7 6 5 4 3 2
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Contents
| The Haughty Toad | 9 |
| The Saintly Stork | 16 |
| The Golden Axe | 24 |
| The Talkative Turtle | 29 |
| The Rajah who Lost his Head | 37 |
| The Ant and the Dove | 45 |
| The Dog who Flattered a Crow | 49 |
| A Tale of Two Sisters | 54 |
| The Four Naughty Boys | 76 |
| The Missing Pig | 81 |
| The Three Fishes | 92 |
The Haughty Toad
In a dark corner of a beautiful tropical garden, heavy with the scent of frangipani flowers, there once lived a mean and nasty toad. Gobrag was his name and he was a very ugly toad indeed. He had a stout body, short legs and a rough, warty skin.
Most of the time Gobrag just sat beneath the stones, blinking his eyes disdainfully. Sometimes he would blurt out a deep throaty croak that disturbed the peace of the garden. Every now and then, with a great show of self-importance, he would glower at some beast that happened to pass by, and noisily gulp great lungfuls of air. His body would then grow so broad and round that it seemed ready to burst.
Gobrag did this because he had a very high opinion of himself. He was a haughty fellow indeed. He felt far superior to the earthworms that crawled their way through the earth. He thought he was better than the crickets that chirped gaily when the sun went down. He believed himself to be a cut above the black and yellow spiders that wove their intricate webs between the palm trees.
Above all, Gobrag deemed himself more talented, more sophisticated and more important than a group of frogs who gathered daily at the garden pond.
