The Folklore of “Bawang Merah” and “Bawang Putih”

 

The Folklore of “Bawang Merah” and “Bawang Putih”

  

In a village, there lived a widow with her two beautiful daughters, Bawang Merah and Bawang Putih. Bawang Putih's biological father who was also the husband of Bawang Merah's mother had died a long time ago, so Bawang Putih was the half-brother of Bawang Merah.

Bawang Merah and Bawang Putih have different characters and personalities. Bawang Putih is diligent, kind, honest, and humble. Meanwhile, Bawang Merah was lazy, glamorous, proud, and envious. Bawang Merah's bad personality was made worse because her mother spoiled her. Her mother always gave her everything that she wanted. Bawang Putih did all the work at home. Washing, cooking, and cleaning the house and all the work is done by her. Meanwhile, Bawang Merah and her mother just spent time for themselves, because when they needed something, they could ask for Bawang Putih.

Bawang Putih never complained about the bad luck she had to face. She always served her stepmother and sister happily. One day, Bawang Putih was washing her mother and sister's clothes in the river. Bawang Putih did not realize it when a piece of cloth belonging to her mother was washed away by the river. How sad he was, thinking that if the cloth could not be found, he would be blamed. It was not impossible that he would be punished and kicked out of the house.

Fearing that her mother's cloth could not be found, Bawang Putih continued to search and walked along the river. Whenever she saw someone by the river, she always asked about her mother's clothes being washed away by the river, but everyone did not know where the cloth was. Finally, Bawang Putih came to a place where the river flows into a cave. Surprisingly, there was a very old woman in the cave. Bawang Putih asked the old woman if she knew the whereabouts of her mother's cloth.

The woman knew where the cloth was, but she made a condition before handing it over to Bawang Putih. The condition was that she had to work to help the old woman. Bawang Putih used to work hard so that her job pleased the old woman. It was the afternoon and Bawang Putih was saying goodbye to the old woman. The woman handed the cloth to her. Because of her kindness, the old woman offered her a pumpkin as a gift. There are two of them; one is bigger than the other. Bawang Putih was asked to choose the gift she wanted. Because Bawang Putih was not greedy, she chose the smaller one.

After that Bawang Merah returned home. Her stepmother and Bawang Merah were very angry because Bawang Putih was late. She also told me what happened. Her stepmother was still angry because Bawang Putih was late and only brought one small pumpkin, so her mother slammed the pumpkin on the ground.

Prakk” and the gourd broke, but strangely enough, it turned out that there was a beautiful and glittering gold jewel in the pumpkin. Her stepmother and Bawang Merah were very surprised. They will become very rich with so many jewels. But they were greedy; they even shouted at Bawang Putih and shouted why Bawang Putih didn't take the big pumpkin. In the minds of Bawang Merah and her mother, if a bigger pumpkin was taken, they would get more jewelry.

To fulfill their greed, Bawang Merah followed the steps told by Bawang Putih. She was willing to wash away her mother's cloth, walk along the river, ask people, and finally come to the cave where the old woman lived. However, unlike Bawang Putih, Bawang Merah refused the old woman's orders to work and she even arrogantly ordered the old woman to give her a bigger pumpkin. The old woman fulfills Bawang Merah's request to give a big pumpkin to Bawang Merah.

 Bawang Merah happily brought the pumpkin that the old woman had given her while imagining how much jewelry she would get. Upon returning home, the mother welcomed her beloved daughter. Not long after, the gourd was smashed to the ground, but instead of jewels, various terrifying poisonous snakes burst out from within the gourd. Bawang Merah and her mother finally realized what they had done all ther time was wrong and asked Bawang Putih to forgive them.

The moral message of the Bawang Putih Bawang Merah is to be a diligent child so that other people will like you. Also, remember that greedy nature will not make you happy, it will even bring trouble in the future.