Narrative Text ( Indonesia Legend ) ( The King of the River )

The King of the River

A Folktale from Maluku

“The snake is coming!” screams a fish to his friends.

A frog, a turtle, a snail, and all other animals are surprised. They are immediately hiding. They are afraid of the snake. They are worried the snake will harm them.

“Hey! Where is everybody!” says the snake.

He is looking around for all the animals.

“I’m hungry. Give me some food. Come on, get out now!”

The snake goes here and there. Finally he finds them.

“Ha…ha…ha…What are you doing here? Why are you hiding? Are you afraid of me? You should be afraid of me. I’m the biggest animal in this river. I’m your king.”

“You are not our king. There is no king here. Everybody is equal,” says the turtle.

“Let’s prove it! Who wants to fight me? I can beat you easily. With my big body, I can twist you easily. Ha…ha…ha! Now, give me some food!”

The animals are afraid. They don’t have any courage to fight the snake. They then prepare some food for him. After the sake finishes eating and leaves them, they have a meeting.

“We can’t be like this all the time. I want to live peacefully,” says the frog.

“I have and idea. Let’s go to the alligator’s house. Talk to him about our problem. We ask him to help us,” says the fish.

All the animals agree with his idea. Finally, the alligator meets the snake.

“I heard what you do to the animals in the animals in this river. You have to stop your bad behavior,” says the alligator.

“I’m not afraid of you. I will twist your body.” The snake and the alligator than are fighting.

The alligator uses his tail to hit the snake. He does that several times.

“Mercy me, mercy me!” the snake screams in pain.

“Are you still the king in this river? Are you going to harm the animals again?”

“No. I’m not the king and I promise I will be good to them,” says the snake.***