The Princess Aji Bidara Putih

The Princess Aji Bidara Putih
(source: Bobo magazine, no. 2, 1986 translated by Yeffry CSC)

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Long time ago, there was a district in Borneo Island called Muara Kaman where governed by a princess. Her name was Princess Aji Bidara Putih . Princess Aji Bidara Putih was a beautiful princess. The gorgeous princes governed the country wisely. All her ability made her very famous out side the Muara Kaman district even to neighbour countries. The princess was really like a beautiful flower. So it was not surprised if many king, prince and nobleman wanted to marry her. One proposal to another proposal has came like a Mahakam river but the Princess still rejected. "Right now it is no time for me to think about married. My concern are still needed by my beloved people. I should make my people prosperous." Said the princess.

One day, one big ship from china came by to Muara Kaman District. The ship sailed through Mahakam river, where was like a sea, to the end of the river. And finally came to The Muara Kaman harbour. The people of Muara Kaman though that the passenger of that ship came to merchandise. Because is usually that the foreign ship came and stayed for merchandise. However, the passenger of that boat had another goal. Actually the ship is belong to the a Chinese prince who was famous as the richest prince in his country. He was followed by the strong army with a good skill in martial arts. The prince arrival to Muara Kaman had a main goal to propose Princess Aji Bidara Putih.

The Prince messenger came to the palace brought some valuable gift made from gold and the famous Chinese porcelain. All the gift were presented as proposal from his master. In this time, Princess Ratu Aji Bidara Putih was not rejecting but he asked more time to think about. After the messenger left, The princess call his loyal soldier " uncle, It seems to me that the messenger too flattered his master. They said that the prince was very handsome, rich and powerful. I want you to check it form me secretly" asked the Princess. " As you wish your honest " said the soldier.

When the night fell down, The soldier was doing his order. With his skill he could cross the river without making a lot of noise. He jumped up to the Chinese prince ship and tried hard to avoid from the army patrol. Finally, he came to prince chamber. He looked for a small hole for peeping but he could not find it. Therefore he decided to make his ear closely on the wall so he could heard the voice inside it. The Chinese prince were eating used chopsticks and drinking a wine. The sound when the prince eating and drinking made the soldier surprised. "Oh .. no the sound is like a pig drinking a water in the river and the sound while he was eating is like a dog" though the soldier. When he came back to the palace he told every thing he heard. "Don’t try to make a ridiculous story uncle" said the princess. "I am not kidding your honest, the sound when he ate make me sure that the Chines prince must be not a human like us. However he was a devil, perhaps a dog or pig devil. Only in the day he became a human, please trust me " Said the soldier.

It was very hard to believe but the story made Princess Aji Bidara Putih convinced. "It not funny if I marry with a devil" though her. So in the morning She declared to make a rejection for prince proposal.

The Prince became very angry when he heard the rejection. "Who dare reject my proposal?". With his angry he ordered his army to attack the Princess palace. The Princess army was not good as the prince army. So there was a lot of injury and death soldier in princess army. The princess Aji Bidara Putih felt sorry. She molted a betel with his mouth and then she hold tightly the molted betel in her hand and said "By the power of my ancient, please help my people to send away the enemy". She threw the betel to the ground. Suddenly, The betel became a tremendous giant centipede. The giant centipede army attacked the princes army and kill a lot of them. They made the prince army back to their ship. However three of giant centipede did not stop to attack, they swam to the ship and turn over the ship. The place where the ship sunk right now was known as a Danau kelabang which means centipede lake. And sometimes people could find a peach of antique Chinese porcelain in that place