S. J. Carlene Leta
&
Once upon a time, in a village lived a widow who lived with her two lovely-looking daughters, namely Bawang Merah and Bawang Putih.
Bawang Putih’s biological father who was also the husband of Bawang Merah’s mother had died, so Bawang Putih was the stepsister of Bawang Merah.
Bawang Merah and Bawang putih have different character traits and personalities. Bawang Putih has a diligent, kind, honest, and humble nature.
Meanwhile, Bawang Merah’s character is slothful, arrogant, and jealous. Bawang Merah’s lazy personality was also made worse because her mother spoiled her. Her mother always gave Bawang Merah whatever she wanted.
While Bawang Putih did all the chores and housework, Bawang Merah and her mother just spent time for themselves.
Whenever they need something, they call in Bawang Putih. Bawang Putih never complained about the bad luck she faced. She always attended to her stepmother and stepsister happily.
One morning, Bawang Putih was washing the clothes of her stepmother and Bawang Merah in the river. Bawang Putih did not realize that a piece of cloth belonging to her mother drifted in the river. She felt sad, thinking that if the cloth was not found, she would be blamed, punished, or 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 cloth that was washed away, but no one ever saw where it was.
Finally Bawang Putih came to a place where the river flowed into a cave..
Strangely, she saw a very old woman in the cave.
Bawang Putih also asked the old woman if she saw the cloth belonging to her mother. The old woman knew where the cloth was,
but she made a condition before handing it over to Bawang Pu’ tih. The condition is that she has to work and help the old woman. Bawang Putih is a hardworker, so she was more than willing to help.
When dusk arrived, Bawang Putih said goodbye to the old woman, then the old woman also handed the cloth to her. Because of Bawang Putih’s kindness, the old woman offered a pumpkin as a gift.
There are two pumpkins, one bigger than the other. Bawang Putih was asked to choose the pumpkin she wanted. Because Bawang Putih is not greedy, she chose the small pumpkin. After that, Bawang Putih returned to her house.
Her stepmother and Bawang Merah were infuriated because Bawang Putih got home very late..
Bawang Putih then told them what happened. Her stepmother was still angry because Bawang Putih was late, and only brought one small pumpkin.
“SMASH!!...”
So, her mother slammed the pumpkin on the ground. and the pumpkin broke. But strangely, it turns out that in the pumpkin there are sparkling gems and gold jewelries.
Due to their greed, they even screamed at Bawang Putih and why Bawang Putih did not take the large pumpkin.
They then feel they would’ve been even richer if they have more gems and jewelries.
In the minds of Bawang Merah and her mother, if the big pumpkin was taken, they would definitely get more riches. To fulfill their greed, Bawang Merah followed the steps told by Bawang Putih earlier.
She was willing to wash away her mother’s cloth, walked along the river, asked people around and finally came to the cave where the old woman lived.
However, unlike Bawang Putih, Bawang Merah refused to help the old woman with her work and even arrogantly ordered the old woman to give her the biggest pumpkin she has.
The old woman fulfilled Bawang Merah’s request to give a big pumpkin to Bawang Merah.
Bawang Merah happily brought the big pumpkin that the old wom’ an had given her, while imagining how much riches she would get. Not long after, the pumpkin was crushed to the ground.
Shockingly, unlike the previous pumpkin, various scary venomous snakes came out of the pumpkin. Bawang Merah and her stepmother finally realized what they had been doing was wrong, and asked Bawang Putih to forgive them.
The moral message that can be learned from the fairy tale of Bawang Putih and Bawang Merah is, be a diligent child so that other people will cherish you. In addition, remember that greedy nature will not make you happy, it will only bring trouble in the future.
In a small village Bawang Putih lives with her stepmother and stepsister, she was burdened with a lot of house chores and treated unfairly by her mother. One day Bawang Putih met an old woman that changed her life forever.