The Story of Bujang Buta

The Story of Bujang Buta
A Folklore from Riau, Indonesia

Once upon a time in Riau, Indonesia, lived a mother with her three sons. The oldest was Bujang Perotan, the middle child was Bujang Pengail, and the youngest child was Bujang Buta. He was named Bujang Buta, because he was blind.

Those three children had different personalities. Although he was blind, Bujang Buta was the kindest child. While his older brothers were busy playing, Bujang Buta always helped his mother.

One day, their mother asked them to go to the jungle to collect some fire woods. Bujang Perotan and Bujang Pengail agreed to help. The mother and Bujang Buta did not know that Bujang Perotan and Bujang Pengail planned something bad. They wanted to leave Bujang Buta alone in the jungle!

“Bujang Buta, stay here under this tree. Bujang Pengail and I will look for the woods in other areas. Wait for us and we’ll go home together,” said Bujang Perotan.

Then, Bujang Buta waited and waited for hours. His brothers did not show up!
Bujang Buta was so scared. He tried to walk. He could not find his stick. His brothers had hide it. Suddenly, he stepped on something.

“What is this? I think this is a fruit.

Hmm..it’s mango. Yummy!”

Bujang Buta then enjoyed the fruit. He was really happy to eat the mango. He was very hungry. He ate the mango very fast until he made a mistake. He accidentally swallowed the pip fruit! His eyes were wide open. Amazingly the incident made his eyes able to see. He was no longer blind!

However, his happiness soon ended after he saw there were a monkey and a tiger in font of him. He was so scared. He wanted to run away.

“Don’t be afraid, my friend. We’re not going to hurt you,” said the tiger.

“We know everything. We know you are a good kid. We want to help you.

Take these ropes and stick. You will need them someday to help you,” said the monkey.

Bujang Buta received those things. After saying thank you, Bujang Buta then continued walking. He wanted to go home.

On the way home, he met some people. They told him that the king’s daughter was arrested by the king of elephants. Nobody dared to release her because the king had big elephants as his soldiers, which are why he was named as king of elephants.

Bujang Buta wanted to release the princess. With the ropes and the stick, he was fighting bravely against the elephants. He won! He then released the princess and brought her back to the palace.

The king was so happy, he then asked Bujang Buta to stay in the palace and marry his daughter. Bujang Buta was so happy; he immediately went home to ask his mother to stay with him in the palace.

Bujang Buta did not have a hard feeling towards his brothers. He forgave them and also asked them to stay in the palace. His brothers really regretted their bad behaviours. They promised to be nice.