What has happened to Indonesian folktales?

What has happened to Indonesian folktales?

By Soekanto S.A.

BOGOR, West Java (JP): Remember as a child how you burst with
pride after someone praised you for being smart like Si Kancil?

That was because you knew of the little mouse deer's
adventures, outwitting the farmer who caught him, the dog who
kept watch over his cage, the alligator who tried to bite his leg
off and the tiger who tried to devour him.

Now try telling many of today's children that they are smart
as a mouse deer, and get ready for a blank stare. Of course,
their response would be more animated if you told them they were
as smart as, say, the Turbo Rider, or Kung Fu Boy, or one of the
heroic Power Rangers, all characters they know from comic books
and TV cartoons.

You may wonder what happened to Si Kancil, or other delightful
characters in Indonesian folktales that were such an important
part of your childhood. What about Bawang Merah dan Bawang Putih,
the Indonesian version of Cinderella and the wicked stepsisters,
or Swidak Loro, the ugly girl with only 62 strands of hair, who
turned into a beautiful princess and married a prince because her
mother kept praying for her?

Does anyone remember Joko Kendil, the tiny, plain boy born in
a kendil (a rice pot), but who was miraculously changed into a
handsome man and married an Egyptian princess? Or Jaka Tarub,
Indonesia's own mischievous Peeping Tom?

One of the reasons why today's children are more familiar with
the Power Rangers is, of course, because they are more exposed to
TV than to books. Another is because the folktales are no longer
in their Indonesian school textbooks, and folktales disappear
fast unless they are told.

Entertaining

Fauzia Aswin Hadis, a senior psychologist at the University of
Indonesia's School of Psychology, related in a discussion in
Jakarta recently how her family once celebrated her grandchild's
birthday by inviting a storyteller to their home.

"In my opinion, the storyteller's tales were not that
special," she said. "What interested me the most was watching my
grandchild sit there, very still, completely entertained, even
mesmerized by the storyteller and the stories."

Fauzia was right on an important count: regardless of the
stories told, storytelling is an activity that educates, conveys
attention, warmth and caring, and gives a child the feeling of
security. It also relaxes children and adults alike.

Fauzia said more parents should realize this "power of the
word". She intends to study and compile folktales from across the
country. Efforts should also be made to record traditional
approaches to storytelling: for instance, kaba from the
Minangkabau in West Sumatra, jemblung in Purwokerto, Central Java
and kentrung in Surabaya, East Java.

The ideal situation for instilling a love of the spoken word
is to have a good storyteller who knows how to relate interesting
folktales, and in an interesting way. Indonesia, with its
hundreds of ethnic groups, is blessed with diverse folktales from
all corners of the nation.

Folktales are collective short stories of verbal literature,
wrote James Danandjaya, a folklore expert at the University of
Indonesia's School of Letters, wrote in his book Folklor
Indonesia. Ilmu Gosip, Dongeng dan lain lain (Indonesian
Folklore. The Science of Gossip, Folktales and Others; Grafiti,
Press, 1991).

Unlike legends (also known as folk history) or myths,
folktales are not considered to be based on truth. Folktales are
also passed from generation to generation, but are told mainly
for entertainment, even though they often contain lessons in
morality.

Folktales, be they from Java, Germany, or Japan, usually begin
with the traditional opening "Once Upon A Time", and close with
"And So They Lived Happily Ever After".

Just like myths and legends, folktales, too, often have
elements of tales familiar to people from different regions. This
is why English-speaking children know about Cinderella, while
Javanese children know about Bawang Merah dan Bawang Putih; the
children in the Western world know about the tar baby and the
rabbit, while Indonesians know Si Kancil.

In their 1964 book, The Types of the Folktale, Anti Aarne and
Stith Thompson divided folktales into four major groups. They are
a) animal tales; b) ordinary folktales; c) jokes and anecdotes;
and d) formula tales. For now, we will concentrate on the first
two categories.

The first category encompasses stories about the sly fox found
in European countries such as England, Germany and the
Netherlands. In the United States, the stories revolve around
Brer Rabbit, told among those of African-American descent, the
coyote among the native American Indians. Indonesians know the
mouse deer, or the monkey.

The animal characters share similar traits, namely cunning and
humor, always falling into traps but able to save themselves in
the nick of time. They usually engage in adventures where they
have to outwit their stronger, albeit more stupid, enemies such
as the bear, the alligator or the tiger.

The main characters in the second category are people, usually
long-suffering ones like Cinderella, or Putri Abu. These
folktales are universal in nature, and are found, with slight
variations here and there, in virtually all parts of the world.

Indonesians, for instance, have their own versions in Ande-
Ande Lumut, Si Melati dan Si Kecubung, Bawang Merah dan Bawang
Putih, and I Kesuna dan I Bawang.

Under this category fall Indonesian stories such as Wayan
Bunter (the unfortunate, ugly man who had no friends but later
became content because he was so kind-hearted) from Bali, I
Mrereng, I Rare Sigaran, Joko Kendil (a male Cinderella, or
Cinderfella?).

A variation would be in the stories about Putri Undan (the
Swan Maiden), and the Frog and the Princess. Criticism abounds
today about fairy-tales which often portray women as passive
human beings whose ultimate happiness lies in a prince's marriage
proposal. If you believe this, you can give free rein to your
creativity as parents or teachers, finding or creating tales that
you deem more appropriate.

There are many variations on universal "ordinary tales",
including those about a boy who steals the giant's valuables, or
Jack and the Beanstalk. Parents and teachers need only ferret out
those old storybooks to unearth those treasures.