Examples of Bengkulu Folklore in Indonesian
Bengkulu is one of the blood in Indonesia that has folklore. Just like folklore in general, the folklore of this area is also told in detail oral from person to person, and from generation to generations. One of the famous folklore there is the origin of the name of their own city. Especially for this article, we will find out what the origin story of the name Bengkulu is, which is an example story people from the area in the southwest of the island of Sumatra.
The folklore in question can be listened to as follows!
The Origin of the Name Bengkulu*
Once upon a time, there was a kingdom called the Serut Kingdom. This kingdom is led by the Great Queen who has seven children. Her eldest child is named Prince Anak Dalam, while her youngest child is named Putri Gading Cempaka.
When Ratu Agung died, the eldest son was finally crowned as the new leader of the Serut Kingdom. He also continued the throne from his parents in a good, fair, and wise manner. Under his leadership, the trade sector of his kingdom grew rapidly.
Over time, Putri Gading Cempaka grew up and transformed into a beautiful princess. Her beauty is also famous and makes princes from various kingdoms want to propose to their sister from successor to the Great Queen.
One of those who are interested in applying for Putri Gading is a prince from the kingdom of Aceh. The prince also sent an envoy to apply for the youngest brother of the Serut Kingdom. Unfortunately, the application was rejected by Prince Anak Dalam as the older sister of Putri Gading Cempaka.
Knowing the refusal, the Aceh prince became angry. Not long after, the prince of the Aceh kingdom ordered all his troops to attack the Serut Kingdom led by Prince Anak Dalam.
Knowing the plan of the Aceh prince, Prince Anak Dalam then provided a number of tactics to quell the enemy's attack. He did this tactic by cutting down trees around his kingdom. The tree trunks were then thrown into the river in order to inhibit the speed of the Aceh troops who attacked through the waterway.
When the Aceh troops arrived, they were beyond surprised. They saw the river that should have been able to enter, had now been blocked by many tree trunks. Although surprised, they did not flinch. In fact, they tried their best to get past all the tree trunks, while shouting "Empang Ka Hulu!", "Empang Ka Hulu!". With relentless effort, they managed to get past all the tree trunks.
The soldiers of the Aceh troops finally arrived on the mainland of the Serut kingdom. Not long after, they were greeted by the attack of the Serut royal troops who were deliberately prepared to attack the Acehnese troops. The war between the two ensued and was very fierce. So fierce, no one won or lost in the war. There are only many victims who fell from both sides.
Seeing the war that never ended, King Anak Dalam became so sad. He was no longer able to see the victims who fell as a result of the endless war. The war finally ended with a peace agreement between the two parties, and Prince Anak Dalam and his six younger siblings moved to Gunung Bungkuk.
The area of the former war between the two kingdoms finally changed its name to Bengkulu, which was taken from the motto "Empang Ka Hulu" uttered by the Acehnese troops when the war occurred. This motto always changes its pronunciation from time to time, so that in the end the slogan has now become the Bengkulu we know as it is today.
That's an example of Bengkulu folklore in languageIndonesia. If the reader wants to add references to folklore and other types of stories, then the reader can open the following articles, namely: examples of Indonesian folklore, examples of folklore from Betawi, examples of Acehnese folklore, examples of original folk stories from Banyumas, examples of Balinese folklore, example of short story, and fable short story example.
*Reference: https://histori.id/legenda-asal-mula-nama-bengkulu/