4 Differences Between Hikayat and Short Stories in Indonesian

Tales and short stories are two of them types of prose besides types of novels, all kinds of fairy tales, types of romance, types of drama, and also types of essays. In addition, the two prose are also included in the types of non-scientific essays. Tales and short stories each have their own characteristics that make them different from one another. In this article, we will discuss the differences between the two, where the discussion will begin from explanation of the definitions and characteristics of both first. The discussion is as follows!

1. Saga

Hikayat is a prose that tells about the miracles of fictional characters or events and uses Malay as the main language. The story itself has a number of characteristics, where these characteristics are:

• Author name unknown or anonymous.
• The story tends to be set in a place where palace life is located.
• Contains values traditional inside it.
• The characters in it can be one or more people.
• Using word repetition or language.
• fictitious or imaginary.
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• Generally, the story is about good versus evil.
• Using Malay.
• The number of words is not limited.
• Is a work literature long.

2. Short story

short story or story Short is a prose that tells a character and also an event in particular. Usually, the number of words contained in short stories is around 5,000-10,000 words. Like saga, short stories also have a number of characteristics, namely:

• The author's name is listed in it. (Usually placed under the title of the short story)
• The setting of the place revolves around the surroundings.
• The values ​​it contains vary.
• The stories that are told are more varied, can tell about good versus evil, can tell about a human's anxiety, and so on.
• Using Indonesian.
• It is a modern literary work.

Based on the explanation above, we can find out where the difference between saga and short story lies. The differences include:

1. The Time When Literature Developed and the Language It Used

Hikayat is an old literature that was born and developed in the ancient Malay era, so it is not surprising that the language used is ancient Malay. To be able to read the contents of this literary work, we must first translate the Malay language. Meanwhile, short stories are literary works that were born and developed in the modern era, so the language used is also Indonesian which is the main language of the nation. Indonesia in the era modern.

2. Author Name

In the saga, the name of the author is unknown or anonymous, so the saga is often considered a joint work or the work of local residents. Meanwhile, the name of the author of the short story can be easily identified because the author's name is often listed under the title of the short story.

3. The number of words and the setting of the place

amount word in saga tend to be varied, can be 5,000, 7,000, and so on. The setting of the place used in the saga usually only revolves around the environment or palace life. Meanwhile, the number of words in short stories is usually limited to around 5,000 or 10,000 words, although in its development, the number of words can increase or decrease. The setting of the place used in the short story is usually a place or environment in human daily life. Even so, short stories can also take a place other than those mentioned.

4. Characters and Stories Contained in It

The characters contained in the saga are usually varied, whether it is one person or more than that. The stories contained in the saga usually only tell about good versus evil. Meanwhile, there are only one character in the short story. Even if there is a character other than that, usually only as a supporting character of the main character. The stories contained in short stories can be varied, whether it's about daily life, human anxiety, adventure, and so on.

Thus the discussion about the difference between saga and short stories in Indonesian. May be useful.