THE GIRL WHO LONGED TO SEE THE MOON

by Julia Anahong

Text & Images Courtesy of SarawakAlive!

So, when the moon appeared in the
sky she sat near the window watching
it longingly

Once upon a time there were six boys and one girl living in a small hut in the jungle. There parents died when the youngest child, the girl, was only eight years old. So the eldest son had to look after the family. The girl was the cutest and sweetest of all. She grew prettier and prettier every day. After some years all the boys grew up into young men while the girl grew into a beautiful young lady. The name of the young lady was Runduk-Tadau.

One day the six brothers went out to hunt for wild animals in the jungle. While Runduk-Tadau was preparing their meal, a young and handsome man came to their simple hut. Runduk-Tadau gazed at the stranger for some time and started to run, but the man stopped her. Her told her that he wanted to marry her. Runduk-Tadau thought for a while and then she agreed. They talked and talked, and then the man went home. When her brothers came back she did not tell them anything about the man.

Every day when the six young men went out, the stranger came to their hut. Then one day the man invited Runduk-Tadau to visit his house. She agreed and told her brothers that she was going somewhere. The brothers did not say much because they thought that she was tired of being in the house and wanted to see the scenery outside. The man waited for her outside the house. So, after getting permission from her brothers she went to meet him. They went on their way until at last the reached a stair-like tree. They began to climb the tree, but unfortunately the tree was so slippery that Runduk-Tadau fell down. She fainted, and when she came to her sense she saw that the man had disappeared. From that day on she never saw him again.

Later she learnt from a dream that the man whom she had agreed to marry on the first day she met him, was the moon. It had changed itself to a young gentleman. She was very sad without seeing the man. So, when the moon appeared in the sky she sat near the window watching it longingly.

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