Folklore And Legends
FOLKLORE LA UPE

Once upon a time, in a village in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, there was an orphan named La Upe. He lived with his father in a small house on the edge of the village. His mother died when he was a child. When he was ten years old his father married a widow from another village named I Ruga. The father hoped that La Upe would have a mother who could care for and support him. However, his expectations were different from reality. Every day I Ruga tortured and beat La Upe when he went to the rice fields.

Since being with his stepmother, La Upe's life suffered greatly. He never escaped the torment and heavy orders of his stepmother. Every day, he was told to go to the river to fish. If he came home without success, he was tortured and beaten with a stick. That's how La Upe went through every day without his father's knowledge.

One day, La Upe was sent by her stepmother to a river to fish. After preparing a lot of fishing rods and bait, he went to the river in hopes of getting a lot of results to avoid the torture of his stepmother. Arriving at the riverbank, he put up his hook, then sat by the river while whistling. He had been fishing for almost half a day, but not a single fish touched his bait. His heart began to worry.

“Aduh, I must have gotten another hit if I didn't get a fish today,” lamented La Upe.

Many times La Upe moved his fishing rod to a deeper place so that the bait was eaten by fish, but not a single fish touched it. Because it was noon and his stomach was already very hungry, he finally decided to stop fishing. He was ready to get punishment from his stepmother. When he was about to lift his hook, suddenly a big fish grabbed his bait. Carefully, he pulled his hook slowly to the edge of the river. After the hook was lifted, there appeared a large fish associated at the end of the hook. The originally anxious heart of La Upe suddenly became happy, for he would be free from punishment. How surprised he was when he was about to put the fish in his container, the fish suddenly spoke like a human.

“Ampun, Sir! Please don't kill me! I am the king of fish. If you will release me, whatever your request will be granted. By calling ‘murnya king of fish’, then your request will be granted,” said the fish.

Feeling pity, La Upe released the fish back into the river. Finally, he went home without any results. Arriving at home, he saw his stepmother waiting for him.

“Hey, La Upe! Where's the fish?” ask her stepmother.

“Sorry, Mom! I got a big fish, but I took it back to the river, ” La Upe replied.

Hearing that answer, I Ruga became enraged. He immediately took his baton, which he often used to hit La Upe. When his stepmother was about to hit him, La Upe suddenly remembered the message of the big fish he had helped earlier. He immediately read the magic spell given to him.

“Please stick my mother in the door, thanks to her knowledge of the king of fish!”

At that moment, I Ruga was attached to the door. He thrashed to escape, but his efforts were in vain. His body was sticky like it was being exposed to adhesive. Several times he screamed for help for La Upe to release her body from the door, but La Upe refused. La Upe just left it and let it stay attached to the door.

Not much later, La Upe's father came home from the rice field. How surprised he was to open the door of his house. The door was very heavy as if someone was pushing it from the inside.

“Bu, did you nan push this door?” ask La Upe's father.

“gak! I'm not pushing him. My body is attached behind this door and cannot move,” replied I Ruga.

La Upe's father pushed the door with all his might. When the door opened, his wife was clinging to the door holding a cane.

“Who nan did this, Bu?” ask La Upe's father.

I Ruga also recounted all the events that caused him to be attached to the door. Hearing his wife's story, La Upe's father simply smiled and said:

“That is the result if you always torture and hit innocent children.”

“Please let go of my stepmother, thanks to her knowledge of the king of fish!”

Immediately, I Ruga escaped the door and immediately apologized to her husband and La Upe. From then on, I Ruga never again tortured and hit La Upe for fear of getting a curse. Finally, they live well and happily.

A few years later, La Upe grew up to be a handsome young man. Since then, he often took a walk to the royal city to see the atmosphere of the city crowd. One day, while he was passing in front of the royal palace, his steps suddenly came to a halt. He saw the beautiful and beautiful daughter of the king relaxing in the window.

“Okay, how beautiful that king's daughter is!” la Upe said with admiration.

“If only I could marry him, how happy this heart feels,” he said again while continuing to look at the beautiful face of the Princess.

Feeling that there was nan watching him, the King's Princess turned her head towards La Upe. The princess was shocked when she saw the handsome young man. His heart suddenly skipped a beat. Apparently, he fell in love with La Upe. One day, they secretly had a meeting somewhere without the knowledge of the King and the empress. In the meeting, they reveal each other's feelings. Finally, they agreed to get married.

One day, La Upe with her parents came to propose to the Princess. However, their proposal was rejected by the king and empress, because La Upe considered not equal to the Princess. The Princess was a descendant of the king, whereas La Upe was just an ordinary and poor society. Hearing the rejection, La Upe returned to her home with a feeling of sadness.

Upon arriving at home, La Upe also looked for ways to marry the Princess. After thinking hard, he found a way. He will draw the sympathetic King and his consort by attaching the Princess to the door. That way, of course there is no one who can help the Princess except him. However, before carrying out that intention, he first asked the Princess for her blessing and told her that what he would do was just a strategy in order to marry her. The Princess understood and was willing to carry out the stratagem, because she loved La Upe.

One night, La Upe broke into the Princess's room. With his magic spell, he attached the Princess to the door of the room. After that, he left the Princess in an attached state at the door. Moments later, the entire palace became in an uproar, including the king and empress. They found the Princess clinging to the door of her room. The King immediately mobilized all the palace healers to help the Princess, but until the morning before no one succeeded. Finally, the King decided to hold a contest. He gathered all the people in the palace courtyard.

“Okay, all my people! Whoever can release my daughter from the door, I will marry my daughter. I don't care if he's an ordinary man or a poor man. In addition, he will also be the king to replace me later.”

After that, the journey began. One by one the participants of the competition took out all their abilities to release the Princess from the door, but none of them succeeded. Now there is only one participant who has not advanced, he is La Upe. Calmly, he walked into the palace and approached the Princess who was attached to the door, then recited the magic spell.

“Please release the Princess from the door, thanks to her knowledge of the king of fish!”

How magical. The Princess was detached from the door with a happy smile. The whole audience watched the event. The King and the Empress were amazed to see the greatness of La Upe.

“Alright, La Upe! In accordance with my promise, I will marry you to my daughter in the near future. Me and the entire palace family apologize for rejecting your proposal,”, the King said.

A week later, the wedding of La Upe and the Princess was held very lively. Various kinds of music and dance performances were performed. All the people of the country also celebrated the feast. They are very happy to see the bride and groom sitting together at the wedding. The two brides are really a matching couple. La Upe is a handsome young man, while the Princess is a beautiful and beautiful girl.

La Upe and the Princess were happy. La Upe invited his parents to live in the palace not long after, La Upe was appointed king to replace the King. Then the more complete the happiness of La Upe and his wife.

...Such is the Folklore of South Sulawesi ...

... story of La upe that we can give to you all, hopefully the South Sulawesi folklore above can entertain and give a little insight to you all....