Princess Mandalika (The Story of Bau Nyale)
Folklore from West Nusa Tenggara
Once upon a time, there was a kingdom in Lombok. The king had a very beautiful daughter. Her name was Princess Mandalika. She was very beautiful; many young men fell in love with her.
Dahulu kala, ada sebuah kerajaan di Lombok. Raja memiliki seorang putri yang sangat cantik. Namanya Putri Mandalika. Dia sangat cantik; banyak pemuda yang jatuh cinta padanya.
Princes from all over the place wanted to marry her. One by one, they came to propose to her. Princess Mandalika was a kind girl. She hated making people sad. So, when those princes came to propose to her to be their wife, she was very confused. She could not decide, and she also did not want to make them sad.
Pangeran-pangeran dari berbagai tempat ingin menikahinya. Satu per satu, mereka datang untuk melamarnya. Putri Mandalika adalah gadis yang baik hati. Dia tidak suka membuat orang sedih. Jadi, ketika para pangeran itu datang untuk melamarnya menjadi istri mereka, dia sangat bingung. Dia tidak bisa memutuskan, dan dia juga tidak ingin membuat mereka sedih.
The king then held a competition at the Seger Kuta beach in Lombok. He asked all the princes to take part in an archery competition. The rule was simple: whoever shot the target perfectly could be the husband of his beautiful daughter.
Raja lalu mengadakan kompetisi di pantai Seger Kuta di Lombok. Dia meminta semua pangeran untuk ikut serta dalam kompetisi panahan. Aturannya sederhana: siapa pun yang bisa menembak sasaran dengan sempurna bisa menjadi suami putri cantiknya.
One by one, all the participants tried their best. They all wanted to be the winners. After several tries, there was no winner. All the participants were great. Those princes were great at archery. Because there was no one winner, they started to argue. They claimed to be the best. The argument was getting hotter and hotter. Finally, they were all fighting. Soon, the fighting got bigger. It was like a war, because all the princes brought their soldiers to the archery competition. Princess Mandalika was really worried. She did not want the war to get bigger and hurt many people. Finally, she had an idea.
Satu per satu, semua peserta berusaha sekuat tenaga. Mereka semua ingin menjadi pemenang. Setelah beberapa kali mencoba, tidak ada pemenang. Semua peserta sangat hebat. Para pangeran itu sangat ahli dalam panahan. Karena tidak ada pemenang, mereka mulai berdebat. Mereka mengklaim diri mereka yang terbaik. Perdebatan semakin panas. Akhirnya, mereka semua berkelahi. Segera, perkelahian semakin besar. Itu seperti perang, karena semua pangeran membawa pasukan mereka ke kompetisi panahan. Putri Mandalika sangat khawatir. Ia tidak ingin perang semakin besar dan melukai banyak orang. Akhirnya, ia punya ide.
"Everybody, listen up! I know you all love me and want me to be your wife. But I can't possibly be all of your wives. I don't want you to fight because of me. And I don't want you to be sad either. I want you all to have me, but not as your wife. I want to be someone that everybody can have. I want to be useful to you. I want to be nyale that you can all enjoy together," said Princess Mandalika.
"Semua orang, dengarkan baik-baik! Aku tahu kalian semua mencintaiku dan ingin aku menjadi istri kalian. Tapi aku tidak mungkin menjadi istri semua orang. Aku tidak ingin kalian bertengkar karena aku. Dan aku juga tidak ingin kalian sedih. Aku ingin kalian semua memiliki aku, tapi bukan sebagai istri kalian. Aku ingin menjadi seseorang yang bisa dimiliki oleh semua orang. Aku ingin menjadi berguna bagi kalian. Aku ingin menjadi nyale yang bisa kalian nikmati bersama," kata Putri Mandalika.
The king and all the other people on the beach did not understand what she meant. The king then came to her. But before he came closer to his daughter, Princess Mandalika jumped into the sea. She disappeared in the big waves.
Raja dan semua orang di pantai tidak mengerti maksudnya. Raja lalu mendekati putrinya. Tapi sebelum dia mendekati putrinya, Putri Mandalika melompat ke laut. Dia menghilang di antara ombak besar.
It was chaos on the beach. People were screaming. All the princes tried to swim to find the princess. But no one dared to jump into the sea; the waves were too high.
Kericuhan melanda pantai. Orang-orang berteriak. Semua pangeran berusaha berenang untuk mencari putri itu. Tapi tidak ada yang berani melompat ke laut; ombaknya terlalu tinggi.
After several hours trying to find the princess, they suddenly found a lot of sea worms on the beach. The king then realized that his daughter had returned in the form of sea worms. Later, he named the worms nyale.
Setelah beberapa jam berusaha mencari putri itu, mereka tiba-tiba menemukan banyak cacing laut di pantai. Raja lalu menyadari bahwa putrinya telah kembali dalam bentuk cacing laut. Kemudian, ia menamai cacing-cacing itu nyale.
Until now, people in Lombok always tried to catch nyale. Nyale is very delicious, and that is why more and more people come to Lombok to catch it. They cannot, however, catch it whenever they want. They can only find it once a year, in February or March. The tradition of catching the sea worms is called Bau Nyale.
Hingga kini, orang-orang di Lombok selalu berusaha menangkap nyale. Nyale sangat lezat, dan itulah mengapa semakin banyak orang datang ke Lombok untuk menangkapnya. Namun, mereka tidak bisa menangkapnya kapan saja. Mereka hanya bisa menemukannya sekali setahun, pada bulan Februari atau Maret. Tradisi menangkap cacing laut ini disebut Bau Nyale.