the legend of batu menangis

The Legend of Batu Menangis

In a village, there lived a mother and her daughter. Her daughter was very beautiful, but she had very bad behavior. She was very lazy to help her mother work. Every day the girl was just spending her time by beautifying herself and admiring her beauty in the mirror, while her mother had to work hard to earn a living to support their life. Besides lazy, she was also very spoiled. She always asked to be given something and if she wasn’t, she would cry. Of course, that situation made her mother sad but somehow she still loved her daughter.

One day, the girl asked her mother to buy new gown for her. At first, her mother rejected her request because she did not have enough money. Nevertheless, because her mother was forced to obey her request, she fulfilled her daughter request. Then her mother asked her daughter to accompany her to the market. “All right, but I do not want to walk beside you. You should walk behind me, I’m embarrassed if others see me “she said. Although her mother was sad, she continued to obey her request. So they went to the market to buy gown for her daughter. The girl was walking in front while her mother was walking behind her and carrying a basket on their way to the market.

Although they were a mother and a daughter, they looked very different. As if they did not come from the same family. Even, they looked like a boss and a maid. How couldn’t be like that? Her daughter dressed up beautifully and wore a very nice gown. While her mother looked old and wore very simple dress.

On the way to the market, a man greeted them. “Hey pretty girl, is that your mother?” asked the man.  “Of course she is not. She is my servant, “said the girl. His mother was sad to hear her answer. But she was silent though her heart was crying. Along the street the beautiful girl kept being asked by people about his mother. But the girl always said that the old woman behind her was her assistant.

Finally, the mother could not bear any longer to hear the answer that comes out of her daughter mouth. Then she prayed to god “Lord, punish this ungrateful child,” she said. Immediately the girl’s legs turned to be stone. The change came slowly from her feet up to her head. Seeing his legs turned to be a stone, the girl screamed “ohhhh no! What happened to my legs?” She shouted. Then she cried and realized that she had done something bad to her mother. “Mom,! Forgive me.  Please forgive me! “She cried in panic. The girl kept crying and crying but it was too late. The whole body eventually became a stone. Her mother was sad to see what happened to her daughter but she could not do anything else. Although she had become the rock completely, people can still see her tears. That was why the stone named Batu Menangis.