The legend of coconut tree

Long ago a fairy called Batu Sumang Buyung was bathing in a river. Along came a magician called Bayang. Bayang was a clever and wicked magician who could make himself disappear. He wanted to marry the fairy because he thought it would in­crease his magical powers.

'Good morning, Lovely One,' he called to the fairy.

Batu Sumang Buyung was so startled that she hid behind a tree. The clever magician ran to the river bank and stole her magic sarong.

'Oh,' she cried, 'please give it back. Otherwise I cannot go home to the sky.'

The magician laughed. 'So, Lovely One, you will have to stay with me.' He took the fairy back to his house, and forced her to marry him.

Some time later a son was born to the fairy and the magi­cian. The fairy asked Bayang to give her sarong back, for she wanted to take their son to visit his grandmother in the sky. But the cruel magician knew that if he did that, she would never come back to him. So he refused to let her go.

Batu Sumang Buyung and her son stayed in the village with the magician. Although the villagers hated her husband, they knew that the fairy was kind and gentle. She did many things to help whenever she could.

Now, the villagers had good reason to hate Bayang. Once he had made a clay figure and stuck pins into it. The next morning one of the village leaders died.

The villagers went to see another, good, magician in the forest. They asked the good magician to put a curse on Bayang, and a few weeks later Bayang died. They cut off his fingers be­fore he was buried, so that he could not do any more mischief.

At last Batu Sumang Buyung was alone with her son. She wanted to visit her family in the sky, so she put on her magic sarong and flew there.

Her mother, the queen of the fairies, was not pleased with Batu Sumang Buyung. 'You have stayed away for a long, long time,' the queen said, 'and now you bring with you a child of the Earth. You must go back to where you came from, and take him with you.'

And so, Batu Sumang Buyung and her small son returned to Earth. She was very sad, and soon after that she gave her sarong to the headman for safekeeping and disappeared. Before long, the villagers learned that the fairy had died. They cared for her son, and he soon grew tall and strong.

When Batu Sumang Buyung's son was grown up, the headman came to see him. He carried the sarong left with him by the fairy. 'This was your mother's,' he said. 'If you wear it, you will fly to the sky. Your mother thought you might like to visit your grandmother.'

Batu Sumang Buyung's son took the sarong. He put it on and immediately flew to the sky. His grandmother was no hap­pier to see him this time than she had been when he was a young child. Still, she gave him a gift in memory of his mother. The gift was a round brown seed.

The fairy's son thanked his grandmother and returned to his village. He planted the seed in the ground, and soon it grew into a tall tree.

When the tree bore fruit, he gave some to the villagers. They were very pleased. 'The outside of the fruit is hard and coarse, like your father,' they said. The flesh inside is soft and white, like your mother. And the milk is sweet and reminds us that you are Batu Sumang Buyung's son.'

Before long, people from all over came to buy the fruit. Batu Sumang Buyung's son became a rich man. Those who bought his fruit also took the seeds back to their own countries. And that is how the coconut came to grow all over the world.