A folktale from Sambas, West Kalimantan : A Story of Golden Watermelon

We Reap What We Sow
retold by Miss Siska

Once upon a time in a village called Sambas, lived a wealthy merchant. He’s well known and respected by all the villagers. He lived with his two sons, Muzakir and Dermawan. They lived in such a wealthy family.

One day, the rich merchant was ill. No physicians neither doctors could heal him. So, he called his two sons. He began to talk about legacy he had made before. He left Muzakir and Dermawan a fair and a lot of legacy. Now the time had come, their father passed away.

The next day, Muzakir immediately bought a chest for storing all the treasures. He was afraid of his treasure being stolen. He’s not a helpful type of person. He was very scared of being the poor. He never ever lent his money to anyone who really needed it.



In contrary, Dermawan was a very generous type of person. He’s so helpful to anyone. Everytime people came visiting his house for asking some food, he welcomed them. Thus, all of the villagers love him. 


But then, he had nothing left. Everything was spent on helping others. He turned into poor. Somehow, he never regretted it. He was happy to do such good deeds.

As Muzakir heard his brother Dermawan had been poor,  he visited his brother’s house. Muzakir laughed at all sorts of things happened to Dermawan.

“How stupid you are ! ! !” Muzakir mocked him for fun.

“How could you help those useless poors? Soon you see, you become one of them!”

But as time went by, everything changed. It all began from one fine day Dermawan found a little bird that fell off from twigs and hurt.

“Oh dear little birdie! Such a pity birdie. What happened to one of your feet?”

“Chirrrp…chirrrp…” sure the little bird could only reply with chirps.

Lovingly, Dermawan brought the hurt bird home until one day it could finally get cured and fly again.

“Aahhh… Finally you can fly. So long, my little birdie!”

Not long after the little bird flew away, it came back and gave Dermawan a seed.

“Ohhh, is this the way you thank me?” he smiled at the bird warmly. It nodded yes. Soon it left after giving him a seed.

He planted that seed behind his house. Few months later, it grew. It turned out a  a watermelon plant. It kept on growing. The flowers started to bloom a lot. But this unusual plant only grew one watermelon.

“Well, this is so weird”, he got confused. 

The watermelon was getting large and ripe. He harvested it. He immediately split it into two pieces. And then…

“What a magical watermelon! My Goodness, is this fine gold sand???????”

“Oh, Lord! I can’t believe it.  Is this gold coming from this watermelon?” he was shocked.

Then he sold the gold. So that he bought a luxurious house and large garden. He spent the money to make them happen. Somehow, he still helped others, too. His life had changed. But he stay low key with others. That’s his character.

This news came to Muzakir’s ears. So he visited his brother, Dermawan. He was surprised as he saw how big and luxurious house Dermawan had. Muzakir asked him curiously how he got rich so easily.  He envied that he was up to do the same thing and the same way.

“Hey, Dermawan! Tell me honestly what makes you THIS RICH? Where does it all come from?” he asked forcefully. So Dermawan told his brother honestly what was going on.

Then Muzakir asked all his servants to find broken-footed small birds as many as possible. But, it turned out so hard to find one. He was desperate until finally he got a tricky idea.

“Aha! I’d better hurt the bird’s feet then I pretend to take care of it”, he said. Soon he did it all as if he was doing right like what Dermawan did.

The small bird then was healed and it rewarded Muzakir a seed. How pleased Muzakir was. He immediately planted the seed her best in the garden. Apparently, it grew larger than Dermawan’s.  Muzakir was pleased even more.

“Hmm… Well, my fruit is larger than his. This must have more gold. Hahahahah!” he laughed.

The watermelon was ripe. Muzakir quickly harvested it and brought him into his house. He prohibited all of his servants to touch it. He was only afraid if gold would be stolen by them. He cut it impatiently. But then…

“Aarghhh ...nooooo… please ... please ! Help !” he cried for helps.

He got out of his house with the face full of stinky grime and mud. It wasn’t gold came out from the watermelon but stinky grime and mud. Villagers laughed at him.

Since that incident happened, he realized that ‘We reap what we sow’.