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The Crane in Priestly Robe

Long time ago, there was a beautiful pond in the middle of the forest. In the pond, there were many kinds of fish and a crab. They lived in harmony. They always played together, did something together and they never thought that they might break up. The crab always protected the fish from danger. In the middle of the beautiful pond, there was lotus. It was a good flower, because the lotus was beautiful and the smell was good. Many butterflies stayed on the lotus because they wanted to eat the honey of the lotus. The air was fresh also fresh because there are many kinds of trees. The water was pure and clean so that the fish and the crab liked to stay there.

 One day, the crane who lived in the trees wanted to eat all of the fish in the pond but it always failed because the crab always protected the fish and the crab knew that the crane wanted to eat them . He thought hardly to find the way to eat the fish. Then he had one good idea. He changed himself into priest and asked them to forgive him.

“ Crab ... crab..” shouted the fish when he saw the crane near the pond.

“What’s wrong  fish?” said the crab.

“’There is the crane near the pond. He wanted to eat us for his breakfast” answered the fish.

“Hey Crane, why are you here?? Do you want to eat us? It will not happen because I am here to protect them, and why you look different today?” said the crab to the crane.

“No, I am here for asking some forgiveness. Now you see, I am not a bad crane anymore but I am a priest who will not eat you. I am sick and do not have a long life. I have come to the balian and no one can cure it. I am so frustrated. I cry all night, I want to live longer, I want to see the sun everyday, I want to sing, and I want to be useful person for everyone here. So, I do Tatwa Utama, deliver Weda Sruti to The Hyang Surya and He said that I must do Tri Kaya Parisudha in which I should think, speak, and do something right. Now I am madiksa and I cannot kill you all,” said Cangak so innocently to all the fish and the crab.

“Oh how poor you are!  I hope you will get well soon and there will be a person who can cure your ill. We are happy for you and we hope you can teach us to be good people. We are ready to learn from you and follow all of your order, my holy priest,” said one of the fish.

Then the Cangak smiled and said, “You should not be sad, I will tell you everything which can help you to get the happiness as sekala and niskala. You have to remember both good and bad things, faithfull to your teacher, always do dharma, and it will be used to decrease all the bad influence of Panca Wisaya, so that you will get Rua Bineda.”

            All the fish were very happy to hear what the priest said to them and from now no they became friends. However, the crab was the only person who did not believe it.

One day, the Crane told a lie to the fish and the crab that some fishermen will come to the pond.

“Oh poor you! You will be caught by the fishermen” cried the crane sadly. All the fish cried too, they were afraid that the fishermen would catch them.

“How do you know that they will come here?” asked the crab. He still did not believe what the crane said.

“If that happen, I will protect the fish here, so you do not need to worry about us,” continued the crab.

“I know that from Bhatara Wisnu when I meditated and He said that fishermen will come here soon. You can not protect the fish because there are many of them” said the crane and made the fish believed him.

“So, what should we do, my priest? We don’t have any idea to prevent their coming” said one of the fish.

“I have got one idea. I will take you one by one to the mountain. In that mountain there is a river called Andawa. It is bigger than this pond and the water is so fresh. That river belongs to Hyang Rudra. There are not human who can touch that water. All of the fish there can not be eaten by anything. If you live there, you will be safe and if my words are not true, I promise I will get Karma Phala” said the crane.

“Ok, we will go there, so please help us, my holy priest” said all of the fish.

So, one by one all of the fish were taken by the crane to the new river. Unfortunately, the bad crane never brought the fish to the Andawa River. The fish was cheated by him. Then, the crane ate all of them. At last, the crane brought the crab.

“Hey crane, please bring me to the Andawa River. I am afraid if the fishermen come and catch me” said the crab. The crab knew that the crane lied. After that, the crane agreed to bring the crab to Andawa River. The crab went up onto the crane’s body and put his arms around the crane’s neck.

The crab was suprised because he did not saw his friends, the fish, in Andawa River. He just saw the bones of the fish. “Hey you! Did you eat all of the fish?” said the crab angrily.     Then, the crab tried to kill the crane by his arms.
“No...no..., I did not eat the fish” said the Crab.

“So where are the fish?” asked the crab
“Sorry crab, I have eaten all of them in the pond, I was so hungry so I ate them all.”

“Oh God, you lied to us. Now I will kill you!” said the crab.
“No...no..., please don’t kill me. Let me go!! “ cried the crane and died.

“Oh poor you my friends, I will bury all of your bones now” said the crab when he saw the bones of his friends, the fish.

By : Komang Widya Putra