I Belog Lost Something

Balinese folktale

One upon a time there was a man. His name was I Belog. He lived on the western side of a creek but he worked on a piece of land on the eastern side of the creek. Now, it was time for planting on the eastern side. Belog ploughed his land all day long. As it was the rainy season, floods were anywhere; the water in the creek was high. Nyai Wayan, Belog’s wife. Was about to go home. As a creek was flooded everywhere, she could not pass it. She then called Belog. “Belog, please come and help me to cross, the creek is flooded. I cannot cross it alone, how can I get home”. “All right I’ll come.” Then Belog escorted Nyai Wayan. Once they were already at the bank, Belog put on his sarong and after having tightened it, Belog said: : Raise your sarong so it’ll be easier for you to walk in the water”. “Yes” she replied. She raised her sarong and walked into the water. Belog led her by the hand. They say now they were almost in the middle of the creek, and the rock she stepped on wobbled being a bit slippery, her foot slipped, and she said to herself:”My honeypot has washed away”. When this was heard by Belog he thought that this truly happened. He was sullen and quickened his steps escorting his wife. They say they had already crossed the creek and Belog said in a high voice:”Walk quickly”. It was not clear why he was in a hurry.This was true. “How she lose her jewels!” Arriving at home, he stayed just a moment and took his net and ran hurriedly to the creek and placed his net downstream at the place the had just crossed. His back ached from wading in the water. Every shrimp caught in the net was taken and thrown away, and when a catfish was caught he did the same thing. He felt exhausted when it was late in the afternoon; went home with his net . “Damn it. How could it have happened.” He grumbled on the way home. He threw his net down. They say after that evening, his wife was busy preparing a vegetable dish. When it was ready she called him:”Belog, Belog, come and have your meal. This vegetable dish is still warm”. “I’m not eating. How could she have have lost it?” The next day she again offered him his meal. “Belog, have your meal”. “I’m not hungry. How could it have been lost!” For two days his face was sullen. Whatever his wife asked him to do, he always grumbled. Nyai Wayan did not feel that she had made a mistake, her husband’s face remained sullen. Until the third day Belog remained like that. He was always offered his meal. “Belog, Belog, it’s already noon. Have you meal first, stop working your thatched roof”. At that time he was tieing some thatch to replace the ones that leaked. When he heard his wife calling, he then replied:”I’m not hungry. How could it have happened!” Then Nyai Wayan remember her supposed mistake. “Was it what I said when my foot slipped on the slippery stone in the creek bymuttering that my vagina was swept away that is bothering him? Truly he become sullen, and he hurriedly took his net again. “That must be the thing he wants to catch. I am confused”. “Damn, He is really foolish. That is a fack. “Ithas been thee days he has bieen like this. Each time he was offered his meal he was very impolite. “Now, I’m going to show you something so that he will know”, she grumbled. She rushed to the verandah and started weaving. She spread her legs open wide. After some time she intentionally dropped the spindle behind her, and then called him:”Belog, Belog, please take the spindle for me”. When he heard her call, he grubled and stood up from where he was binding the roof to take the spindle. “How come. “The words barely left his mouth when he looked up as he handed the spindle to his wife. She was sitting with her legs wide open, and he could clearly see his wife’s vagina, burning red with stripes as she was having her period. Filled with excessive joy, Belog danced and song. “When you returned you already had a moustache and a beard, chewing bete improperly”. He danced and song until he became satisfied. He thatched grass got trampled on, and his behaviour was unruly. He thought that his wife’s vagina had been truly swept away, and now she had already found it. From that time on his face was back to normal anda he stopped grumbling. And then he really felt the hunger in his belly. That is the story of I Belog. The fool.