A folktale from Papua, Indonesia

1. MAMLE
A FOLKTALE FROM PAPUA

2. When he was little, Mamle was a
diligent boy. He always helped his mother
open new fields. While his mother was
sowing the weed, he cut the trees with a
stone axe. Sometimes his mother was
worried about him when he was climbing the
tree and cutting the branches. But he
convinced her that he could do it well. He
was brave as well as smart and kind.

3. When he grew up, Mamle built a house
for the village ball. Then he invited all
people from around the village to come to
the ball. A lot of people came. Among the
guests, there were two women from
Sandrafe tribe. Both women took an
interest on Mamle, but the village chiefs
did not allow him to marry them.

4. “You cannot marry either of them,
Mamle!” one of the village chiefs said.
But Mamle did not think much about it,
because he himself was not interested in
them. Suddenly, when the party was over,
several men came to Mamle and tried to
hit and kill him. Mamle ran away, but the
men kept chasing him.

5. Mamle tried to find a way to escape
from the men. When he saw a sugar palm
(Indonesian: enau) tree, he climbed it.
Then he cut the base of the tree flowers
and get the liquid nectar from it. He put the
liquid into a small bamboo tube. After it
was full, Mamle climbed down and started
with another tree. Soon he had ten
bamboo tubes full of the sweet liquid.
Calmly, Mamle waited for the men who
were chasing him.

6. “Hey, Mamle! Surrender! You are not going
anywhere!” the men shouted at him.
Mamle approached them and said, “Please
calm down, brothers. Here, have a drink. You
must be thirsty after all the long run.”
Without thinking that Mamle might be tricking
them, the men accepted the drink. They were
indeed thirsty. After they finished a full tube,
Mamle offered them another tube. Not long, all
of them were heavily drunk. They forgot that
they had to catch Mamle.

7. Mamle used the good opportunity to
run away. When the men realized that
Mamle had tricked them, it was too late.
Mamle was way too far away for them to
catch.
After his mother’s death, Mamle kept
teaching the kindness to other people
around him. He shared his knowledge for
those who wanted to learn from him.