[EF#16] What I Learned from Indonesian Tale

I learned about love, honesty, friendship and bravery from bedtime stories that my father told me.

Answering the challenge of the Blog English Club for week 16, I need to once more, summon my childhood memories. Recalling the memory warms my heart. I remember Bapak, how I call my father, was always there during my bedtime. He was the one tucked me in and my sister almost every night. It was very often when my sister had gone in her deep peaceful sleep, I stayed wide awake. It was hard to get to sleep. Not until my Bapak told me a story.

He was an amazing story-teller to me. He told me so many stories.I remember once he told me about Malin Kundang, a well-known story from Sumatera about someone who denied his poor mother when he was already a rich person. The other night he told me the story of Kancil, a very smart deer that tricked other animals so that he could get benefit from them and used it for other animals in need. Not t mention Ande-Ande Lumut and the Giant Crab or The Great Hanoman from Ramayana.

What made him a great story-teller were his expression and his voice that always changed according to the story and the characters being told.

The folklores he told me pretty much helped to make me who I am today. Bapak always put a moral message in every single of his story. How I must always love and put my mother – Ibuk, in my mind when he told me about Malin Kundang. How I should treasure honesty at all times from Kancil and Ande-Ande Lumut stories. The bravery to always bring truth and not to be a deceitful person from the doom of the evil side of the story.

I become the man I am today from the story I learned from him and how he always tried to walk his talk.

Gosh, I always cry writing about Bapak.

Well, you get what I mean right? It’s getting harder for me to write since I couldn’t stop my tears from falling apart *not to mention my nose. Haha.

Those are what I learned from the Indonesian tales told by Bapak, how about you?

My other posts in English:

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