La Moelu the Orphan

Once upon a time, in the Southeast Sulawesi there lived an orphan named La Moelu. His mother died when he was a baby. To meet his daily needs, he fished in the river near his house while his father was old so he could no longer work.

One day, as usual, La Moelu went fishing to the river. Hoping to get lots of fish, he also brought lots of bait. After waiting for hours, not a single fish ate the bait. When he was almost desperate, suddenly the fishing rod twitched. La Moelu was very happy and immediately pulled his fishing line carefully. When he lifted his fishing rod, he was a little disappointed that he only got a small fish. But he was surprised because the shape of the small fish was strange. He hurried home to show the strange fish to his father.

"Dad, I just got a small fish but its shape is weird. Let me see, maybe you know what fish this is. " he asked his father.

"What fish?" I've never seen fish like this before. " his father replied confused. "You better keep the fish." His father suggested. La Moelu obeyed his father's orders & then kept the little fish in a glass of water.

La Moelu Gets Strange Fish

The next morning, La Moelu was surprised because the fish was the size of a glass. He then moved the fish into the jar. A day later, the strange thing happened again, the fish grew bigger again to the size of a jar. This kept happening until there was no longer a container to accommodate the fish. His father then advised La Moelu to return the fish to the sea.

La Moelu immediately went to the beach to release the fish. Before releasing the fish into the sea, he gave the fish the name Jinnade. He ordered the fish to come to the shore when he called him. Jinnade wagged his tail in agreement. Then La Moelu released the fish into the sea.

Since then, La Moelu often visits the sea, then calls Jinnade to feed him. Every time he called his name, Jinnade appeared to meet La Moelu. Until one day, three of La Moelu's neighbors found out about his habit. The bad intentions of the three emerged. They were about to catch Jinnade & eat it.

Jinnade Gets Killed

One morning, the three people went out to sea. They then called out to Jinnade. Hearing his name being called, Jinnade immediately appeared to the surface of the sea. But Jinnade was surprised because it was not La Moelu who called. The three men threw Jinnade with spears to death. Then they took it to be cooked.

In the afternoon, as usual La Moelu went to the sea & called out to Jinnade, but Jinnade did not come to the surface. He was amazed. La Moelu finally came home and told his father about it.

"Calm down, maybe Jinnade has found his friends in the sea there." his father tried to calm him down.

In the afternoon, La Moelu took a walk to the village to meet his friends. He found his friends cooking big fish. La Moelu was suspicious, then asked his friends where they got the fish. Initially, La Moelu's friends made up a story that the fish was taken in a river, but after being pressed they finally admitted that it was Jinnade.

A magical tree grows on top of Jinnade's grave

La Moelu felt angry & sad about his friends' behavior but could not do anything about it. He then took Jinnade's bones to be buried in his yard. His father tried to win La Moelu's heart.

The next morning, when La Moelu was about to go fishing, he was surprised to find a tree growing over Jinnade's grave. The strangest thing was, the tree had gold trunks, silver leaves, flowered with diamonds and bears diamonds. The day the plant is getting bigger. La Moelu & his father started selling twigs, fruit, leaves and flowers of the tree so they became very rich. Even though they have become wealthy people, they are still humble. They are happy to help their neighbors.

La Moelu is a folklore from Southeast Sulawesi region.

More folklore on Southeast Sulawesi:

• La Moelu the Orphan
• The Origin of the Name Mount Mekongga
• The Story of the Monkey and the Chicken