The Crying Stone

In West Kalimantan, there is a stone which the community calls the Crying Stone. According to folklore, it is said that the stone originally was a disobedient woman named Darmi. According to the story, in a remote area in West Kalimantan, there lived an old mother with her beautiful daughter named Darmi. Since her husband died, the mother has been forced to work as a rice laborer for a small daily wage.

Darmi, the mother's child is a beautiful child but very spoiled. Even though their life is difficult, Darmi still likes to dress up. He is happy to show off his beauty throughout the village. Every day Darmi works only to spend her mother's money buying jewelry and beauty tools. Often her mother advised Darmi to want to live simply according to her abilities, but Darmi ignored her. Darmi actually shouted at his mother to work even harder.

Darmi never wanted to help his mother working in the fields. There is always a reason not to go to the fields. When her mother worked, Darmi would start to dress up then take a walk in the village to show off her beauty. Many village youths admire Darmi's beauty.

Darmi asks her mother to buy cosmetics

One time, when his mother was about to go to the market, Darmi asked her mother to buy cosmetic equipment. Her mother invited Darmi to go to the market together because she did not know what kind of cosmetic equipment Darmi asked for. At first Darmi didn't want to, but because she really wanted the cosmetic tool, she finally wanted to come too. Darmi put forward a condition for his mother to walk behind him. Her mother knows that Darmi is ashamed to have a mother like her, but she still complies with the wishes of her only child.

The two of them then went to the market. Along the way Darmi looked worried that his friends might see him walking with his mother. Sure enough, when a friend asked who the mother was walking behind him, he answered that his mother was his maid. His mother felt hurt by Darmi's answer but he just kept quiet.

"Who is the mother who walked behind you, Darmi?" asked his friend when he passed on the street.

"Ah, only my maid." Darmi replied while hurrying to leave his friend.

Not long after, Darmi's friend appeared again asking who the woman was behind him. Again Darmi replied that it was only his assistant. His mother's heart was as if slashed by a knife hearing Darmi's answer. This keeps repeating, every time Darmi's friends ask about her mother, they will answer that it is only her assistant. Finally Darmi's mother could no longer endure the hurt.

Unable to bear the pain of her son's behavior, the mother stopped and sat on the side of the road. Seeing his mother sitting on the side of the road, Darmi even yelled at her mother by saying, “Why did you stop? Let's walk again! ”.

Darmi Turns Into A Crying Stone

Since she was unable to handle her child's behavior, the mother prayed to God to punish her child. "Oh God, I am no longer able to educate my children. Please punish him. " asked the mother to the Almighty.

Suddenly a strange incident happened. Suddenly lightning flashed with heavy rain. Even stranger things happened to Darmi, slowly Darmi's feet turned to stone and then spread to other body parts. Darmi panicked. He was screaming for mercy. "What is it, Mother? Why did my body turn to stone? Help me mom, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. " shouted Darmi. However, Darmi regrets that it is too late, the rice has turned into porridge. Darmi's body turned into a statue. After the rain stopped, there were tears from the statue of Darmi. The people then lifted and leaned the rock against the cliff wall. Until now people call this stone a crying stone or Batu Menangis in Indonesian language.

More folklore from West Kalimantan:

• The Crying Stone
• The Squirrels and The Fish Cork