Muara Kaman lies along the Mahakam
River, in eastern Borneo. In the past the area was a kingdom ruled by Queen Aji
Bidara Putih. She was a typical queen of myths: beautiful, wise, and sensitive.
Many princes and kings proposed to her but she always refused them because she
was more concerned with ruling her country and guarding her people.
One day, a Chinese boat came to
eastern Borneo. First, the people thought it was a merchant ship but the boat
was loaded with trade goods and highly trained soldiers. Their envoys brought gold
and porcelain to announce the marriage proposal from a prince of China. The
queen didn’t refuse instantly and replied that she had to ponder the proposal
first. After the envoys left the palace, the queen called a court officer and
ordered him to instate the Chinese boat to gather information on the prince.
When night fell the officer
sneaked onto the boat, got by all the guards, and finally found the prince’s
room. The large door would not open and he couldn’t find a peek hole, so the officer
put his ear to the wall, trying to catch sounds from inside. He heard that the
prince was having his dinner and the noise of his chewing and slurping
surprised the officer. It was like a boar that he had once heard when he was
hunting.
He quickly left the boat and
returned to the palace. He reported that the prince must have been a phantom,
not a human. He believed that the phantom could be in a human’s form only during
the daytime. The queen was so surprised and got angry. On the next day, she
refused his proposal.
The enraged prince ordered his
troops to raid Muara Kaman. The battle was won by the prince’s huge band of
troops. As they drew near to the palace, Queen Aji Bidara Putih chewed a leaf
of betel vine and sang a mantra while holding it. When she threw it at the
Chinese troops, it turned to giant centipedes. The Chinese troops started to
retreat but three centipedes chased them and sank the boat. The site of the
sunken ship is now known as Danau Lipan (Lake of Centipedes), with Chinese
treasures hidden on the lake’s bed.
Source:
BSE; Interlanguage: X
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