Bawang Putih lived with her step mother and her step sister, Bawang
Merah. Bawang Putih’s mother died when she was a baby. Her father remarried
another woman and later her step sister was born. Unfortunately, not long after
that her father died. Since then, Bawang Putih’s life was sad. Her step mother
and her step sister treated Bawang Putih badly and always asked her to do all
the household chores.
One
morning, Bawang Putih was washing some clothes in a river. Accidentally, her
mother’s clothes were washed away by the river. She was really worried so she
walked along the river side to find the clothes. Finally she met an old woman.
She said that she kept the clothes and would give them back to Bawang Putih if
she helped the old woman do the household chores. Bawang Putih helped her
happily. After everything was finished, the old woman returned the clothes. She
also gave Bawang Putih a gift. The old woman had two pumpkins, one pumpkin was
small and the other one was big. Bawang Putih had to choose one.
Bawang
putih was not a greedy girl. So she took the small one. After thanking the old
woman, Bawang Putih then went home. When she arrived home, her step mother and
Bawang Merah were angry. They had been waiting for her all day long. Bawang
Putih then told about the clothes, the old woman, and the pumpkin. Her mother
was really angry so she grabbed the pumpkin and smashed it to the floor.
Suddenly
they all were surprised. Inside the pumpkin they found jewlries. “Bawang Merah,
hurry up. Go to the river and throw my clothes into the water. After that, find
the old woman. Remember, you have to take the big pumpkin,” the step mother
asked Bawang Merah to do exactly the same as Bawang Putih’s experience. Bawang Merah immediately went to the
river. She threw the clothes and pretended to search them. Not long after that,
she met the old woman. Again she asked Bawang Merah to do household chores.
She
refused and asked the old woman to give her a big pumpkin. The old woman then
gave her the big one. Bawang Merah was so happy. She ran very fast. When she
arrived home, her mother was impatient. She directly smashed the pumpkin to the
floor. They were screaming. There were a lot of snakes inside the pumpkin! They
were really scared. They were afraid the snakes would bite them. “Mom, I think
God just punished us. We had done bad things to Bawang Putih. And God didn’t like that. We have to apologize to
Bawang Putih,” said Bawang Merah.
Finally
both of them realized their mistakes. They apologized and Bawang Putih forgave
them. Now the family is not poor anymore. Bawang Putih decided to sell all the
jewelries and used the money for their daily lives.
