THE UNLUCKY PAK LEBAI

By: Putri Naila Safira

Long time ago, in West Sumatra, there was an old man named Pak
Lebai. He is a wishy-washy man. He always changes his mind before he did
something. Pak Lebai lived alone in a small hut in a village next to Batang
Agam river. Every day, he always used his small boat for travelling on the river.
One day, Pak Lebai was paddling his boat at the river.
Row row row your boat
Genty down the stream
Merily merily merily merily,
Life is but a dream.
Then out of nowhere someone called him and shouted;
“Pak Lebai, can you come to our house tomorrow? Our family will hold a
makan bajamba party with the neighbors. There will be various minang foods,
like our special dendeng batokok. I bet you don’t want to miss it!.”
Pak Lebai was so delighted to get the party invitation. He loved parties
because he could eat delicious food.
“Okay, I’ll come to the makan bajamba party tomorrow!”
Pak Lebai then continue paddling, and paddling. On the other side of the
river, Pak Lebai met another family waving their hands to Pak Lebai.
“Pak Lebai, do you free tomorrow? We will hold a party for having a
harvest time for the last two weeks. There will be a lot of fresh fruits. There will
be fruit salad, fruit ice cream, and some soft refreshing drinks too! You would
like it to be there, Pak Lebai.”
Knowing that there will be fruit ice cream － which is his childhood
favourite, he answered, “okay! I’ll see you tomorrow.”
On the D-day, Pak Lebai was confused, which party should he attend?
Both parties were held at the same time, but at the different places. Both
families who invited him lived in different sides of the river. One lived in the
upstream, but the other lived in the downstream.
So, he talked to himself,
 “If I go to the upstream, I will have tasty and spicy food. But if I go to the
downstream, I will have fresh and healthy fruits. Both of them sounds appealing.
Huh!”

“I think meet are pricier than fruits nowadays. Well, I should get the dendeng
from the upstream party first. Then, i’ll have fresh fruits for the dessert!”
So, Pak Lebai decided to go to the makan bajamba party on the
upstream. He paddled his boat a little bit faster than usual, beacuse he did not
want to be late and out of the food.
Row row row your boat
Genty down the stream
Merily merily merily merily,
Can’t wait to go upstream
On the way to the party, he met some of his friends. At a glance, it
looked like they had just left the party. .
“The makan bajamba party is awful. We were just given a small piece
dendeng. We can’t add more as we wish. I’m still hungry!” said one of them
“I don't care. I'm still going there. He is my friend. I'm sure he will give me
more dendeng.” said Pak Lebai.
He paddled his boat to the party location. Right before he arrived at the
upstream of the river, he changed his mind. He thought that it’s better if he just
go to the downstream party, because if he did not go to the downstream party
immediately, he will also miss the chance to get fresh fruits from the party. So
he decided to turn back and go to the downstream party.
Again, he paddled his boat faster, faster and faster because he knew that
he did not have much time.
Row row row your boat
Genty down the stream
Merily merily merily merily,
Wait for me, ice cream!
Right before Pak Lebai arrived on the downstream party location, he met
his friends again.
“What are you doing here, Pak lebai? The party is over.” Said one of
them.
 Hearing this, Pak Lebai was upset and blaming himself for being too
wishy-washy. He couldn’t decide well. And at the end, he got nothing. He was
also tired because he paddling back and forth along the river. Then, he fell
asleep in his boat as he drifted away in the river. When he woke up, he was
already in a different village. When all his neighbors heard what happened to
Pak Lebai, they all started to call him Pak Lebai Malang or The Unlucky Pak
Lebai.

The End.