The days go by. One day, when the sky is blue and the sun changes into an eye that gazes tenderly at the earth, and various flowers are blooming beautifully in the courtyard of the Jatisrana hermitage, Dewi Sokawati spoke suddenly.
"Begawan, our dark night has passed. Look how the flower petals bloom as our darkness vanishes of. The bud of our lives is also growing because of it. Begawan, look at my stomach. You truly exist within me. I\'m pregnant, Begawan," Dewi Sokawati said while gently touching her stomach. Tears fall. She is very happy.
He is happy because his longing and hope will soon bear fruit. He never tires of looking at his wife with affection.
Hearing his wife\'s words, Begawan Swandagni looks very relieved and happy. This is the moment he has been waiting for. He is happy because his longing and hope will soon bear fruit. He never tires of looking at his wife with affection. Before, he felt that something was keeping him from his wife. Now, he is astonished to realize that the wall of separation seems to no longer exist. Perhaps this is because he feels that he can now truly live within his wife? On the branch of a tree in the hermitage’s courtyard, he sees a kepodang (oriole) that emits a long chirp. The kepodang sings the song of the angsana trees, whose many buds open in the morning. Along with the birdsong, Begawan Swandagni feels as though a love he has never felt before streams out of his heart.
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The days turn into months. And the womb of Dewi Sokawati enters the third month. Lately, Dewi Sokawati looks restless and finds it hard to eat. Twilight is arriving to Jatisrana hermitage when Begawan Swandagni\'s heart grows very anxious on seeing his wife\'s condition. Scattered sunlight penetrates the leaves on the trees, turning them a yellowish red.
"Don\'t let my hope dim with the coming twilight, Sokawati. Don\'t make my heart restless. Tell me, what are you thinking, that you have no appetite for food?” asked Begawan Swandagni.
Deep silence engulfs the hermitage. The twilit breeze blows across the flowers that are starting to tire of holding up their petals. And Dewi Sokawati\'s soft voice breaks the silence.
“Begawan, it is impossible that your hope will wither. It is just impossible for me to have the courage to say what is in my heart," said Dewi Sokawati.
“Begawan, I do not have the courage to say what I feel because it is completely impossible. I know it is impossible for you to fulfill my wish. Moreover, I don\'t have the heart, as you will have to work hard to fulfill my wish," said Dewi Sokawati.
“Sokawati, why are you in such doubt, as if you don\'t believe that I will do whatever you want? I say, Sokawati, that today I will fulfill your wish," said Begawan Swandagni.
“Begawan, I have a craving. I feel strange, because I do not know what I want. How can you find what I don\'t know myself?" she said.
"Tell me Sokawati, what is it that you crave?"
The tree is still green as an ordinary banana tree. But from within the trunk, a bright light shines.
“Begawan, I crave gedhang emas mawa teja, the glowing, golden banana. In all my life, I have never tasted the fruit. But in my imagination, the fruit grows from a banana tree that glows a shimmering gold. The tree is still green as an ordinary banana tree. But from within the trunk, a bright light shines. How can you find this tree for me, Begawan? But I must say that all taste has fled, until I can eat that glowing, golden banana,” Sokawati spoke haltingly with her head bowed.
"Sokawati, haven\'t I told you, I will do whatever you want. Let alone now, when you are pregnant and I feel that I am within you, Sokawati, that I am no longer separate from you, I can truly feel your craving," Begawan Swandagni said, without the slightest doubt.
"Do you really want to go and find the golden banana for me, Begawan, while you yourself do not know whether the golden banana really exists? You even do not know where that strange golden banana grows.”
“Begawan, how grateful I am because of your determination and love. When are you leaving?" Sokawati asked with great affection.
"Now or later is the same, Sokawati. Let me not delay the craving that has risen from love. Tomorrow as the dawn breaks, I will immediately go in search of the golden banana,” said Begawan Swandagni.
(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo)
