Sukrosono is amazed to see the dragons perching on the flowers. Their wings are very thin, woven from threads finer than silk. Why don't the stalks break from these great dragons perched on them? The dragons are gigantic, how can the weak stalks support them? This sky does not provide a foothold for me, so where is the foothold that can support me like them?
When he asks this, Sukrosono feels as though a very powerful force suddenly pulled on his body. He does not want to fight it, even though he feels that the sky full of dragons is too beautiful for him to leave it behind. He succumbs to the force that is pulling him down, because surrendering gives him an enormous sense of relief. And now there is no need for him to ask anymore where to set his feet, because without realizing, his feet have again touched ground on The Earth. And on this Earth, a giant dragon with a crown on its head is waiting for him. Sukrosono is shocked to see it.
"Who are you?" Sukrosono made bold to ask.
"I am Sang Hyang Antaboga, the king of all dragons, the ruler of Saptapratala and all seven layers of The Earth," replied the dragon.
Also read:
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (36)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (35)
"Do the beautiful dragons I see in the sky belong to you?" Sukrosono asked again.
“Those dragons are not like the dragons you think you have seen. Look now around them, and you will see what dragons really are," said Hyang Antaboga.
"I still see dragons flying in the sky," Sukrosono said.
"You haven't stepped on The Earth, my son, now stamp your feet hard on the ground," Hyang Antaboga ordered.
Sukrosono obeys his order. He stamps his feet on the ground with all his might, and he sees that the dragons are dragonflies. The dragonflies are flying. The beauty of their colors is no less inferior to the beauty of the dragons he had previously seen flying in the sky. Their colors are various: red, green, yellow, blue. The dragonflies express joy as they fly to and fro, some perching on leaves and branches. Their wings are transparent, as fine as silk.
“Are the dragonflies on this Earth flying dragons whose bodies have shrunk? Or were the dragons flying in the sky just dragonflies that had enlarged their bodies?” Sukrosono asked, not understanding what he was experiencing.
“Are the dragonflies dragons, or are the dragons dragonflies? That is the question you bring home after your time in jagad walikan (the opposite realm). You know now that no one can decide which is right, whether the dragons are dragonflies or the dragonflies are dragons. That is the puzzle you must carry with you in life.
“Blessed are you that you have been allowed to see the puzzle. In this way you have been told that your life will continue to encounter such puzzles and questions. It is better to be this way rather than to think that your life is not a question but a certainty. Maybe those questions will be answered, maybe not. But believe me, in the end, your journey will solve the puzzle,” said Hyang Antaboga.
Also read:
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (32)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (31)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (30)
It is difficult for Sukrosono to understand these words. But when he recalls the story of his past, he immediately accepts why he was thrown away in the darkness of Jatirasa Forest. He feels that since he was born, his life has been a puzzle that cannot be solved easily. And he imagines that this puzzle that has accompanied him from the beginning of his life might continue to be a puzzle until the end of his life. Surprisingly, his life becomes lighter for imagining this. He feels as though he is without burdens. It appears that he no longer wants to ask anything more about this.
"Dragon king, thank you for all you have told me," said Sukrosono.
“The only thing you now have is the Earth. So be quiet, and accept from me aji sekti (magic talisman) of this Earth," said Hyang Antaboga.
Sukrosono closes his eyes. He feels as though he is within a giant dragon coiled around him. It pulls him down hard, down through the Earth’s layers to its very bottom. He thinks the Earth is simply a dark realm. It turns out that at the bottom of the Earth sparkles with bright lights. These are the lights he wants when he wakes from his deep and dark sleep. He simply wants to enjoy the lights, but the lights disappear in the blink of an eye, like a dream upon waking. And in that moment, Sukrosono feels he is released from the coils of the giant dragon and he falls to kiss the Earth, like he has kissed his mother.
“My son, in a moment you have reached the seventh layer of the Earth. This strong Earth will always support you. But as you have felt, the Earth will only bring you down, not up. You will be happy if you walk down and leave your dreams to reach the heights. That is the aji sekti of the Earth that I have given you," said Hyang Antaboga. Immediately after he stops speaking, the dragon king disappears from Sukrosono’s sight.
After the dragon king leaves, Sukrosono falls into a deep slumber. He feels his body is refreshed when he wakes in the morning. He goes to the river where he cleans himself. Some blooms fall, carried on the morning breeze, and Sukrosono bathes in jasmine water. The sunlight opens the clouds in the sky, shimmering on the tree branches as the heart of the morning dew. The birds sing with happiness. Sukrosono leaves, waving a kaniri rod. Amidst the beauty of the morning, he hears a heart-wrenching cry. The cry tells him to go away.
Allow me to nurse my child. Let my son taste his mother's milk one last time.
From behind the bushes, he spies a buffalo confronting a tiger. It is clear that the tiger is ready to eat the buffalo. Because he lives with the animals in Jatirasa Forest, Sukrosono understands their language. He hears how the buffalo is begging the tiger to delay eating it.
“O tiger, have mercy on me. Don't eat me now. Put off your hunger. This afternoon, I will come and surrender myself to you," the buffalo lamented.
"Why can't I eat you now?" asked the tiger, impatiently.
“Allow me to nurse my child. Let my son taste his mother's milk one last time," the buffalo wailed with all its heart.
"I will allow you to go now, as long as I believe that you will keep your promise," the tiger's heart shrank when it heard the wail.
"You will definitely find me in front of you this afternoon, after I have nursed my child," the buffalo said, affirming its promise. The tiger then let the buffalo go.
This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.
