WANEBAKA, SON OF TUNDE
In Bali, there was a man called Tunde. He had been married for 10 years but had no child. So he was happy when his wife got pregnant. But after a few months, his wife's belly returned to its normal size. It happened many times and he asked a shaman for a help but the shaman could not do anything about it.One day, when Tunde's pregnant wife was washing at the river, she felt something falling down from her body to the river, but she ignored it and kept washing. After that, her belly resized to the normal size.
At home, she told it to her husband. "Maybe gods don't want us to have a child," Tunde said. As usual, they let it pass, and for the next 10 years Tunde's wife didn't get pregnant anymore.
10 years later, women who were washing at the river heard somebody's singing but they didn't look anyone around.
O washing women
Tell my father Tunde
That Wanebaka has grown up
And want to be circumcised soon
The scared women told Tunde what they had experienced. First Tunde ignored it. It occurred again and finally he attended a simple circumcising ritual, with no boy is actually circumcised.
15 years later, the washing women heard somebody's singing again. This time they didn't get afraid.
O washing women
Tell my father Tunde
That Wanebaka has grown up
And want to be married
Tunde then looked for a girl who would be a bride for his unexisting son. He paid for the bride and arranged the marriage. He came to the river and said, "Whoever you are, if you're really my son, come on the day of your wedding."
At the wedding ceremony, a guest saw a snake crawling to Tunde's house and everyone ran away in a panic. The snake got so disappointed and disappeared in the bush.
A few years later, the song was heard again at the river and Tunde did the same thing as before but this time he threatened the bride that he would kill her if she ran away.
At the ceremony, the snake appeared again and everyone ran away including Tunde and his wife. The bride stood where she was, waiting for her death. The snake's tail touch her toe, and it went to a room. The bride followed the snake. The snake drank a bottle of tuak and got drunk. While it was sleeping, its skin removed from the body. The bride gathered it and burned it outside the house. The ash was buried. When she returned to the room she found a handsome man sleeping in the bed. "Now you won't become a snake anymore, and I'll be your loyal wife," she said.
