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 jewelries. "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.
