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Lagenda Mahsuri

Malaysia
October 2005

This story has an occult status, in my country, Malaysia. It is the legend of Mahsuri, from the beautiful island of Langkawi ....

During the rural years, there lived a husband and wife, loving each other so dearly. They were God fearing people, they worked hard at the padi fields, devoted to each other.

Alas, they were getting older, and never bore any children. One night, however, the wife had a dream .... and following the next morning, she found what she was looking for, and followed the instructions as in her dream. What she found was a handful of "dedak padi", which is the most ripe padi that she could find, in the wee hours of the morning... and added it to the rice that were to be their dinner that night.

Not long afterwards, a beautiful child, a girl, was born to both parents..she was their love and life, Mahsuri.

Mahsuri grew up to be a beautiful woman, both in heart, physical and soul. Not long after that, she was betrothed to a soldier of that era.

War was on the wind, from the neighboring kingdom, and Mahsuri"s husband was called upon to serve his country.. Leaving a tearful and distracted wife, he gave instructions for the fellow villagers and his in-laws to take care of Mahsuri until he comes back.

Now, during that time, there was no story books, Internet or any forms of multi media. What that was popular at that time was story telling. (a juggler)

Feeling a little lonely, after house chores, Mahsuri spent a lot of her time with the juggler...until that time, she was already pregnant with her first child, but she wasn't aware..

Anyway, she was accused of adultery and was sentenced to be killed. Dragging her to her execution site, she cried and pleaded that she was innocent, but to no avail. No one came up for her defense, not even her own parents or the mysterious juggler that vanished into the night.

As the executioner plunged the dagger into her heart, all present were shocked to see that she had bled, but her blood was pure; it was white....

In her dying breath, she claimed her innocence, and cursed Pulau Langkawi (Langkawi Island) to 7 years of destruction, poverty and death, to 7 generations of the people that had denied her innocence...

If you look in the Internet, there are places with such names:

Telaga Tujuh (7 Wells)
Beras Terbakar (Burnt Rice)
Pulau Dayang Bunting (Pregnant Lady's Lake - which also has another legend)
Padang Mat Sirat (Fields of Mat Sirat, Mahsuri's betrothed)
Now, after the 7 years has finally ended, and the last of the remnants of the family who has been heartless to Mahsuri, Langkawi has prospered into a duty free island, with a lot of activities such as Le Tour De' Langkawi and LIMA, both internationally acclaimed.

I have visited this island, and I have been to the house, proclaimed by the locals as the original house of Mahsuri and her husband.

It could be only a fragment of my imagination, but as I entered the house, there was a feeling of sadness in me, and suddenly, I was overwhelmed with such sorrow that I had to step out.

Thank you for reading. And I hope you've enjoyed it.

Malaysia
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