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Bawang Merah Bawang Putih

A long time ago, in a nice quiet village, there lived a wealthy merchant with his daughter--Bawang Putih who was obedient and kind-hearted. The merchant’s wife had long since passed away. One day, he brought a woman whom he was about to get married. The woman also has a daughter--Bawang Merah. They now became Bawang Putih’s stepmother and stepsister. When Bawang Putih’s father went to trade, the stepmother and Bawang Merah always treated her like a servant. Bawang Putih did all the work such as cleaning the house, cooking, washing clothes and looking for firewood that was ordered by her stepmother. Whenever her work went wrong, the stepmother would punish her by not feeding her. Every morning, her stepmother and Bawang Merah took turns shouting at Bawang Putih to wash their clothes, yet they did not give her enough time to finish, and would even get mad because of their starvation. It made Bawang Putih’s body became thinner until her father fell ill, she was very sad because of it. She never left her father alone, but then God decided differently, her father died. She said in tears “Father, don’t leave Bawang Putih!”.All her life was more miserable, yet her stepmother and Bawang Merah were excited because the property and house of Bawang Putih’s father now belonged to them. They further tortured her, sometimes she would cry at night. One day, Bawang Putih went to the river to wash clothes, she was sleepy and hungry. She did not realise that her stepmother’s favourite shawl had washed away, it was drifting down the river. She said, “Oh no! Mother’s favourite red scarf is gone. I daren’t go home, she will scold me”. Bawang Putih met a farmer who was washing his cow and asked about the red scarf. He saw that the red scarf was taken by an old grandmother who also was washing her clothes by the river--she lived in the mountain. Bawang Putih immediately headed up the mountain, and there she found a wooden house and met the grandmother. There was one condition that the grandmother would give the red scarf back to her. Bawang Putih must help the grandmother first to cook, look for firewood, clean the house, and wash clothes. It was so easy for her because she used to doing it. Finally, she finished it all and the grandmother gave her the shawl and asked her to choose a gift between a small pumpkin and a large pumpkin. Bawang Putih chose the small pumpkin and not the large one because she also carried a basket full of clothes. The grandmother gave her advice to not open the pumpkin until she arrived home. She was being scolded by her stepmother and Bawang Merah at home, but they stopped and asked her to cook the pumpkin instead. Surprisingly, when she split the pumpkin, there was full of sparkling and expensive jewellery inside. Her stepmother and Bawang Merah asked her how did she find it out. Bawang Merah wanted to choose the large one so that she would get more jewellery than Bawang Putih’s. It gave the stepmother an idea to wash away the red scarf again in the river. The stepmother and Bawang Merah followed the red scarf down the river that was taken by the grandmother to the mountain. Bawang Merah felt tired because it was so far, but finally, they arrived at the grandmother’s house. They were asked to help the grandmother doing the same work as Bawang Putih and chose the large pumpkin afterwards, but did not obey the grandmother’s advice. They opened it before arriving home, they were impatient to see the jewellery inside. On the other hand, they were in for quite a surprise. Because they found venomous animals such as snakes, scorpions, and spiders inside the pumpkin. They were bitten by the snakes and died in the middle of the forest. Their greed brought them to disaster. Meanwhile, Bawang Putih became wealthy because of the jewellery she had and continued her father’s business---She enjoyed the fruits of her obedience and kindness.

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❦⋆~•IlhamDaffa13•~❦⋆