The Legend of Catu Island
A long time ago, there was a village in Bali. The people worked as farmers. One of them was Jurna. He was a diligent farmer. He always had a great harvest. However, he was never satisfied. He wanted to have a better and better harvest.
"I will promise to the gods. If they give me a better harvest than I have now, I will give them offerings and share the harvest with the neighbors," said Jurna to his wife.
"I agree, but remember, you have to keep your promise," said his wife.
Soon, Jurna had a better harvest. He had more rice than he had before. He was happy. And as per his promise, he prepared offerings to the gods and shared them with his neighbors. They were very happy.
Jurna was not satisfied. He wanted to have a better and better harvest. Therefore, he promised the gods that he would double his offerings and his sharing with the neighbors.
His wish came true. His harvest was much better than before. The other farmers were amazed. They were also very thankful because he shared his harvest with them.
One day, Jurna went to his rice field. When he arrived, he saw a pile of soil on the ground. It looked like a catu. Catu was made of coconut shell. People used catu to measure the amount of rice. At home, Jurna talked about a soil that looked like a catu to his wife. She had an idea.
"Let's make catu from rice," she said. Jurna agreed. Later, they formed the rice just like catu. On the following day, Jurna went to his rice field. He saw that the soil catu was getting bigger.
"Hmm. I will make rice catu bigger than this," said Jurna himself. He asked his wife to make a bigger rice catu. He felt very satisfied. He wanted to show his rise catu to his neighbors. He hoped that his neighbors would praise him as a rich man. And they did! All the neighbors praised him. Jurna became arrogant. On the next day, Jurna went to his rice field. He hoped the soil catu were not getting bigger and bigger. But he was wrong. Strangely, the soil catu was bigger.
"Don't worry, I have much rice. I can make rice catu bigger," said Jurna arrogantly. While making the rice catu, he thought about how the neighbors would praise him.
And his wish came true. All the neighbors were amazed by the size of the rice catu. They all said that Jurna was very rich. Jurna became more arrogant.
Then Jurna went to his rice field. He hoped the soil catu would stop growing. But he was wrong. Again, it became much bigger than before. Jurna was really upset. He made rice catu bigger than before.
It was always repeated. Every time he went to his rice field, he always found the soil growing bigger and bigger.
His wife always reminded him to stop making rice catu. She said that their stock was getting lesser and lesser. She asked him to stop wasting the rice.
But Jurna ignored her. He was only thinking about how to make his rice catu bigger than the soil catu. Soon, he lost all of his rice. He became poor. He regretted his bad behavior. Meanwhile, the soil catu became very big. It was like a hill. People then named it Catu Hill or Bukit Catu.
What did the people in the Jurna’s village do for a living?