PAK PANDIR

But Pak Pandir’s foolishness soon turned tragic. One day, Mak
Andih was invited to attend a wedding feast of her relative.
She got dressed and before leaving the house, she told her
husband to stay home as their infant son was still sleeping
soundly in the sarung.

“I have boiled a pot of water on the stove,” she told him.
“When the baby wakes up, give him a bath using the water I

have just boiled,” she instructed him and left.

Soon the baby woke up. Pak Pandir quickly poured the hot water into a
tub and put the baby inside. The water was still very hot and as a
result, the baby kicked furiously and screamed loudly.

Thinking his son loved the water so much and was squeaking from
delights, Pak Pandir kept him inside the hot water even longer. Alas,

the poor baby eventually died from scalding.

When Mak Andih came back from the feast, she asked her husband
about their infant son.

In a fury, Mak Andih chased her husband around the house and beat
him for his stupidity. Mak Andih was very sad to lose her baby.

3

After evening prayers, both husband and wife wrapped the
body with “mengkuang” leaves (a kind of screw pine used for

mat-making) and Pak Pandir took the body to bury in the
village cemetery.

Then he walked back home. On the way back, he saw a
body on the ground. Thinking it was the dead child of another

family because all babies looked the same to him, he ran
happily home to tell his wife what he saw.

“Mak Andih, Mak Andih, we are not the only one to lose a
baby! Another family also lost theirs! So, it was not something
to be sad about!” he tried to comfort his wife. Pity himhim for

his stupidity.

● Thanks!