Folklore from West Sulawesi
ONCE upon a time in Mandar, West Sulawesi, there was a kingdom. The king and the queen had a handsome prince. He was still single. The prince was a diligent man. The palace had a beautiful garden and a pond. There was also waterfall in the pond. The prince always spent his time in the garden. He loved gardening and always took care of the plants.
In one afternoon, rain fell heavily. After it stopped, the prince went to the garden. On the way to the garden, he saw a beautiful rainbow. The rainbow ended in the pond. There were seven doves flying through the rainbow and they stopped flying above the pond. Amazingly, those seven doves turned into beautiful angels. They put their shawls on the ground then they all swam in the pond.
The prince watched them. He was amazed by their beauty and wanted to marry one of them. He stole one of the shawls and hid it. After all, those angels finished taking a bath and one by one they wore their shawls and changed back as a dove. However, the youngest angel could not find her shawl. She cried and then made a promise.
"If a man finds my shawl, I will marry him. And if a woman finds my shawl, I will treat her as my own sister," said the angel.
The prince heard the promise. He then pretended to help her. Because they could not find the shawl, then the prince asked the angel to stay with him in the palace. The angel agreed because without her shawl she could not fly back to her home in heaven.
Then the prince and the angel got married. Later, they had a baby boy. They loved their son very much. The prince and the angel took care of their son lovingly.
In one morning, the angel wanted to enter one room. She wanted to use the room for their baby. The room was locked and the prince always forbade her to enter the room. Because she really wanted her son to sleep in the room, she ignored her husband warning.
When she was inside the room, she was surprised. She found her shawl. She then knew that her husband stole her shawl and never planned to return it.
The angel immediately wore her shawl. She then came to her husband.
"My Dear Husband, I have found my shawl. Now I want to go back home to heaven. Please take care of our son. And if you miss me, just look at the rainbow."
The angel then waggled her shawl. Slowly, she flew to the sky. The prince was very sad. He just lost his beautiful wife. And every time he missed her, he always looked at the rainbow.
The people of Mandar, West Sulawesi, then imitated the way the angel waggling her shawl into movements of a dance. The dance is known as Pattuddu Dance. ***