A Messy Array of Stories, AUs, Covers and Many More

How Bukit Lawang Got Its River (Legend/Fable Attempt)

To those who arrive in North Sumatra looking for adventure and relaxation, Bukit Lawang, which has a beautiful river, can be considered a tourist hotspot. Many have visited it to dip their feet into the cool water, or to raft through the rocky surface. A wonderful oasis away from the busy city life. However, where did it come from? Perhaps, a story can be found through the animals that live there. Some playing positive roles, others playing negative ones.

A long time ago, where the land was not yet named Bukit Lawang, there were two volcanoes there. Towering over the animals that lived there, they seemed pretty content with their lives, and went through their days peacefully, until one day, one of them mocked the other. This escalated into a huge fight, and the two volcanoes were close to erupting, threatening to destroy the habitats of the animals that lived nearby. 

Noticing this activity, the animals of the land gathered. The orangutan, the tiger, the monkeys, the carp, the koi, and also the tor fish, all came to discuss the fate of their homeland. 

"Clearly we must move to better lands!" Roared the tiger, who claimed itself as the king of the land. "Otherwise we will perish here!" 

"But where would we move to? This is the only home we have known for centuries!" Protested the orangutan. 

"When the volcano erupts, we are all doomed!" The birds wailed in fear. "We must run as soon as we can!" 

"We don't have to leave," said the tor fish suddenly. "Surely we can soothe the volcanoes' wrath."

"But how?!" The tiger demanded. "We could perish if we did that!" 

"I will do it," replied the tor fish. "I will reason with the volcanoes to stop them from erupting."

Hearing this, the tiger, the birds and the rest of the creatures all burst out into laughter. 

"You? Reason with the mighty mountains? You can barely even compare to their size!" mocked the birds. 

"You are foolish!" the tiger guffawed. "You are such a tiny fish! We are better off dying than letting you go!"

Now, these words hurt the tor fish deeply, and it angered the wise orangutan, which made him scold the tiger, "You have no right to laugh at the tor fish when all she wanted to do was save our home." 

"Oh, give it up. It's not like she can do that anyway!" the birds echoed. "We will just have to migrate!" 

And so, the meeting ended on that note, and the tor fish jumped back into the small pond it lived in. Thinking, wondering if they were right. If she really couldn't do a thing.

Seeing that she was feeling down, the koi and the carp swam up to her. 

"Are you okay?" asked the carp in a soft tone.

"Are they right?" the tor fish spoke. 

"Why would you say that?" argued the koi. "They are cowards! They prefer to save their own skin instead of trying to protect our home!"

"But I am so small!" The tor fish protested. So pained was the poor thing that she looked to be in  physical pain. "How can I... How can I do that...? Do I have to sacrifice myself?"

Hearing this, the orangutan approached them. "Life is precious, young one. You are NOT about to give up your life so easily!"

"Yeah, even if they don't believe ya we will!" Said the carp.

The koi nodded, and the tor fish cried happily, touched by their loyalty. "T-Thank you!"

"It is fine," Reassured the orangutan. "However, if we want to save our home we must be quick. The volcanoes are about to erupt."

They all put their heads together, thinking long and hard about the answer. How could they save their home? Surely the volcanoes were too far gone by now.

"If we can't appease them, maybe we can use this to our advantage," Then suggested the tor fish. "Once all the lava is out, we can spray water to cool it down! It'll give the land tons of nutrients!"

Hearing this, the orangutan refused, "This land barely has any water bodies! Where would we get it?!"

This indeed was a good question. The pond they lived in barely had any water. How would they manage to quell the boiling temperatures of the lava?

As they thought, the koi suddenly said, "We can make passageways! If the orangutan can find other water sources and then make a path for us, we can take the water and put them all together! Then once it's about to hit, we break a side down to let the water flow! Surely it can allow us to combat the heat and cool it down faster!"

"That is indeed an idea," The orangutan nodded sagely.

"Sounds good!" The carp agreed.

The tor fish smiled a bit, "Alright, let's not waste any more time! Let's go save our home!!"

"Yeah!!" Cheered the other three. 

And so, for the five days leading up to the expected eruption, they worked tirelessly with their family members to get this done. Weeks of sleepless nights left them exhausted, yet they never gave up as they pooled every drop of water they could find into a pond located in a mountain beside the volcanoes. The orangutans made more space and the fishes banded together to get it done.

But finally, it was done. And right on time, too, as the volcanoes finally burst out in complete rage, utterly swallowed by the feeling and unable to be reasoned with.

Seeing this, the tor fish knew she couldn't let this happen. She had to save her friends! Her family! Those who believed in her.

And so, before they could all push to get their barricade open, the tor fish rushed in and prepared to put all her might into the push.

However, when she did, three more joined her. The koi, the carp, and the orangutan.

"We're not about to let you die!" The carp yelled.

"Yeah!" Echoed the koi. "You gotta deal with us, Tor!"

Hearing this, once again, the tor fish felt touched and guilty. "I-I'm so sorry."

"No need," Reassured the orangutan. "Now let's put everything we got into this!"

And so, with a mighty roar from them, they pushed and pushed and pushed until finally, the barricade gave way and was destroyed fully.

However it took the four friends along with it, and there were tears shed as they watched the water cool down the lava, soothing the anger of the mighty volcanoes. At what cost, though?...

When the other animals heard of this, they were overcome by grief and sorrow too. They had saved their home. They had overcome the impossible. They would... Forever be remembered as the heroes of the valley.

But the water continued flowing. Even after the lava cooled down, water still flowed from that pond. As if the spirits of the four had allowed it to. The passageways, once a means to save their home, now flowed down and protected their home from becoming a desert town. 

To this day, the descendants of the wise orangutan who died that day still guard the reservoir up there, while the descendants of the 3 fishes spread out across the rivers. Does the reservoir still remain, though? Perhaps it does... No one knows for sure, do they?

Alright, finally done with this legend attempt. This is just an idea I had, this is NOT an actual legend, though. Do critique!