Legenda Amat Rhang Manyang || Cerita Rakyat Aceh || Part 1

Dikampung Pasie, berdekatan dengan Paya Senara daerah Krueng Raya, Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam. Pada zaman dahulu, berdiamlah di tempat tersebut satu keluarga terdiri dari bapak,
ibu dan seorang anaknya laki-laki bernama Amat. Amat, sering juga di panggil " Agam "
( Dalam Istiadat Aceh, panggilan Agam adalah untuk seorang anak laki-laki maupun perempuan
di panggil Inong).

Keluarga ini tergolong miskin. Pekerjaan sehari-hari adalah mengolah sabut dan garam. kulit
kelapa yang umunya dibuang orang, mereka kumpulkan, lalu direndamkan dalam lumpur.
Setelah beberapa lama, rendaman itu diangkat, di bersihkan. Isinya yang sedikit membusuk
dibuang sehingga tinggal seratnya saja. Serta ini diolah atau dipintal menjadi jenis tali sabut.  

Untuk memasak, mereka menggunakan kulit kelapa, pelepah dan daunnya sebagai kayu api.
Sedangkan bagi orang kaya semua itu dibuang atau tidak dibutuhkan dalam kebutuhan mereka,
cuma dibutuhkan untuk api unggun dalam kandang lembu mereka untuk mengusir nyamuk
dalam kandang.

Disamping itu mereka membuat garam, karena kampung pasie (Pasir) itu terletak di tepi pantai.
hasil dari kedua mereka inilah yang mereka jual untuk mendapatkan nafkah hidup sehari-hari
yang masih jauh memadai. Kasih sayang kedua orangtua si amat tercurah kepadanya, sebab ia
anak tunggal satu-satunya. Mereka ingin memberikan kecukupan untuk anak mereka,
sebagaimana kebanyakan anak-anak orang lain. Tetapi, hendak dikata, maksud hati memeluk
gunung apa apa daya tangan tak sampai.

Berbagai usaha lain sudah dicoba oleh bapak si amat untuk mendapatka kehidupan yang lebih
baik bagi keluarganya, tetapi tetap mengalami kekecewan. mungkin karena mereka tak memiliki
modal apapun kecuali tenaga dan kemauan. Dalam keadaan seperti ini, orang tuanya selalu
berpasrah diri kepada Allah, mepertebal keimana dan taqwanya. Setiap selesai shalat, mereka
selalu berdoa setidaknya kepada anaknya, Amat, kelak Allah dapat memberikan kehidupan yang
lebih layak, sehingga dapat dijadikan payng saat hujan, kayu rimbun tempat berteduh bagi
mereka di hari tua.

Keberuntungan tidak dapat diraih, malang tidak dapat ditolak pada ketiak amat berumur lima
tahun, meninggalah bapaknya. "Patah dahan tempat berjuntai, rubuhlah cabang tempat
bergayut". Tinggalah si amat dan ibunya.  betapa sedih ibunya si amat tak terperihkan lagi. Cita-
cita dahulu yang di impikan akan di jangkau oleh dua pasang tangan, ia dan suaminya sekarang
hanya dirinya sendiri. Dan sampai dimanakah kemampuan seorang wanita sendiri hidup
ditinggali seorang kekasih yang ia cintai. 

bapak si amat tidak meninggalkan warisan sekalipun kecuali gubuk tiris beserta anaknya si
amatyang perutnya setiap hari minta di isi. Kemudian segumpal cita-cita dan doa untuk
kebahagiaan mereka dikemudian hari. Di penghujung tangis yang berkepanjangan karena iman
dan taqwa, timbul kembali kesadaran yang sempurna, bahwa sema itu adalah takdir dan
kehendak Yang Maha Kuasa. Bulatlah tekat dan cita-cita tidak boleh pudar dan tetap berusaha
dengan kemampuan yang ada.

Amat di serahkan kepada Teungku Meunasah untuk belajar mengaji bersama anak-anak yang
lainnya dikampung tersebut. Pada dasarnya, ia anak yang rajin dan pandai, Serta cepat untuk
dapat menerima pelajaran pengajian yang diberikan. Sering amat dicemoohkaholeh teman-
temannya karena pakaiannya compang-camping penuh tambalan, sambil menangis ia pulang ke
rumah. Ibunya mengetahui semua ini. 
Pada kejadian yang demikian ibunya berusaha untuk tersenyum (Terseyum adalah sbagian dari
iman" Allah memeberikan senyuman kepada wajah agar tidak dapat mengobati sedih"),
memeluk dan mengusap air mata anaknya. kadang-kadang setiap saat mendongengkan sesuatu
yang maksudnya perbuatan seperti itu adalah tidak baik yang akhirnya mendapatkan balasan
yang tidak baik pula berupa balasan dari Allah. Menjelang tidur malam hari, sering pula ibunya
menceritakan dongeng sejenis itu. Diantaranya dongeng anak durhaka yang pada akhir ceritanya
dapat malapetaka.

The Life of Amat Rhang Manyang || Aceh Folklore || Part 1

Once there in Pasie village, near Paya Senara in Krueng Raya, Aceh, lived a family consisted of
a father, mother, and a son named Amat. Amat was usually called “Agam.” (In Aceh tradition,
Agam is a nickname given to a son while a daughter will be called “Inong”). 

That family was poor, the parents’ job was collecting the coconuts’ fiber and making salt. The
coconut fibers that were commonly thrown by people were gathered by them. Then, they soaked
the collected fibers into mud. Then after a while, they took the fibers and washed them then they
were made as ropes. To cook what they were going to eat, the family took the coconut midribs
and used them as the firewood. To the poor family like them, all that coconuts parts were useful
while for rich families, they were not considered as something that can be used. So that they
usually throw the midrib, and fibers away. If those rich families want to use them, they may just
use them as a bonfire that was set near the ox’s cage to get rid mosquitoes.

The salt that they made the sell to the people in Kampung Pasier. They money they got, then
were used to buy food. Unfortunately, the food that they bought everyday seemed not enough to
fulfill their needs. Despite the difficulty the family faced, the affection that they gave to their son
was more than enough, as he was the only child that they had. 5. They always tried hard to give a
good life for their only son. All hard work had been done, but the result was not satisfying. They
wanted to do a new venture, but the only problem they faced was that they had no money that
they would use as a venture capital. In their hard life, they still had a faith in God. Every day,
they prayed to God and asked Him to give a better life, if not for them, at least for their son.

One day, a disaster came to this family. The father was died, and there were now Amat and his
mother. His mother was so sad to know the fact that his husband passed away. She couldn’t face
the reality that now she had to struggle alone to feed the family. All the hope that once she and
her husband had talked about seemed to tremble down now. But she realized that she was not
supposed to dwell for long. Then for a better future of his son’s life, he took his son to Teungku
Meunasah. She took her son to his place in order that his son can learn Al-Quran. Together with
other children in the village, Amat started to learn how to recite Al-Quran.

While learning in Teungku Meunasah, Amat often had a bad treat from his friends as he wore a
bad clothes. The clothes he wore had torn up in most part of it and it had so many clothes
fillings. And every time he was mocked by his friends, he would go home crying and told his
mother about what had happened to him. Knowing that his son was not treated well by his
friends, the mother can only smile because she knew that she couldn’t do anything that could
change the way Amat’s friends behave towards him. She can only tell his son to be patient and to
believe that every actions that people do whether it is bad or good will back to them. If people do
bad things to other people, someday bad thing will be back to them, and vice versa. Every night,
his mother often told him a story that full of value of life. She wanted his son to get the value
from the story she told and she often told the story of rebellious children.

Above all, Amat’s mother wanted his son to understand that the quality of a person was not
defined by the clothes that they wear. Usually, after being told the story, Amat would fall asleep.
Sometimes, the mother herself fell unsure whether his son would be a good person when he grew
up. She was afraid if his son became a bad person. She couldn’t imagine what her life would be
if her son didn’t become a good person. Day after day, year after years passed by, and Amat had
been growing up. Meanwhile, the life that he had hadn’t changed much. He still lived in poverty

The Life of Amat Rhang Manyang || Aceh Folklore || Part 2

Time by time, year by year, Amat grew up and became a teenager. He always helped her mother
with effort he could do. Still, how hard he had tried to work, he still lived in a poverty.
Kruen Raya is a river where there was a harbor at that time. People used to send things from
Aceh to another place there. Also, imported goods passed this harbor before they were taken to
the place where they were going to use or sell. Aceh merchant was already big at that time. There
were lot merchant ship sailing and docking in the harbor every day. The crowds were always
seen in the harbor. Hundreds of boxes were being loaded and unloaded.
By the time a ship would sail, many paddle were moving in the side of the ship. The paddles
were moved from the inside of the ship. As the movement of the paddles got faster, the speed of
the ship would be too. As the ship started to leave the harbor, many people that were the family
of the ship’s crews would stand in the harbor waving their hands. Such a touching moment it was
that many of them would ended up crying. They know that everything could happened when
sailing, even the worst one like the ship sank and all the crews died.

When a ship docked in the harbor, many people would wave their hand to welcome their people
that had been away from home to sail in the sea. Laughter and happiness filled the air as they
meet the ones that had been missed for long time. 

Almost every day Amat and his friends would come to the harbor, they usually wanted to see the
docking ship. They also frequently saw something that they thought to be weird. Soon, as they
saw that, they would tell to their friend in the village.  Besides that, they are also fond and
admired the merchants they often saw in the harbor. They admired how they looked like, how
good clothes they wore every day. Kind of clothes they had never had neither had they worn in
their life. They really wanted to be like them, to have a better life.
Amat then, wanted also to be helmsman. He believed by being a helmsman he could change his
and his mother’s life. Though he really wanted to be a helmsman, never had he told it anyone
including his mother.

Because of that, he can barely sleep soundly in the night. Every time he was lying on the bed, he
would think of being a helms man and it would keep his eyes open for almost all night. He
imagined how he would sail a wide sea and also visited another country. He also imagined how
his mother would miss him after being away for months. He would buy something for his mother
at home. Something that was really special that had never been possessed by his mother before.

One day, when the night almost came, rain fell hard and it made Amat not able to come to
Meunasah to recite Al-Quran. He couldn’t recite and sleep in the meunasah like he usually did
before. That night, Amat decided to sleep at home. As usual, Amat couldn’t sleep because he
was thinking about his future. While his eyes wide opened, Amat looked at his mother that was
already sleeping besides him. He could see how his mother’s face looked tires, and also she
looked older that her actual age.

It reminded him to the time when he was a child. He remembered that his mother would tell him
a story before he slept. He also remembered of his father that has passed away. He also
remembered a good time he spent with his father and it made him smile. All memories he had
was running over his mind tonight.

The Life of Amat Rhang Manyang || Aceh Folklore || Part 3

Sooner after he thought about his father, he fell asleep. The rain was falling outside. One day, in
the morning, Amat went to the harbor, and he found that the harbor was more crowded that
usual. Some ships were docking on the harbor and lots of people looked busy doing their jobs.
Amat was standing alone watched them. Lately, Amat frequently came to the harbor by himself.
Their friends preferred to play kite, or wrestle in the beach, or play football in the open field
located not far from the village. Sometimes, their friend would like to watch peupak leume
(cow’s fighting) held in the rice field that had already been harvested. For Amat, what his friend
did would not catch his attention because he would choose to go to harbor to see the ship and
everything related to it.

That day, Amat embraced himself to meet someone that worked in the harbor. He knew him as
he lived not far from his house. That man’s name was Kamil, but he used to be called by others
as Mr. Agam. Amat walked to the harbor and he saw Mr. Agam walking from the harbor toward
the mosque. He wanted to pray Dzuhur. The situation in the harbor was not as crowded as before
as most of workers were having their lunch and some of them also having a dzuhur pray.

Amat approached Mr. Agam. The he greeted Mr. Agam “Good day Mr. Agam” . Mr. Agam
stopped walking and he looked at the source of the voice. “Hi Amat, what’s going on?” said Mr.
Agam and he walked toward Amat.
Talking stutteringly, Amat said”Mmm…… Sir! I would like to day that…..mmm…………I
wanted to be one of…..mmmmmmm…….your ships’ crew”. 
Then Mr. Agam replied “ Hahaha….you are way too young to be able to join as the ship’s crew.
I am afraid that you cannot handle a hard job in the ship”

Amat stood silent as he get the reply form Mr. Agam. He was disappointed of it. 

“Oke, I will pray at the mosque.” Said Mr.Agam and he walked away while Agam still stood
silent.

Since that day, Amat became a moreose. He seldom played again with their friends. He was not
as diligent as before in helping his mom at home. He also often made mistakes while reciting Al-
quran. All people surrounding him noticed the change and wondered what happened with him. 

Every time people asked about what happened to him, Amat would say that everything was
alright and he was okay. Thus, no one know the casue why he became a morose. In his mind,
Amat still wondered why Mr,Agam that he knew as a good person didn’t want to help him work
in his ship. It was disturbing him and made him hard to sleep at night.

Every day, Amat would come to the harbor alone, Sometimes he would stay since morning until
night. He didn’t come home and he missed his lunch. His eyes always focused on the ships that
docked and sailed.

Some of his friends that noticed what Amat doing felt pity, but some also mocked him. Those
who said that Amat was waiting for something that would never come. Amat didn’t care about
what his friends said and he always prayed to God that one day his dream would come true. 

Without noticed by Amat, Mr.Agam also always noticed that Amat always came to the harbor.
He felt pity at last to him. Still, Mr. Agam couldn’t agree to himself if he hired him to do a
difficult and hard job at the ship. He didn’t know what he should do.