The Fruit Picker

In ancient times during the fruit season, many people worked as a fruit picker. The team usually composed a group of four or six person. This picker group invited the villages for a job. The payment was not money, but in the form of rice, spices, salt, sugar, etc. that’s why the picker carried a big basket on their backs.

One day in the border forest village, those six fruit pickers passed the village’s path with their heavy loaded work result on their back. Suddenly, an old aged lady called them and offers for a job. “My beautiful daughter is the payment,” said that old lady while pointing to a longhaired beautiful girl.
Those six pickers agreed after they spellbound with the beauties of that girl. While they discussed together, not aware that old lady’s husband was hiding above the tree behind the thickness of the leaves. When the first picker climbed over the tree, the old lady’s husband imposed a big fruit and struck down the picker eyes, and makes the picker felt down from the tree.
The same thing happens to the second, third, and fourth picker. All of them fell down from the tree because of the big fruit that unexpectedly imposed from the tree. Then, the sixth picker competently climbs the tree. With his fast movement from one branch to another, he could never been cheated by the old lady’s husband. In few second, the task was done well by the sixth picker.
He demanded the payment that had been promised by the old lady. “Here, take my daughter with you as your reward,” said the old lady. But, the other pickers held a protest for that unfair reward. They deserved that reward, because they had also agreed before to share the reward equally. Obviously, the sixth picker refused them. Then, a fight was unavoidable among those fruit pickers. Just because of one beautiful woman, they killed each other. Finally, those six pickers died, and their baskets with all its content were taken over by the old lady, mean while, their corpses were concealed inside the room.
On the next day, another four pickers passed in front of the old lady house. Again, the old lady calls and offered them a job. “Would you bury my husband’s body that died yesterday?” she offered. “No, we don’t want to. We are fruit pickers, and our basket is full loaded,” said one of those pickers.
“I will give you my beautiful daughter as the payment,” said the old lady while introducing her lovely young daughter. “The corpse is in that room, please buried it at the graveyard,” that old lady commands.
Those four pickers efficiently took the corpse to the graveyard. Soon after they finish the burying job, the old lady’s husband dug out the corpse and put it back where it was lying before. During that short time, they returned from the burial ground and ask for their reward, but the old lady rejected the purpose. “Have you guys really finished the job? The corpse is still on its spot and unburied yet”, said the old lady. Those four pickers are starring each other, confused without any words. Nevertheless, for the entrance promising, they buried the corpse once again at the same spot.
After the second burying process, they asked for the reward. However, they were mystified again because the corpse was still unmoving at the same spot. Again for the third time, they picked up the corpse and buried it at the same spot. Without consciousness, they had already buried the corpse for six times. “Damn it…seems we are dealing with a witch. If it so, soon we will die because of dealing with a corpse,” said one of the pickers complaining.
“We had better run from here rather than die in vain,” the other picker murmuring in dread. Finally, they agreed not to return to that old lady’s house and left behind their baskets that were fully loaded with fruits. (retold by: Gung Man )

Balineselife
Balinese Fruits

Balinese fruit refers to the fruits, which live and grow in Bali. In Balinese, fruit is renowned with the term pala, which is pala gantung and pala bungkah. It called pala gantung because it looks like something hanging on the tree branch. The fruits of pala gantung category such as poh (mango), duren (durian), sotong (rose-apple) and other fruits. It said pala bungkah, because those fruits growth inside the ground. How to pick it up is by mungkah (crushing the ground). The one that included in pala bungkah is all kind of tubers.

Tn Balinese life, fruits hold an essential part, because fruit is one vital ingredient for making an offering, beside leaf, flower, fire, and water.
Fruit, flower, fire, and water are the essential elements in sesajen (offering). It explicated in the holy book Bhagawad Gita Bab IX sloka 26 that said ‘Pattram puspam phalam toyam. Yo me bhakty-prayacchati. Tad aham bhakyahrtam. Asn-mi prayat-tmanah’, which mean, for whom with his purity esteem and bestow Me the leaf, flower, fruits, and water, basis on love offering and appear from the holy heart, I accept it.
Because of the arts sense of the Balinese, various shapes of offering appeared. Fruit contributions must exist even in small level of offering, such as canang. The fruit that needed to make canang is pinang fruit. In making the intermediate level of offering, there are three kinds essential fruits that known as panca. It means the three rather fruits with different taste, which is sweet that represented by manas (pineapple), sepet taste (unripe taste) represented by sotong (rose-apple), and sour that represented by junggre (Balinese orange).
Offering that needs many fruits is the offering named tukon. Tukon is made especially for ngaben ceremony (Balinese cremation ceremony). Tens of fruits will be needed whether of pala bungkah or pala gantung.
Lately in Bali, many imported fruits such as New Zealand apple, Bangkok durian, etc. However, none of those import fruits is included on the list of fruit’s name that needed to make the offering that mentioned above. Because the fruits needed are Balinese fruits. Those imported fruits are used only when the woman making pajegan offering. Pajegan is an offering that consists of fruits and cake elements that arranged well as the arts sense of its maker. The women in Bali feel that the pajegan is incomplete without any imported fruits. This habitual swelled within the last couple of years. Before, the imported fruit access to Bali, all pajegan previously decorated by Balinese fruits and cakes.
Fruit is also consumed by the Balinese people; however the Hindu Balinese use it more frequently for offering. Usually, they consume those fruits after the offering is finished to offer. The farmer who gets too much of harvest result, they will sell it to the traditional markets. Several Balinese fruits are well known in other areas, such as salak (the fruit of Zalacca palm). The domestic tourists always end their vacation in Bali by taking salak fruit as a gift. (BTN/031)