King Iguana (Indonesian folktale)
# King Iguana (Indonesian folktale)

King Iguana (Galela: Ma Kolano o Kariànga; Dutch: Koning Leguaan) is an Indonesian folktale in the Galela language, collected by H. van Dijken and M. J. van Baarda, and sourced from the island of Halmahera. It deals with the marriage between a human girl and a suitor in animal form that she disenchants to become human. Later, her envious sisters try to murder her and replace her as the animal suitor's wife.

## Translations

The tale was also translated into Hungarian language with the title Gyíkkirály ("The Lizard King").

## Summary

A couple has a lizard for a son. One day, the lizard passes by a lake where four women are bathing and falls in love with one of them. He tries to woo the maiden by knocking down some flowers from a tjampaka tree. He courts the youngest maiden as a lizard, but becomes a man at night. His bride burns the lizard skin so that he remains human at all times. The next morning, the now human lizard son warns his bride against it. Seeing the handsome youth, instead of a lizard, the three sisters become jealous and conspire to get rid of their sister and marry the youth. He goes on a boat trip to get a dowry for her, but gives her an areca nut and a rooster's egg before he leaves. After he goes away, the three sisters try to kill the lizard youth's bride, but she survives every attempt. A rooster that hatches from the egg takes the maiden to the lizard king's ship. The lizard king disembarks and visits his sisters-in-law. He tells them he brought them a present: two chests, just lying on the beach. The three sisters-in-law, hoping to find something precious inside, run to the beach and open up the chests in a hurry. Inside, only needles and knives, which spring out of the chests and kill the envious sisters.

## Variants

### Indonesia

In an Indonesian tale from Riau Province titled Molek, a couple have seven daughters of marriageable age, the youngest and seventh, Molek, the most beautiful. Many have come to court and marry them, but the girls reject them. One day, however, a fish named Jerawan appears to propose marriage to one of the girls. Their parents ask them which will choose the fish: the six elders refuse him, but Molek agrees to go with the fish, thus they marry. Although she is mocked for marrying a fish, she loves her husband, but, some time later, decides to discover where her husband does all day, so she follows the fish one day to the forest. The fish goes behind a bush, and out emerges a handsome youth; he goes to the beach, joins a crew on a sailboat and goes to fish in the ocean. Molek discovers her husband's true form and true profession, and decides to keep it a secret, until one day she goes behind the bush and takes the fish skin to hide it. She stays in the bush waiting for Jerawan, and he returns at night, finding his human wife with his fish skin. Molek asks him not to hide himself behind a fish skin anymore, and, although theirs is a happy marriage, she is endlessly mocked by her sisters, so she would like to show them his true form. The man agrees to live as human for now on, and says his name is Tanara. Some time later, after Tanara remains human, Molek's elder sisters nurture jealousy towards their cadette, since they wished to marry him. One day, Tanara goes on a long journey, and Molek's elder sisters plot the perfect moment to get rid of her. Years later, when Tanara is ready to come back, Molek's sisters pay her a visit and suggest they sail on small boats to wait for Tanara out in the open sea. After playing and splashing in the water, the girls abandon Molek on a small boat and make their way to the shore. Molek, adrift at sea, tries to paddle her small boat somewhere, but she faints, exhausted from her efforts. Meanwhile, Tanara's ships, filled with gold, silver and jewels, are nearing the shore, when they sight a small boat with a woman inside. They rescue the castaway and bring her up to Tanara's quarters. Tanara recognizes the castaway as his wife, Molek, and she reveals her sisters' ploy against her. After listening to her tale, he plans to teach a lesson to his sisters-in-law: he asks some men to hide Molek in a box, to keep her survival a secret, then comes to port. He is greeted by people, and goes up to his sisters-in-law's house, where they are expecting him with their best dresses and the best food, hoping to draw his attentions. Tanara takes a seat and tells his adventures to them, and, lastly, about a woman he found adrift at sea, then bids his wife enter and sit beside him. The girls look at the woman and realize she is their sister Molek, safe after all. The girls feel ashamed for their deed, and Tanara swears he will not pursue any revenge against them.

### Southeast Asia

**Vietnam**

In a tale from the Koho people (Sre), translated into Russian as "Властитель вод" ("The Lord of Waters"), a man has two daughters, Nga and Nzi. One day, the man finds a snake in the forest, which demands one of the man's daughters in marriage. The man offer Nga, but the snake rejects it. The man then offers Nzi, and the animal accepts it. The man returns home and tells Nzi of the incident, and the girl decides to offer herself to the snake to protect the village. Nzi goes to the shore to wait for the snake, secretly followed by her sister Nga. Nga sees the snake and runs back home. The snake turns into a young man, Trachanlan, the lord of the waters, and spends the night with his bride. The next day, Nzi wakes up first, sees her husband's snakeskin, and buries it in the sand. Trachanlan wakes up next and ask Nzi about the snakeskin, but the girl feigns ignorance. Later, he asks the animals about it, and discovers Nzi hid out of fear he may devour her. He promises he will not do such a thing. One day, Nzi and Trachanlan visit her father, Zobuo; Nga notices her brother-in-law's beauty, and intends to get rid of her sister. Trachanlan asks his father-in-law to not allow Nzi out of the house, for he is going on a journey to the country of the tyams. While he is away. Nga convinces her sister to go for a walk on the beach, despite Zobuo's orders against it. Nzi takes an orange and an egg with her, and is murdered by Nga, who goes home to pass herself off as Trachanlan's wife. The Sun, a relative of Trachanlan, witnesses the murders and orders two fishes to come fetch Nzi's body. Nzi revives and, after four days, goes back to the shore with a son in tow (since she was pregnant), and plants the orange in the ground. A large orange tree sprouts. The egg she carried with her hatched and produced a rooster. Later, Trachanlan oars around and comes to buy some oranges from a boy (not knowing the boy as his son). They recognize each other and sail together back home - after Trachanlan, in serpent form, fought a sea deity - and rejoin with their family. The boy hits Nga on the head with a plate, but Trachanlan asks his son to forgive her, and go to the orange tree to call out for Nzi to come down the tree. The tale continues as Trachanlan goes away on another journey, and Nga tries to kill Nzi in two other occasions. After two more foiled attempts, she decides to find a snake for her to marry, hoping to repeat her sister's success. However, Nga finds a snake that devours her. Trachanlan learns of this and rescues his sister-in-law, despite her previous behaviour. Nga comes out of the snake's stomach alive, but scarred all over her body. Trachanlan warns her not to go out in the midday sun, but Nga does and turns into a lizard.

**Myanmar**

In a Burmese tale titled The Snake Prince, a widow lives in a cottage by the river with her three daughters, and earns her living by gathering firewood. She also tries to fetch fruits in the woods whenever she can. One day, she tries to find some fallen figs from a fig tree and, not finding any, insults the tree. Suddenly, a snake appears to her, with figs in its coils. The widow sees the figs and offers one of her daughters in marriage to the snake (whom she calls Lord Nāga): Ma U (the eldest), Ma Lat (the middle one) and Ma Htwe (the youngest). The snake releases the figs after it hears the proposition, and the widow seizes the opportunity to fetch the figs in a basket. On the road home, the woman passes by a tree stump, a hillock and a boulder, to which she gives a fig if they lies to the snake that she passes by them. The snake, a Naga, follows the widow to her cottage, and passes by the tree stump, the hillock and the boulder, and creeps into a rice pot. The widow opens up the lid and the snake coils itself around her arm, chastising her for trying to trick it. The widow repeats her offer for the snake to release her arm, and goes to talk to her daughters: the elder two refuse to marry the snake, but Ma Htwe agrees to be with the reptile, gives some milk and rice to ti and takes it in a basket to her room. The next morning, Ma Htwe has a dream that a man came in and embraced her. Her mother says she will check into the matter and, that same night, sees a human youth coming out of the snake's basket and embracing her youngest daughter. She takes the snakeskin and throws it in the fire. The human snake begins to writhe in pain; Ma Htwe wakes up and goes to the kitchen to fetch some cool water and pours it on the youth's skin. After curing his burning, the youth explains he is a Naga Prince, and, without his snakeskin, shall live as a mortal beside her. Ma Htwe and the Naga Prince move out to a cottage and have a son they name Kin Shwe (Prince Golden). The Naga Prince decides to find work with a merchant, and sails away, leaving his family alone to deal with the elder sisters' envy, who plot to get rid of Ma Htwe. They approach hr and try to draw her out of her house, but she stays home. One day, they convince her to accompany them for a picnic near a mango tree, for old times' sake, so they could play at a swing. Ma Htwe climbs onto the swing and is shoved by her sisters into the sea, but she and her child are rescued by a large stork. Meanwhile, the Naga Prince is coming back from his journey, and listens to his wife's voice, and finds her in the stork's nest. He makes a deal with the large bird and rescues his wife. The Naga Prince wants to punish his sisters-in-law with death, but Ma Htwe decides they must be publicly shamed, so he places his wife in an empty chest. When he disembarks, he asks his sisters-in-law to carry the heavy chest to the village. They open the chest, and out comes Ma Htwe and her son.

