Penduduk mulai cemas dan menghadap ke Raja. “Sudah lama tak turun hujan. Ladang kami tandus!” kata para petani. “Tak ada ikan untuk ditangkap. Bagaimana bisa kita hidup?” tanya para nelayan. “Selamatkan kami dari bencana, wahai Raja kami yang baik,” desak para wanita, anak mereka menangis karena kehausan.
Raja lalu mengirim empat jenderalnya ke seluruh penjuru untuk mencari air. Jenderal pertama pergi ke timur, ke arah matahari terbit; yang kedua pergi ke selatan, ke arah yang berdebu dan panas; yang ketiga pergi ke arah barat, di mana matahari terbenam; dan yang keempat pergi mengikuti bintang utara.
Mereka mencari siang dan malam, malam dan siang; mereka mencari kemana-mana, tapi sia-sia. Tiga jenderal itu pun kembali, dengan tangan kosong. Tapi jenderal yang pergi ke arah utara bermaksud takkan melalaikan tugas dari Raja. Akhirnya, ia sampai di sebuah desa berpegunungan dingin.
Ketika ia duduk di kaki gunung, seorang wanita tua menghampirinya dan duduk di sampingnya, jenderal itu menunjuk ke arah cakrawala sambil berkata, “Aku berasal dari sebuah kerajaan yang indah, di mana setahun ini belum turun hujan. Bisa kamu menolongku untuk menemukan air?”
Wanita itu pun mengisyaratkan agar jenderal itu mengikutinya naik ke gunung dan masuk ke sebuah gua. “Kami juga tak punya air di negeri kami,” kata wanita itu. Lalu, ia menunjuk tetesain air beku di gua dan melanjutkan: “Kami menyebutnya es. Ambillah beberapa, dan kerajaanmu tak akan kehausan lagi.” Jenderal itu memecahkan sebongkah besar es, lalu mengisinya ke dalam kereta kuda dan buru-buru pulang.
Sesampainya ia di istana, bongkahan besar es telah meleleh menjadi genangan air. Tak seorang pun di istana itu yang pernah melihat es, jadi mereka pun menatapnya dengan penasaran. “Ini pasti benihnya air!” seru seorang menteri tiba-tiba. Raja lalu memerintahkan agar ‘benih air’ itu segera ditanam.
Saat para petani menggali lubang, genangan air itu semakin berkurang karena matahari. Mereka cepat-cepat menempatkan benih itu ke dalam lubang, sebelum sempat mereka tutup, genangannya telah hilang sama sekali. Para petani itu pun cemas dan bingung. Mereka lalu menggali lebih jauh ke dalam tanah, sepanjang malam, untuk mencari benih ajaib itu.
Saat pagi datang, Raja menemukan para petaninya tertidur di sekeliling sebuah lubang. Penasaran, ia pun mengintip ke dalam dan berteriak takjub: “Bangunlah, pria-pria hebatku—benih airnya mulai tumbuh! Ada air di dalam lubang!”
Dan begitulah bagaimana sumur pertama tercipta.
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The First Well
Retold by BookBox
There once was a small kingdom around a lake. One very hot summer, it did not rain and the lake dried up. People grew anxious and went to the King. “It has not rained for so long. Our fields are barren!” said the farmers. “There are no fish to catch. How shall we earn a living?” asked the fishermen. “Save us from disaster, good King,” urged the women, as their children cried with thirst.
The King sent his four generals in all directions to look for water. The first general went east, towards the sunrise; the second went south, to the dust and heat; the third went west, where the sun sets; and the fourth followed the North Star.
They searched day and night, night and day; high and low they searched everywhere, but in vain. Three of the generals returned, empty-handed. But the general who had gone north was determined not to fail his King. At last, he reached a cold mountain village.
As he sat at the foot of the mountain, an old woman came by and sat next to him. The general pointed at the horizon and said, “I belong to a beautiful kingdom, where it has not rained for a whole year. Can you help me find water?”
The woman motioned the general to follow her up the mountain and into a cave. “We have no water in our country either,” she said. Then, pointing to the icicles in the cave, she continued: “We call this ice. Take some, and your kingdom will never go thirsty again.” The general broke off a huge piece, loaded it onto his horse-cart and rushed back home.
By the time he reached the court, the enormous icicle had melted into a small lump of ice. Nobody in the court had ever seen ice, so everybody gazed at it with wonder. “This must be a water-seed!” one of the ministers exclaimed suddenly. The King ordered the ‘water-seed’ to be sowed immediately.
While the farmers dug a hole, the lump dwindled in the sun. They swiftly placed the seed in the hole, but before they could cover it up, it had vanished. The farmers there grew confused and worried. They dug deeper and deeper into the earth, all night long, looking for the mysterious seed.
At the break of dawn, the King found the farmers fast asleep around a hole. Curious, he peeped in and cried out in amazement: “Wake up, my worthy men – the water-seed has sprouted! There’s water in the hole!”
This is how the first well was created.
