The Legend of Ruteng Pu'u

By, FebriJansen

Ruteng Pu'u is one of the oldest villages in Manggarai Regency, that has originated in the city of Ruteng as capital city of Manggarai Regency.  The term Ruteng Pu'u in the Manggarai language is "Beo Ruteng Pu'u".

In ancient times some of the ancestors as the first people who inhabited Ruteng Pu'u wanted to build their village, namely Ruteng Pu'u village, by going through the forest to look for large wood to be used as blocks as one of the materials for making traditional houses in Manggarai language "  ngo coco balok ".  In the forest they look for a tree that is big enough and hard by spraying the outside of the tree trunk to make a block.  When they insert some trees in the middle of the forest.  They heard that a group of people were hunting wild boar "motang" as in Manggarai language.  Whereas the people who hunt wild boar are delicate creatures or genies whose local designation is "darat".  The wild boar that was killed by a group of genies ran to the area where the people of Ruteng Pu'u were making blocks.  But what is seen by the people of Ruteng pu'u is not a wild boar, but actually only a little mouse.  Immediately also one of the people of Ruteng Pu'u cut the little mouse.  There came the genies who hunted the rat, who regarded him as a wild boar.  Then the genies asked the whereabouts of the wild boar that ran to the Ruteng Pu'u community who were making blocks.  One of the Ruteng Pu'u communities answered them that he only saw a mouse who ran towards one of the Ruteng Pu'u communities and cut the mouse.  To show the truth, one of the Ruteng Pu'u communities shows the mouse by trading its tail.  Simultaneously the hunting genies were shocked to see one of the Ruteng Pu'u people who slashed and held a wild boar with one hand, even though what the Ruteng pu'u saw was a mousse.  Immediately the genies prepared ropes and wood to carry the mice whose eyes were wild boar.  But one of the Ruteng Pu'u people, who held the mouse, helped the genies for that person who brought their game to where the genies lives.  The genies are very grateful and thankful, as a favor, the genies helped propel the blocks from the Ruteng Pu'u community to the Ruteng Pu'u village.  At that time, when the Ruteng Pu'u and genies in the Ruteng Pu'u village were unorganized, the Ruteng Pu'u people wanted to build a village local named beo.  The genies are still grateful and thank them to give another favor for the peoples of Ruteng Pu'u by arranging the village development area at the request of the people of Ruteng Puu.  With the agreement of the genies, that they do the arrangement at night and all pet dogs are tied.  In the middle of the night the genies did the construction of the Ruteng Pu'u village development area.  When it arrived before dawn the genies reorganized, a dog's barking was awakened by one of the residents urinating.  Because the barking dogs of the genies also ran away and disappeared.  Arriving at sunrise, in the morning the Ruteng Pu'u community saw the construction area of ​​the Ruteng Pu'u village already neatly arranged with rocks like the one in front of the Ruteng Pu'u village.  The altar of the composition of rocks in the Manggarai language "compang" which has been arranged by the genies.  From that moment on, there was the village of Ruteng Pu'u.

References; Youtube video Asal Usul Beo Ruteng by Andre Yuris. On interview with Mr.  Lambertus Dapur (ahead of Ruteng Pu'u Village "Tu'a Golo)