MyStory

"Arte (factually) Speaking" Story-Writing Competition

Shortlisted Entry (Upper Primary Category)

Contest ID: 71

Name: Lin Kai Qi
Gender: Female
Age: 11-year-old
NRIC: SXXXX282F
Nationality: Singaporean
School: Bukit Timah Primary School

Artefact: A Pair of Earth Spirits

Museum: Asian Civilisations Museum

Image from Collections of Asian Civilisations Museum

The figurine

Centuries ago……In Java, Indonesia, there was a shabby, run-down village. In one of the houses, there lived Suem and his brother, Rit. Since young, their parents had abandoned them, leaving the brothers to beg on the streets.

Rit’s dream was to be a great general but he knew his dream would never be fulfilled. That was until one day, when a renowned potter took pity on them and took Suem as his apprentice. From that day onwards, the brothers never begged again. Rit trained himself every day, building up his strength and speed. On the day Rit became seventeen, he was selected into the army.

One day, Rit saved the king from being assassinated. So the grateful king made him a general and gave him a national treasure - the winged horse. Since that day, Rit rode on his powerful horse into every battle, winning all of them.

Along with his horse, Rit became the unbeatable warrior in the kingdom. Nobody dared to attack Java and the kingdom was peaceful and stable. Many decades passed, Rit and Suem were aging and Rit was no longer the unbeatable general.

Java’s neighbouring country, Sumatra, decided it was the ripe time to attack. Java was not ready and had made no preparations. Panicking, the king sent out Rit along with his army. His soldiers had not trained for a long time and were useless. In just one day, the army was destroyed. Rit’s army ran out of food and many soldiers had escaped. Rit’s head was chopped off by the other side’s general.

Upon knowing the news, Suem was devastated but he decided to make a figurine of his brother on the battle field. He tried to create a flawless figurine, throwing away the ones he was not satisfied with.

After ten years, he completed a perfect one. A bright smile appeared on his weary face…

(309 words)