Arissa Barbacena

GUNO AND KOYO

From Indonesia

Retold by Harold Courlander

SYNOPSIS:

Everywhere in Java, Sumatra and Celebes, the people know of two men named Guno and Koyo and whenever they hear of them they smile. For the name Guno means “helpful” and Guno is really a very unhelpful man; and while Koyo’s name means “rich,” Koyo in fact has no money at all. Whatever he manages to get his hands on, Guno the “helpful” one helps him lose. One time, Guno and Koyo robbed an old hadji”s home by digging a hole under the wall. Guno crawled in and gathered the valuables of the sleeping hadji and handed them to Koyo. But then, he saw the hadji’s colorful robe and he dressed it to himself. He thought that he will soil his new robe if he crawls to the hole. So instead of going through the hole, he used the door to step out of the house. On the other hand, Koyo expected that Guno will appear through the door so when he saw the dignified robed figure, he thought that it was the hadji. Guno who thought that the hadji was behind him ran away with Koyo, leaving the pile of loot. Because the two made so much noise, the neighbors were awakened and ran after them with sticks and sickles. Then, they came to the edge of the river and they had an argument whether the river is flooded or not. Koyo was not convinced by Guno that the river isn’t flooded so he asked the latter to try it first. Guno was embarrassed so he began to make swimming motions and called out to Koyo to jump also and so Koyo did. The villagers shouted at the two robbers to punish them but upon seeing Guno and Koyo swimming in a river that has been dry for months, they dropped their weapons and burst into laughter. They couldn’t bring themselves to punish silly fugitives. So today whenever a person tries to get out of a predicament by a ridiculous act, someone is sure to say: “Don’t go swimming in a dry riverbed.”

ANALYSIS:

The story is about the ridiculous actions of two men named Guno and Koyo for them to escape their punishment of stealing the hadji’s belongings. Although it is a humorous incident, there are some messages which we can get from it that we need to bear in mind. Guno and Koyo’s desire to become rich made them do such crime as robbery that they didn’t expect would turn the other way around. Instead of becoming wealthy, they were not able to get anything and they even got trouble. This supports the cliché which says: “No pain, no gain.” It tells us that in order for us to achieve our dreams and aspirations in life, hard work must be our main ingredient. We should also somehow think that those things that we get easily, we might also lose in just a blink of an eye or what we speak as “easy come, easy go.” It is better to have only few than have plenty but is a product of evil.

Humans are rational beings. Therefore, we have the capability of knowing what is right and what is wrong. This talks about our morality as human persons. It still depends on us what we are going to choose between the two. As individuals with morals and values, we should never deny our mistakes and wrongdoings but instead be accountable of our actions and decisions. In every act that we do, there’s always a consequence and all we have to do is bite the bullet. Running away from it will not change anything and will bring no good. Who wants to be haunted by his conscience anyway?