Luh Ayu Manik Mas, Making a Mobile Library

Luh Ayu Manik Mas, Making a Mobile Library Ni Madé Ari Dwijayanthi BASAbali

Luh Ayu Manik’s mother was late picking her up from school, so she sat on the floor of the satpam, the school security post, and fiddled around on her phone. Sometimes she would laugh, then look serious again. She jumped up a few minutes later and sat down again. Her mother, who sold small offerings at the temple and was sometimes very busy, still had not arrived. Luh Ayu Manik often asked to ride her motorcycle to school so she wouldn’t have to wait, but her mother said it was not a good idea. Luh Ayu Manik decided to look through her school bag. Inside was a teen magazine and some books from an art exhibition she had visited. She thought for a moment about taking them out while she waited, but then she decided to keep looking at her phone. There was plenty of knowledge and books online, she thought.

Finally, Luh Ayu Manik called her mother. "Where are you? Why haven’t you come to get me?" Her mother replied, "Just wait a while, my child, I’m still busy selling." Luh Ayu Manik asked if she could get a ride home on a motorcycle taxi. Her mother said yes. "If the driver is a man," she reminded her daughter, "don’t put your arms around him and be sure to put your bag between his back and your chest." Luh Ayu Manik grinned and said, "Yes, boss!" before hanging up.

The ojek she had called arrived quickly, and Luh Ayu Manik hopped on. The driver asked for her address and she gave it to him as they moved along slowly. After a few minutes, the motorcycle stopped. Because she had a helmet on, Luh Ayu Manik couldn’t hear the sound of loud voices shouting in the crowded street. A tourist’s bag had been snatched and he was calling for help.

"Help! Help, please!" the foreigner yelled in fear, turning this way and that. From where she sat, Luh Ayu Manik saw the thief getting away. She knew there was one way she could help, as Luh Ayu Manik Mas! She asked the driver to stop and quickly changed into her gold crown and special dress. Within moments she had caught the thief and knocked him to the ground. Traffic came to a standstill and many people stopped to watch as she fought the thief in the middle of the road.

With her supernatural powers, Luh Ayu Manik Mas overcame the bag snatcher. The thief rolled around on the road and begged for forgiveness. Many people on the street grumbled. "Because of this kind of behavior, the good name of Bali has been tarnished!" they said. The thief trembled with fear, then handed over the tourist's bag and was arrested by the police.

Luh Ayu Manik Mas returned the bag to the tourist. The man smiled and the two of them shook hands. The tourist thanked Luh Ayu Manik Mas, and asked her name. "You are welcome. My name is Luh Ayu Manik Mas." To show his gratitude, the man gave her a lovely book.

Luh Ayu Manik said goodbye, then quickly changed her clothing before returning to the ojek driver. Arriving at home, she saw that her mother had just arrived at home as well. After paying the driver, she followed her mother inside. The house wasn't big but inside was a room which she had named Room 21 . It was like a library filled with story books, educational books, and the latest model computer which she used to download more online books. She placed the book which the tourist had just given her on the bookshelf.

After changing out of her clothes, she went to the kitchen where her mother was waiting. She helped herself to some food and ate it while chatting with her mother. She told her mother of her plan to go to the market with her the following day. Her mother nodded in approval. After lunch, Luh Ayu Manik went back to Room 21 to study.

In addition to books and a computer, Room 21 also held palm leaf manuscripts that had been handed down to her by her ancestors. Today, Luh Ayu Manik had the urge to read the book she had been given by the tourist. The thick book was entitled, Encyclopedia, and was about all the countries of the world. She opened the book and the first page she saw was about Holland. Then she turned to other pages until she got to page thirty-three, which was about England. She hoped that one day she would get the opportunity to visit the countries mentioned in the book.

Her eyes grew heavy and before she knew it she had fallen asleep with her arms folded and her head on the desk. Someone was calling her from outside, but because she was fast asleep, she didn't hear them. Her mother looked out and saw that Luh Ayu Manik’s friends had come over for a visit. "Well … look who it is … Ayu Kinandari, Wayan and Made! Come in! Luh Ayu Manik is still studying in her room. Just wait here a moment and she'll be out soon." But instead of waiting, her friends decided to play a little trick on her. The three of them snuck into Room 21 to surprise Luh Ayu Manik. Wayan tapped her on the back.

"Hey Ayu, get up, get up!" he said. But she was so deeply asleep that Wayan had to pat her on the back again. "Get up, get up!" Only then did she realise that someone was tapping her on her back. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She was surprised to see her school friends standing before her.

Luh Ayu Manik showed them the encyclopedia, and they all sat down to read it together. After a while, Wayan reached for another book from the highest shelf. The book was covered in dust, tattered, and clearly had never been read. Luh Ayu Manik and her friends all wanted to look inside it. But when they opened it, they saw that it contained frightening images and sacred writings in Balinese script. They were too scared to read it and decided to put it back.

Suddenly, a strong wind blew in out of nowhere and swirled around Room 21 .The friends were gripped with fear. The book on the shelf shook and flew about the room. Horrid demons sprang up from the pages of the book. Luh Ayu Manik’s friends were shocked and confused and wanted to run away. But they couldn’t move. They were like statues and couldn’t move their feet. Wayan and Made wanted to call out but their lips were sealed and they couldn’t speak. "Don't say anything – you will remain here … with your friends," bellowed the demon.

"Ha...Ha...ha...!" the demon laughed. "How do you feel Luh Ayu Manik? Scared? Go and try to contact your spirit friends, they won't be able to help you." Luh Ayu Manik and Ayu Kinandari stared at each other, bit their lips in fear, and clung to each other.

The demons appeared in strange forms: one was a snake that twisted itself around the desk, another appeared as a tiger roaring and clawing the books with its long, sharp claws and still another, in the form of a wild pig, trampled on the books. Luh Ayu Manik became angry seeing her books being destroyed by the demons. Her friends, however, were all still rooted in fear, unable to do anything. They went and hid behind a curtain in the room.

Unable to take any more of seeing her books being treated like this, Luh Ayu Manik transformed into Luh Ayu Manik Mas and prepared to fight the demons herself. The wild pig then said, "Hey, Luh Ayu Manik Mas. Why don't you pay us any attention? We are being eaten by moths and termites! This is why we have decided to come out from these books. Not only are we not read, we're not even picked up and cleaned! What's the point of people just having books without any intention of reading them or looking after them?"

After hearing the words of the demon, Luh Ayu Manik Mas replied, "What you say is true and now I am asking you to help by going back into the books. Don't run amok here – if the books are all destroyed, then nobody will be able to read them!" Then Luh Ayu Manik Mas rounded up all the demons and bundled them back into the books before changing back into her normal clothing

At last the demons disappeared. Only then did the friends find the courage to creep out from behind the curtain. They looked around in confusion. Made asked, "Where is the snake that was just here .... and the tiger .... and the wild pig?" Luh Ayu Manik answered. "They have all disappeared! Forget about them. You all heard what was demanded of us."

Luh Ayu Manik, Ayu Kinandari, Wayan and Made began tidying the books that were strewn about. They worked until night fell. As they finished, Luh Ayu Manik made a suggestion. They could donate these unread books to Peken Anyar and create a mobile library using bicycles. She wanted more children to have the chance to read. Her and her friends could also have more opportunities to read this way. And the demons would be happy too. Luh Ayu Manik felt proud that she could do something useful to help others. A mobile library could change the world with knowledge!