Tuesday 10 July 2012

Shorty July: Oscar Wilde's The Young King



I knew I had to write some Oscar Wilde the first time I joined this meme. I've been thinking of writing about something from The House of Pomegranates, but I have to leave out Fisherman and His Soul today, for I'm not emotionally strong enough to tell my thoughts decently. So I come to the less-heartbreaking story, which is the story of The Young King.



In Bahasa:

Cerita ini mirip dengan cerita-cerita dongeng pada umumnya, bercerita tentang seorang raja yang masih muda dan berasal dari kalangan biasa. Sang raja begitu menyenangi barang-barang yang indah dan terobsesi dengan hobinya itu. Sang raja akan dilantik, dan ia sudah memesan pakaian, mahkota, dan tongkat kerajaan yang begitu megah dan indah untuknya.

Pada malam sebelum ia dimahkotai, sang raja mendapat tiga mimpi. Ketiga mimpi ini memperlihatkan kepada sang raja harga yang harus dibayar orang lain untuk memuaskan keinginan egoisnya. Sang raja pun terbangun, shock dan merasa bersalah.

Ia akhirnya memilih untuk tidak mengenakan satu pun dari barang-barang yang telah ia pesan. Sang raja berangkat dengan mengenakan baju biasa yang ia pakai sebelum menjadi raja, dan mahkota dari jalinan daun dan tongkat kayu. Orang-orang menertawakannya, namun ia tidak peduli. Sang uskup menolak memulai upacara tersebut, dan beberapa kesatria ingin membunuh sang raja, yang mereka nilai menghina negara mereka dengan penampilannya. Namun, saat sang raja berbalik, ia terlihat begitu agung, karena Tuhan sendiri yang memahkotainya.

Cerita ini sebenarnya sangat sederhana, namun mengandung pelajaran yang berharga. Beberapa kalimat terus melekat dalam benakku, seperti:

“'Will they not know me for a king if I have not a king’s raiment?' 'They will not know thee, My Lord'”

Kalimat itu tampak begitu kontras dengan kutipan terkenal dari William Shakespeare, “My crown is in my heart, and not on my head.”

“‘Shall Joy wear what Grief has fashioned?’”

Cerita pendek ini begitu penuh dengan pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang menggelitik hati kita untuk melihat apa yang sebenarnya terjadi di dunia ini, tempat si kaya dan si miskin begitu jauh berbeda, dan masing-masing saling tidak peduli pada yang lainnya.

In English:

This is a story about a young king who loved beautiful and rich things, and for his coronation , he asked the best that he could get for his garments, his sceptre and his crown. But at the night before his coronation, he saw three dreams, each showing him what the others must pay for his luxury. He woke up in horror and guilt after seeing such a dreadful nightmare.

In the morning, he refused to wear the clothes, sceptre, and crown, beautiful as they were, but he chose to wear a simple raiment instead. His servants protested, as they thought it would not befit a king to be crowned in such appearance. Even the bishop that was to crown him refused him. But in the end, the Lord himself crowned the young king with great splendour.

The story is actually very simple, easy to understand, but contains so many precious lessons for us. I can't throw away some sentences from my mind, such as:

“Will they not know me for a king if I have not a king’s raiment?”
“Are not the rich and the poor brothers?”
“Shall Joy wear what Grief has fashioned?”

In this world where the rich and the poor live in different dimension, each neither think nor understand each other's problem and sufferings, those questions I found very touching.  

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