THE LEGEND of SURABAYA

A long time ago in East Java, there were two strong animals, Sura and Baya. Sura was a shark, and Baya was a crocodile. They lived in the sea. Although they were friends, they became very greedy when they were hungry. They didn’t want to share their food and would fight over it, never stopping until one of them gave up.

One very hot day, Sura and Baya were looking for food. Suddenly, Baya saw a goat.

“Yummy, this is my lunch,” said Baya.

“No way! This is my lunch. You’re greedy! I haven’t eaten for two days!” said Sura.

Sura and Baya began to fight again. After several hours, they were both very tired. Sura then had an idea to stop their bad behavior.

“I’m tired of fighting, Baya,” said Sura.

“Me too. What should we do to stop fighting? Do you have any ideas?” asked Baya.

“Yes, I do. Let’s share our territory. I’ll live in the water and look for food in the sea. You live on the land, so you can look for food on the land. The border will be the beach, so we will never meet again. Do you agree?” asked Sura.

“Hmm... let me think about it. OK, I agree. From today on, I will never go to the sea again. My place is on the land,” said Baya.

So, they both lived in different places.

But one day, Sura went to the land and looked for food in the river. He was very hungry because there wasn’t much food in the sea. Baya was furious when he realized that Sura had broken their promise.

“Hey, what are you doing here? This is my place. Your place is in the sea!” Baya shouted.

“But there’s water in the river, right? So, this is also my place!” said Sura.

Sura and Baya fought again. They attacked each other fiercely. Sura bit Baya’s tail, and Baya did the same to Sura, biting him very hard until Sura finally gave up and returned to the sea.

Baya was very happy to have his place back. The area where they fought was a mess, with blood everywhere. People then began to talk about the fight between Sura and Baya. They named the place of the fight Surabaya, combining the names of Sura the shark and Baya the crocodile.

People also made their fight the symbol of the city of Surabaya.