Once upon a time, there was a kingdom in Lombok island ruled by a king named King Tonjang Beru. He was a wise king. He had a queen named Dewi Seranting. He also had a beautiful daughter named Princess Mandalika. It is said that Princess Mandalika is the prettiest girl in the whole island. Everyone knows about the beauty and goodness of Princess Mandalika, even people of other kingdoms around the island.
Prince of the entire place wants to marry her. One by one, they came to propose her. Princess Mandalika is a good girl. He hated to make people sad. So, when the prince came to propose, she was very confused. She could not decide, and she did not want to make them sad. She also did not want to cause a war happened because of her.
To solve these problems, the King Tonjang Beru then held a competition on the beach Seger Kuta. He called on all prince to take part in the archery competition. The rule is simple, anyone shoot at targets with perfect to be accepted as the future husband of Princess Mandalika. One by one, all the participants tried their best. After some time, there is no winner. All participants were great in archery.
Because there are no winners, all participants started arguing. They claim to be the best. The argument was getting hot. Finally, they all fighting. Soon, the fighting becomes larger. It was like a war, because all the prince brought their troops in the archery competition. Princess Mandalika really worried. She did not want the war getting bigger and hurt many people. Finally, she had an idea.
"Everybody, listen up! I know you all love me and want me to be your wife. But I do not want you to fight for me. And I do not want you to be sad either. I want you all to have me, but not as your wife. I want to be someone that people can have," said the Princess Mandalika.
King Tonjang Beru and all the other people on the beach did not understand what she meant. He then came to her. But suddenly, Princess Mandalika jumped into the sea. She disappeared in a big wave. Everyone was surprised. It was chaos on the beach. All the prince tried to swim to find the princess, but they did not find anything.
After several hours of trying to find the princess, suddenly they find a lot of colorful sea worms on the beach. King Tonjang Beru later realized that her daughter has returned as marine worms. The worms then called nyale. Until recently, people in Lombok are always trying to catch nyale. Nyale very tasty and that is why many people come to Lombok to catch it. However, they can only be found once a year, in February or March. The tradition of catching marine worm called Bau Nyale.
