The Legend of Latu and Princess Bawi Nante

The Legend of Latu and Princess Bawi Nante

A Folktale of the Nusantara

Long ago, when rivers were believed to carry the whispers of the spirits and the wind served as the messenger of the unseen, there lived a young nobleman from the Leihitu Peninsula of Central Maluku, known as Latu Samalaha. He was a skilled sailor with a gentle soul, a man who trusted that the sea and the wandering winds would always guide him toward the destiny written for him.

One season, as the eastern winds blew stronger than ever, Latu’s ship was swept into a violent storm. The furious waves carried him far west far from the shores of Maluku. Days later, his battered vessel drifted into the greenish-clear waters of a great river: the Kahayan River, the lifeline of the Dayak Ngaju people.

There, he was rescued by warriors from Kahayan Hulu Utara. Among them was a young woman whose presence shone like morning light through the dense forest mist, Princess Bawi Nante, daughter of the tribal chief and descendant of the ancient keepers of Kaharingan wisdom.

Bawi Nante was famed not only for her beauty, but also for her deep knowledge of the forest how to read the signs of the wind, how to interpret the river’s murmur, and how to heal with herbs gathered from sacred groves.

When Latu opened his eyes after the storm, the first face he saw was hers. In that moment, the river itself seemed to pause.

Days turned into weeks. Latu stayed in the longhouse, learning to weave rattan mats, to track footsteps in the forest, and to listen to stories of river spirits. Meanwhile, Bawi Nante learned from him the secrets of the stars, the songs of the Maluku seas, and the tales carried by island winds.

Between two world, the sea and the river a love quietly bloomed.

But destiny soon tested their bond.
Bawi Nante’s family feared that Latu, being a man of the sea, would take their daughter far from the Kahayan lands. On the other hand, the elders from Maluku who came searching for Latu worried that he had forgotten his heritage.

In the end, Latu and Bawi Nante stood at a crossroads:
the sea called Latu home, while the river begged Bawi Nante to stay.

On the last night before Latu departed, they sat by the riverbank beneath a sky heavy with stars. Bawi Nante whispered,
“If the river and the sea ever meet, I will find you again.”

And Latu replied,
“If the winds from the east meet the winds from the west, my heart will return to you.”

They parted—not because love faded, but because the worlds that shaped them demanded different loyalties.

Yet the old people of the Kahayan believe that once each year, the soft winds blowing from the Maluku seas float gently across their river. And they say it is Latu Samalaha, returning to visit the memory of his beloved, Princess Bawi Nante.

Their love did not vanish;
it became legend,
it became wind,
it became a story carried forever between the river and the tides.