Sometimes, when she looked down at the earth, far below her, and saw people busy at their various tasks, she would sigh, "Oh, if only I could be an ordinary mortal!" -
And when her father had gone forth to do battle with the giants and the demons of the air, she would mourn because she could not go with him. When he came back, she would be pouting and out of humor.
"Oh, I already know of someone who could be my husband, Father/' the little goddess cried happily.
"Who can that be?" her father demanded. "Not one of those awful air giants, I hope. Because I absolutely forbid you to marry the son of one of my enemies."
"Oh, no, Father, it's not one of the buatas. And he doesn't live in the air, nor in the gods 7 heaven, either. He lives on the earth. Look down . . . you can see him now. He's that handsome young man who is plowing the rice field that lies on the side of the hill."
"But that's the son of a man!" her father said angrily. "He's an ordinary mortal! You can't marry him; you are the daughter of a god! You shall never marry him. I won't permit it!"
"But I will marry him!" Tisna Wati shrieked, stamping her tiny foot. "I will never marry anyone else. He shall be my husband even if I have to leave this place forever."
"And I say that you shall never marry him!" her father stormed. "I'd rather change you into a rice stalk. And let me tell you that just as soon as possible I will choose a son of one of the gods to be your husband. Do you understand?"
When Tisna Wati saw how angry her father was, she was afraid that her fate would be the same as that of Dewi Sri, the lovely wife of the great god Vishnu, who disobeyed her husband and was killed by him and changed into a rice stalk. It was her deathless spirit that lived in the fields of rice, the sawahs.
But Tisna Wati was not as meek as Dewi Sri. She would never let herself be changed into a rice stalk. And certainly she would never, never marry a son of one of the gods! She had set her heart on the handsome young mortal, plowing his fields on the hillside.
Egrly the next day her father left to seek a husband for her. But just as he was setting out, word came to him that the giants of the air and the evil demons were threatening the gods again, and he would have to go to war against them.
"When I come back, however, bring your husband with me," he said to his daughter.
Tisna Wati said meekly, 'Very well, Father." But as soon as he had left, she leaped on the wings of the wind and was floated down to earth. The wind was kind to her and took her close to the hillside where the young man was plowing his rice field.
Tisna Wati said to herself, "Now I can really see him close/' And she sat down on the slope of the hill to wait for the young man to notice her.
When he turned at the end of a row, he saw her. And he thought she was as beautiful as a vision. He came to her and said, wonderingly, ''What are you looking for, lovely maiden?'
"I'm looking for my husband/ Tisna Wati answered, laughing.
It was such a strange answer that the young man began to laugh, too, and they laughed together. They laughed because they were happy and in love, and the sound of their laughter rose to the heavens. That was their undoing.
For when their voices reached the place where Tisna Wati's father was battling against the giants and the demons, he heard it. He stopped and listened. That was his daughter's voice! And the voice of a strange young man! He bent and looked toward the earth . . . and there he saw his daughter,
sitting beside a handsome young man, and their joyous laughter was louder to him than the noise of battle.
Raving with anger, Batara Guru gave up the battle with his enemies and flew down to earth. When he came to the hillside where his daughter sat beside the young man, he thundered, "Come with me at once! I'm taking you back to
the gods' heaven."
But Tisna Wati had no desire to return to the gods' heaven. She was in love with the young man, and her love was stronger than her father's will.
"No," she said firmly, "I am never going back. I'd rather become an ordinary mortal and stay here on earth with my beloved."
"Then stay you shall!" her father roared angrily. "But not as the daughter of a god, and not as a mortal, either! You shall become a rice stalk and your spirit shall become one with this rice field." Even as he spoke, Tisna Wati changed from a goddess into a slim rice stalk.
When the slender rice stalk bent toward the young man, he stroked it with loving fingers. His plowing was forgotten, everything was forgotten, and in his sorrow he could only gaze at the graceful stalk that had been his beloved Tisna Wati.
When Batara Guru saw this, he was overcome with remorse. "I could have left them together," he said. "Now I cannot change her back . . . she must remain a rice stalk forever, for her spirit is already here in this rice field. But
perhaps I could change him into a rice stalk, too/'
When he had done this, he saw how the two stalks bent toward each other, as if they were telling how much they loved one another. He watched them a while, and shook his great head. "It is well/' he muttered to himself, and flew back to the gods' heaven.
And ever since that day, the story says, the spirit of Tisna Wati has been in the mountain rice, just as the spirit of Dewi Sri is in the sawah rice.
But where the spirit of the handsome young man went, no one knows.
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