Tales from the Indonesian Archipelago (Mythology Anthologies) by Samuel DenHartog

The Indonesian archipelago holds far more than beautiful islands and ancient ruins. It is home to hundreds of peoples whose stories describe layered heavens, underwater kingdoms, sacred forests, ancestral founders, divine animals, tricksters, healers, judges of the dead, and beings who shaped the first land from a world of water. This collection gathers tales from the Toba Batak, Ngaju Dayak, Iban, Toraja, Nias, Minahasa, Wemale, Asmat, Biak, Sundanese, and other traditions spread across Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Seram, Flores, Java, and Papua. Some figures create humanity, some protect fields and rivers, some guide souls beyond death, and some bring terror from the darkness outside the village. Here are stories of Boru Deak Parujar battling the serpent beneath the earth, Lakipadada searching for immortality, Nyai Roro Kidul ruling the Southern Sea, Sangumang surviving through wit and daring, and Kweiya becoming the brilliant bird of paradise. Strange, dramatic, and deeply tied to the lands that gave them birth, these myths offer a journey through one of the richest and least familiar storytelling worlds on earth.