Long, long ago, in a place called Achik Asong, lived a hardworking man named Jarong. He was always busy, cutting wood from the forest and bamboo from the groves, selling them at the market, and buying everything his family needed.
Jarong’s wife was incredibly beautiful, and his son was like a little prince. More than anything else in the world, Jarong loved his wife and son. He would do everything in his power, and sometimes even more, to keep them happy. But his wife and son had a habit of getting upset and staying that way until they got whatever they asked for. They were never easily satisfied.
One bright full moon night, after dinner, Jarong was sitting in the courtyard with his family. Suddenly, his son pointed at the moon in the sky and started to cry. “Dad, get me the moon! I want to play with the moon!” Jarong tried to explain patiently that the moon wasn’t something you could just grab like candy. It was far, far away. But his son, used to being pampered, wouldn’t give up. He screamed “I want the moon! I want the moon!” until the whole neighborhood could hear him.
His mother, tired of her son’s relentless crying, turned to Jarong. “Do you want our son to cry himself to death?” she snapped. “Can’t you actually get him the moon if you really wanted to? If you just put your mind to it, you could build a long ladder to reach the moon!”
Jarong was heartbroken by his wife’s harsh words, and his judgment seemed to vanish. He started to think, “She’s right! Can’t I build a ladder to the moon if I really try?” With that thought, Jarong set out to build his ladder. He gathered piles of wood and bamboo. He brought together all the iron he could find, creating a massive heap. After all, if he was going to climb that high, the ladder needed to be strong! Then, with his nephew’s help, he began building.
Day after day, the work on the ladder continued. Jarong’s mind was completely consumed by it. He often forgot to bathe, and sometimes even forgot to eat. His wife and son paid him no mind. All his son wanted was the moon, and all his wife wanted was her son’s happiness. No one thought about Jarong.
Slowly, steadily, the ladder grew. Jarong climbed higher and higher with it. One day, he saw that his ladder had finally touched the clouds. A great hope surged through him. He thought, “Now I can bring down the moon!” He shouted down to his nephew, who was waiting below, “Bring more bamboo! Bring more bamboo!” But from such a great distance, his nephew and wife couldn’t quite understand him clearly. They thought Jarong had already gotten the moon and was telling them to lower the ladder. So, his nephew quickly grabbed a huge machete and cut the fastenings of the ladder. With a whoosh, the impossibly long ladder crashed to the ground. And Jarong? He was carried away by the wind and vanished. No one ever found his body.
For a long time, they waited in the same spot, hoping Jarong would return with the moon in his hand. But there was no moon, and no Jarong! Jarong had surely died and become a ghost by then. After a long wait, when Jarong still didn’t appear, his wife scoffed, “He must have run away to the land of the moon!” With that, they stopped thinking about Jarong and comfortably spent the days living off the money he had earned.
They say that the fallen part of the ladder Jarong built to the moon formed a mountain called Jazong Kadaram. Even today, you can see the peak of that mountain from Achik Asong, and people sigh, remembering the unfortunate Jarong.