The Legend of Surabaya

A long time ago in East Java there were two strong animals, Sura and Baya. Sura was a shark and Baya was a crocodile. They lived in a sea. Actually, they were friends. But when they were hungry, they were very greedy. They did not want to share their food. They would fight for it and never stop fighting until one of them gave up.

It was a very hot day. Sura and Baya were looking for some food.

Suddenly, Baya saw a goat: “Yummy, this is my lunch,” said Baya.

Sura    : “No way! This is my lunch. You are greedy! I had not eaten for two days!”.

Then Sura and Baya fought again. After several hours, they were very tired.

Baya    : “I’m tired of fighting”

Sura    : “Me too.

Baya    : “What should we do to stop fighting? Do you have any idea?”

Sura    : “Yes, I do. Let’s share our territory. I live in the water, so I look for food in the sea. And you live on the land, right? So, you look for the food also on the land. Do you agree?”

Baya    : “Hmm... let me think about it. OK, I agree. From today, I will never go to the sea again. My place is on the land”.

Then they both lived in the different places. But one day, Sura went to the land and looked for some food. Baya was very angry when he knew that Sura broke the promise.

Baya    : “Hey, what are you doing here? This is my place. Your place is in the sea!”

Then Sura and Baya fought again. They both hit each other. Sura bit Baya’s tail. Baya did the same thing to Sura. The place where they were fighting was a mess. Blood was everywhere.

People named the place of the fight as Surabaya, it’s from Sura the shark and Baya the crocodile. People also put their fight as the symbol of Surabaya city.