Folklore And Fairy Tales

The Origin of Surabaya City

In the past, in the vast sea there were frequent fights between Shark Sura and Crocodile Baya. They fight only because they are fighting for their prey.

Both are equally strong, equally agile, equally astute, equally ferocious, and equally greedy.

Many times they have fought no one has won or lost until they finally made a deal.

"I'm tired of constantly fighting, Baya," Sura said.

"Me too, Sura.What should we do so we don't fight anymore?" ask Baya

Sura who already had plans to stop her fight with Baya immediately explained her idea.

"To prevent a fight between us, we should divide the area of power in two. I am fully in the water and must seek prey in the water, while you are in power on the land and your prey must be on the land. As the boundary between land and water, we determine the boundary, which is the place reached by sea water at high tide!" Said Sura.

"I agree with your idea!" said Baya.

With the division of the territory, there were no more fights between Sura and Baya. The two have agreed to respect their respective territories.

But one day, Sura was looking for prey in the river. This is done by stealth so that Baya does not know. At first, this was not discovered.

But one day Baya caught Sura's actions.Of course Baya was very angry to see Sura breaking her promise.

"Hi Sura, why did you break the rules we both agreed to? Why do you dare to enter the river that is my territory?" ask Baya.

Sura who felt innocent just calm down.

"I broke the deal? Is not this river watering. Didn't I tell you that I am the ruler of the water? Well, this river will have water, so it also includes my territory, "Sura said.

"can't. I never said that in the water it was only sea water, but also river water" replied Sura?

"You're deliberately looking for something, Sura?" Tanya Baya growled.

"No! I thought my reason was strong enough and I was on the right side!" said Sura.

"You deliberately tricked me. I'm not as stupid as you think!" baya said getting angry.

"I don't care if you're stupid or smart, the important thing is that the river water and the sea water are my power!" Sura won't lose.

Since no one was willing to budge, then the fierce battle between the Sura Shark and the Crocodile-aged happened again. The fight this time is getting more exciting and terrible.

They hit each other and pounced, biting and hitting each other. In an instant, the water around him became red with blood coming out from the wounds of the two beasts. They continued to fight desperately without any rest at all.

In this terrible fight, Baya gets a bite of Sura at the base of his tail on the right. Furthermore, his tail was forced to always bend to the left.

While Sura was also bitten by her tail until it almost broke off, then Sura returned to the ocean. Baya is satisfied to have been able to defend his area.

The fight between Shark named Sura and Crocodile named Baya is very effective in the hearts of the people of Surabaya.

Therefore, the name Surabaya is always associated with this event. From this event then made the symbol of Surabaya City.that is the picture of shark sura and crocodile baya.

But there are also some opinions, the origin of Surabaya baerasal from the words Sura and Baya.

Sura means Jaya or congratulations. Baya means danger, so Surabaya means "good to face danger".