Published in the International Herald Tribune
8 February 2001

WANT A BUSINESS BOOST?
MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE DRAGON PRINCESS

by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski © 2001

KOMODO VILLAGE, Komodo National Park, Indonesia

It never hurts a wannabe businessman to have the support of the Dragon Princess.

Aside from several high-powered local businessmen who allegedly made their fortunes selling rare and illegally-obtained reef fish to Chinese middlemen, Ishaka Mansur is far and away the most prominent businessman in Komodo National Park.

Ishaka, 54, carves wooden sculptures of Komodo dragons, the world's largest lizard, which is only found in this area some 500 kilometers east of Bali.

I found his house easily -- after all, his name is in the tourist guidebooks and Komodo village is a tiny place. He has enough business to sustain a workshop of some ten carvers, who whittle under his tutelage, much like the assembly-line studios of the great Renaissance painters. His statues sell for US$ 15 for a dragon not much bigger than your hand, up to more than US$ 250 for a full-size two-meter replica. That's good money in a region where poor fishermen are lucky to break into the cash economy at all.
And Ishaka owes it all to a special woman.

Like many romantic mysteries, the tale began on a tropical beach at night.

"It was in November, 1982, at the beginning of the rainy season," Ishaka remembers. "I was alone, and suddenly saw a beautiful woman came down from the mountains behind the village."
Ishaka's wife sits nearby and listens, with no obvious reaction.

Undoubtedly, she's heard it before.

Wearing a "Dragon Princess" T-shirt and a green sarong, Ishaka continues.

"This beautiful woman - much prettier than any movie star, suddenly said, 'Marry me'. I told her 'I have a wife'."

"She isn't as strong as me," the beautiful stranger replied.

Suddenly, Ishaka's pressure lamp went out. The beach became dark.
"I'm original Komodo," the strange woman said, switching from the national language of Bahasa Indonesia into an archaic form of the local dialect.

According to Ishaka, she urged him to go with her to her home in the mountains, but he refused, not wanting to worry his family by not returning to the village.

Nevertheless, they made a date for the following night. Ishaka was to come alone, and follow the river to the top of the mountain. She gave him an egg-shaped gray rock to show him the way.

"When I returned home that first night my wife was angry," Ishaka says. "She didn't believe my story. Then I took off my shirt and had naga, dragon, markings all over my neck and chest."

Ishaka explains this while sitting in his village home, decorated with a few old Dutch plates, Muslim prayers, and photos pasted on the wall showing him with the American ambassador, taken during a cultural exhibition in the distant Indonesian capital of Jakarta. A small crowd has crowded into his home to gawk at the visitor, and perhaps sell him some pearls. Outside, under a shade tree, his carvers continue a gentle chatter while they turn logs into souvenirs.

Ishaka explains that when he reached the summit a large stone suddenly turned into a palace. Then the woman appeared. "She told me to call her Ratu Puteri, Princess," Ishaka says. "She wore a fine silk sari, like an Indian, but she was a Komodo woman."

"It was strange and scary and I pleaded with her not to kill me," Ishaka recalls.

Instead, the Dragon Princess caused a door to open and Ishaka was ushered into a huge room with a table laden with all sorts of delicacies. "We sat on cushions on the floor while we ate. She explained that if I had a problem I should make an offering and she would appear to me as a naga," he explained, referring to the Hindu dragon based on the king cobra. "She said that if anyone in the village killed a dragon they would become crazy."

Then came the vocational advice.

"You must leave your job and start carving dragons," she instructed him.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

I examine his carvings. His statues are even sold in the United States through the assistance of The Nature Conservancy, which tries to develop income-generating activities in Komodo as a means to promote nature conservation.

I compliment him on the fluid nature of his sculptures, which are quite sophisticated compared to the clunky efforts of other Komodo carvers.

"All my wooden dragons are alive," Ishaka explains. "They have the Dragon Princess's essence."