Scene 1 : Atu Belah Atu Betangkup

"Set in the Gayo highlands of Takengon, Aceh, "Atu Belah Atu Bertangkup" is a moving traditional legend about a loving mother named Paya who bears deep sorrow under a harsh husband during a time of severe famine. The tragic conflict unfolds when their young, innocent child accidentally lets the family's last food supply escape, triggering a fierce outburst from the father. With her heart completely broken and having reached her emotional limit, the mother walks away into the forest toward a mystical splitting stone known as Atu Belah. Despite her children's desperate, tearful pleas to return, she makes the ultimate sacrifice, asking the stone to swallow her. The legend concludes with the stone sealing her fate while miraculously providing breastmilk from its walls to feed her grieving children, leaving a powerful moral lesson on the enduring depths of a mother's love and the heavy cost of harsh words."