The Man and His Two Wives

In the old days, when men were allowed to have many wives,
a middle-aged Man had one wife that was old and one that
was young; each loved him very much, and desired to see
him like herself. Now the Man’s hair was turning grey,
which the young Wife did not like, as it made him look too
old for her husband. So every night she used to comb his
hair and pick out the white ones. But the elder Wife saw
her husband growing grey with great pleasure, for she did
not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every morning
she used to arrange his hair and pick out as many of the
black ones as she could. The consequence was the Man soon
found himself entirely bald.
Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.

His Mother

A young Man had been caught in a daring act of theft and
had been condemned to be executed for it. He expressed his
desire to see his Mother, and to speak with her before he
was led to execution, and of course this was granted. When
his Mother came to him he said: ‘I want to whisper to you,’
and when she brought her ear near him, he nearly bit it off.
All the bystanders were horrified, and asked him what he
could mean by such brutal and inhuman conduct. ‘It is to
punish her,’ he said. ‘When I was young I began with stealing
little things, and brought them home to Mother. Instead
of rebuking and punishing me, she laughed and said: ‘It will
not be noticed.’ It is because of her that I am here to-day.’
‘He is right, woman,’ said the Priest; ‘the Lord hath said:
‘Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is
old he will not depart therefrom.’

Perkataan “rupiah” berasal dari perkataan “Rupee”, satuan mata uang India. Indonesia telah menggunakan mata uang Gulden Belanda dari tahun 1610 hingga 1817. Setelah tahun 1817, dikenalkan mata uang Gulden Hindia Belanda.

Mata uang rupiah pertama kali diperkenalkan secara resmi pada waktu pendudukan Jepang sewaktu Perang Dunia ke-2, dengan nama rupiah Hindia Belanda. Setelah berakhirnya perang, Bank Jawa (Javaans Bank, selanjutnya menjadi Bank Indonesia) memperkenalkan mata uang rupiah jawa sebagai pengganti.

Satuan di bawah rupiah
Rupiah memiliki satuan di bawahnya. Pada masa awal kemerdekaan, rupiah disamakan nilainya dengan gulden Hindia Belanda, sehingga dipakai pula satuan-satuan yang lebih kecil yang berlaku di masa kolonial.Pecahan 500 rupiah
Bergambar bunga bangkai dan bertanda air Jend. Achmad Yani.