Off the coastline of Brunei, you can see an island that looks eerily like a stone ship. Visitors often mistake it for one of the frequent vessels passing by, but as you stare at it closely, slowly realising that it's not moving, a cold feeling comes over your spine. As if there's an ancient ghost on that island beckoning you.

The story of the island is just one of the great oral legends that is passed down to children, as a warning to listen to their parents.

A long time ago, back when all the men in the village earned their keep by living off the land and sea, lived Nakhoda Ragam and his mother. His father had passed away when he was young, but he had left them a fine fortune to live off, so they were never hungry or in need of anything.

Nakhoda Ragam wished he could be like the fishermen in the village. Strong, tall, sun-bronzed men that spent many days and nights out at sea, bringing back many treasures from the deep blue waters. Every morning, he was up at the crack of dawn to watch the men leave to cast their nets, and every evening he would wait until all the boats returned, and listened to the men comparing their catches and the many adventures of encounters with strange creatures they had battled while out fishing. More than anything, Nakhoda Ragam wanted to be one of those men. But every time he asked his mother for permission to join them out on their boats, she had refused.

" You are the only family I have left," said his mother. " If you were lost at sea, I will be alone and I will have no one to care for me." After so many refusals, Nakhoda Ragam gave up asking, and continued to see the boats off at dawn and watch them return at dusk, forcing himself to be content with the simple life he led with his mother, tending to vegetables and the small herd of animals they kept as a livelihood.

One day, while leading his goats back home from grazing, he heard excited cries from the village. He ran to the shore where a large crowd had gathered. To his amazement, there stood the largest, most majestic, astonishing ships he had ever seen. They were large, with billowing sails, and made the boats that he had admired for so long look like mere hollowed logs in comparison. Along with grand ships, came strange men that he had never seen the likes of before. They spoke in a different language and they traded sweet smelling spices and beautiful fabrics for supplies of food and water. These people intrigued Nakhoda Ragam. He often sneaked out of his house late at night to sit with them and listen of tales of far away places, of things he could have never imagined in his wildest dreams.

Soon, it was time for the strangers to leave and Nakhoda Ragam was very disappointed indeed. He knew it would be useless to ask his mother to join these men on their journey, so late one night, when everyone was asleep soundly in their beds, Nakhoda Ragam hid himself away on the boat. In the morning, the ships sailed away so early that no one missed the little boy until it was evening, and his mother noticed his absence on the shore. By then it was too late to call the ships back, and his mother wept on the shore for days, praying to God to keep her son safe and for him to return to her.

Meanwhile Nakhoda Ragam's presence on the ship had been discovered, and since they were too far from shore to turn back, he joined them on their quest to trade with faraway lands. As the years passed, Nakhoda Ragam became part of the group of merchants and developed a successful business himself. He soon found himself a beautiful bride from an exotic land, and had many children by her. Although his childhood wish had been granted, Nakhoda Ragam began to pine for his homeland, and for his beloved mother. With a fleet of ships filled to the brim with riches of all sorts, Nakhoda Ragam sailed to his homeland.

Upon his arrival, he found his village a much different place than when he left. There were many unfamiliar faces around, and many of the fisherman that he had once surrounded himself with had passed on and their children had taken on their trade. Wandering through the village, he asked every person he encountered about news of his mother, but no one seemed to know her. No one knew of a wealthy widow who lived alone in the village. What Nakhoda Ragam did not realise was, that without him, his mother had little use of her possessions and had given away her wealth to those in need, and had a simple life in a cottage not far from the village. Discouraged and disappointed, he returned to his ship and gave the order to set sail back to his adopted home, since he had no reason to stay.

Upon hearing that strangers had arrived in the fabled ships of long ago, Nakhoda Ragam's mother hoped that her son had returned. Slowly she made her way to the seashore, carrying a bundle of her child's favourite food, only to see the ships about to sail away. Desperate to find out the fate of her son, she paddled out to the ships in a borrowed boat, and called out to them.

Horrified to see the wizened state of his mother, and too ashamed to introduce her to his beautiful bride, Nakhoda Ragam, turned away and retired to his cabin, refusing to hear the cries of the old woman. Upset that her son refused to acknowledge his mother, she prayed to God to give her justice.

Almost immediately, a storm appeared over the horizon and sank most of the ships in the fleet, except for Nakhoda Ragam's. As the sky raged with lightning and thunder, and huge waves rocked the ship, Nakhoda Ragam cried out to his mother. " Mother, please forgive me!"

But his pleas fell on deaf ears. With a heavy heart, she had rowed back to land, and watched as her son's ship was tossed about in the tormented sea. In a final clap of thunder, and a flash of lightning, Nakhoda Ragam's sinking ship was transformed into a rock, a grim reminder to all who see it, that they should heed their parents.