THE LEGEND of WATER LILY (Folklore from Central Java)

One upon a time, there was Umbul Wening Kingdom. The king was King Ranubanu. He was a wise king. He loved his people. He always took care of them. The king had a daughter. Her name was Princess Dewi Arum. She was very beautiful. Her skin was very smooth. She also smells very good. She lovedswimming and playing in the water. She often spent her time swimming in the pond.

The king was very very sad. A lot of people suffered a strange disease. Lots of them died. The king had asked the palace healers to cure the sick people. Sadly none of them could find the cure. He had an idea. He announced that he would give half of his wealth to anyone who could cure the sick people.

People from other kingdoms came. Again they could not help the people. While the king was almost hopeless, there came an old man.

He said, "Your majesty, I know how to cure them. The medicine is a beautiful flower that grows in the lake. However, not anyone can pick the flower. There has to be the most beautiful girl in the kingdom who can pick it."

The king was silent. He knew the most beautiful girl in the kingdom was his daughter. However, he was hesitant to ask his daughter to do the difficult task. Recently the princess was only staying in her room. She was not allowed to go outside of her room. The king was afraid that she would be infected by the disease. Theking knew that by asking his daughter to go outside she would risk herself. He talked to his daughter and asked her to decide.

"I will go, Father. If I am the only one who can pick the flower, yes I will go. I don't want to see our people dying," said Princess Dewi Arum.

Later, the princess left the palace. She was accompanied by the old man and some soldiers. The old man guided them to find the lake. After having a long journey, they finally found the lake. The old man and the soldiers stayed a bit far from the lake. The princess went to the lake alone. When she was standing at the side of the lake, she was amazed with the water.

The water was clear and it looked so fresh. The princess had not been swimming for a long time. She really missed spending her time playing in the water. Without waiting any longer, she jumped out and swam in the lake.

The soldiers and the old man patiently waited for the princess. They thought that she was still looking for the flower. They did not know that she was having fun swimming in the lake.

They waited for days and none dared to go to the lake. Finally, one soldier went back to the palace. He talked to the king about the princess. And the king decided to go to the lake. He was worried.

When he arrived at the lake, the king was really angry. He saw his daughter was only swimming and not looking for the flower.

"Dewi Arum!What are you doing here? You're supposed to find the flower and not swimming and having fun like this!" said the king. He was really angry.

"I...I...I am sorry, Father. I forgot," said the princess.

"You forgot? If you really want to stay in the lake, then you can stay forever!" said the king.

Amazingly, right after the king finished his sentence, the princess changed into a beautiful flower. The king was sad but it was too late. He picked the flower and gave it to the old man. The old man used the flower as the medicine and the people were all cured.

The people were very grateful. They were also thankful to God. Since then, they named the flower as teratai or water lily.

PUTRI BUNGSU AND THE DRAGON (Folklore From Aceh)

ONCE upon a time, there were two dragons lived in Aceh. The dragons were male and female, they were husband and wife. The dragons really wanted to have a child. They always prayed to God to give them a child.
One day the dragons were resting at the river side. Suddenly they saw a baby beside a basket. The basket was drifting by the current of the water.
"Myn husband, look! There is a human baby inside the basket. Let's save the baby!" said the mother dragon.
The father dragon immediately swam fast. He brought the baby to the side.
She was a baby girl. The dragons were very happy. They had a child. Although the baby was a human child, the dragons really loved her. They named her Putri Bungsu.
Days passed by, Putri Bungsu was adult. She was very beautiful. The dragons always took care of her. They also always protected her.
In mean time, putri Bungsu real parents were looking for her.
In the mean time, Putri Bungsu real parents were looking for her. There was an incident and accidentally Putri Bungsu was drifting in the river.
After years looking for her, Putri Bungsu's real parents finally found her.
"My child, thank God we finally found you. You are our daughter. We know it from the mark in your hand," said the mother.
The dragons were angry! they said Putri Bunsu was their daugter. "No! She is our daughter! We have raised her since she was a baby. We loved her and she loved us," said the mother dragon.
Putri Bungsu's real parents and the dragons were arguing. They each claimed to be Putri's Bungsu's parents and they asked Putri bungsu to stay with them.
They were arguing and they did not get any solutions. Putri Bungsu's real parents asked for help. They asked Tuan Tapa to help them. Tuan Tapa was a holy man. He also had supernatural power.
Tuan Tapa then asked the dragons to let Putri Bungsu leave and stay with her real parents. The dragons were angry. They asked Tuan Tapa not to interfere.
Tuan Tapa realized that the dragons could not negotiate. Therefore Tuan Tapa challenged them to fight.
"If you win, you can keep her. However you have to let her go and stay with her real parents if you both lose the fight," said Tuan Tapa.
"Ha ha ha...No problem! We will win the fight!"
Then Tuan Tapa and the dragons were fighting bravely. Although he was alone and had to fight with two dragons, Tuan Tapa was very brave. he used all his skills to fight them.
And finally he won the fight! The father dragon was dead. The mother dragon was very sad and angry. She knew she could not win the fight. She escaped.
The mother dragon was very angry. She wagged her tail. It broke an island into two small islands. people named the islands as Pulau Dua.
The tail also wagged another big island into many small islands. People named the island as Pulau Banyak.
While the body of the father dragon changed into a big stone.
People named it as Batu Hitam. And the blood dried into a big red stone, people named it as Batu Merah

ORIGIN of LOTUS (Folklore of West Java)

PRABU Ranubahu is the king of Umbul Wening. He had a beautiful doughter, Dewi Anum. Dewi Arum has an unusual habit. She loves to take a bath and swim in the lake. Everytime she takes a bath, she forgets about everything, food, rest, even her duties as a princess.
The king and queen often scold Dewi Arum for her habit. But she never pays attention to them. One day, Umbul Wening is stroke by a plaque. Many of its citizen die. Many physicians try to cure the people of Umbul Wening but they all fail.
Suddenly a monk comes to see the king and says he has a vision from God. According to the monk, this plaque can be cured using the plants that live in the lake located at the Krendawahanan Forest. But, there is a catch. Those plants must be taken only by Dewi Arum.
So the king orders her daughter to go to Krencawahana Forest to get the plants. Dewi Arum agrees and goes to the forest accompanied by her beloved servants, Nyai Wijen and Nyai Empul.
After a long and tiring journey, they finally arrive at the lake.
Seeing the clear and blue water, Dewi Arum jumps and take a bath in the lake. She forgets about her duty to go and get the cure for her people. Her servants try to remind her about her duties but the princess ignores them.
Back at the kingdom, Prabu Ranubahu in worried about her doughter. So, he goes after her. He is surprised to see her daughter is bathing in the lake and forget about the duties. The king furious.
"Arum?! What are you doing? Our people are dying and here you are having fun bathing in the lake. Since you enjoy beeing in the lake so much, you should become part of the lake!"
Right after the king finishes his sentence, a strange thing happens. Dewi Arum turns into a beautiful red flower. The king is surprised and sad to see what happens to her daughter. So, he picks the flower and goes back to his kingdom.
When the king arrives with the flower, the sickness that has been plaguing the kingdom is gone.
The beautiful flower that was once Dewi Arum is called lotus. It always grows in lakes

THE LEGEND of SANGKURIANG (Folklore from West Java)

According to local folklore, the formation of the Tangkuban Parahu volcano began with a young man SANGKURIANG who fell in love with his own mother, DAYANG SUMBI.
One day, when he was hunting, Sangkuriang accidentally killed his beautiful black dog (Si TUMANG). This dog is actually Sangkuriang's father who had been condemned to live the life of a dog by his GURU. However, Sangkuriang never knew it.
Sangkuriang had been separated by his mother since childhood. Yet, he was destined to meet his mother again. When on his way home, he stopped at a small village and met and fell in love with a beautiful girl. He didn't realised that the village was his homeland nor that the beautiful girl was his own sacred mother (remain young & pretty).
Their love grew naturally and one day, when they were discussing their wedding plans, Dayang Sumbi suddenly realised that the profile of Sangkuriang's head matched that of her only son's who had left twenty years earlier. How could shee marry her own son? But she did not wish to dissapoint him by cancelling the wedding. So, although she agreed to marry Sangkuriang, she would do so only on the condition that he provide her with a lake and a boat with which they could sail on the dawn of their wedding day.
Sangkuriang accepted this condition and built a lake by damming the Citarum river. Wiath a dawn just moment away and the boat almost complete, Dayang Sumbi realised that Sangkuriang would fulfill the condition she had set. With a wave of her supernatural shawl, she lit up the eastern horizon with flashes of light. Deceived by false dawn, the cock crowed and farmers rose for the new day.
With his work not yet complete, Sangkurinag realised that his endeavour were lost. With all his anger, he kicked the boat that he himself had built. The boat fell over and, in so doing become the mountain TANGKUBAN PARAHU (in Sundanese, TANGKUBAN means upturned or upside down, and PARAHU means boat). With the dam torn assunder, the water drained from the lake becoming a wide plain and nowaday became a city called BANDUNG (from the word BENDUNG, which means Dam).
[From: INDONESIA: TANGKUBAN PARAHU Booklet, published by PERUM PERHUTANI UNIT III - JAWA BARAT, KPH BANDUNG UTARA. Jl. Cirebon No. 4-A. Telephone: (022)-771142, Bandung.]

THE UNHAPPY CENDRAWASIH (Folklore from Papua)

Mr and Mrs Brown Bird lived in a jungle in Papua. Mr Brown always complains about his feathers. He thinks they were ugly. He is jealous with his friend, Mr Green Bird.

"I want to have beautiful feathers like Mr Green Bird. His feathers are not brown like mine. They are very beautiful," says Mr Brown Bird to his wife.

"Honey, you have to be grateful with your feathers. With feathers like this, humans are not interested in us. So they will not hunt us," says Mrs Brown Bird.

Mr Brown Bird then goes to the God of Jungle. "I want to have beautiful feathers like Mr Green Bird's feathers,” says Mr Brown Bird.

"Don't worry. I can make your wish comes true. Just choose one color."

"Hmm I don't know. How about red? Yellow? Green? I'm confused.

"The God of Jungle is upset. "Choose now!"

Mr Brown Bird then looks up to the sky. He has an idea. "Aha! I know which color to choose. I don't want want one color of my feathers. I want many colors. I want my feathers to be colorful like the rainbow in the sky.

"Not longer after that, Mr Brown Bird's feathers are colorful. When he goes home, his wife does not recognize him.

"Honey, it's me. I'm your husband."

"No, my husband is not like you! His feathers are brown!" says Mrs brown Bird.

Mr Brown Bird tries very hard to convince his wife realizes that he is really her husband.

"You are very stupid, my husband. Wit color like these, humans will hunt you. What if thy also take our children? Now, please go away! Our lives are in danger if you are still here," says Mrs Brown Bird. She is crying.

Mr Brown Bird is very sad. He knows he just made a very big mistake. He then lives his house. His name then changes into Cendrawasih. It means a bird of paradise.

BREAKING THE SUN (Folklore From Papua)

A long time ago, the sun did not shine too long. It was only shine for a while then it set to the west. Earth was in dark most of the time. People did not like it. There were not many things they could do during the day. They wished to see the sun shine longer.

There was one man who really hated to be in dark. His name was Rangga. Everyday he was thinking how he could make the sun shine long enough. One day, he had an idea.

"I think the sun is too big to move. If we can break it into some pieces, the sun can move quickly. Therefore we can have enough light from the sun," said Rangga to his friend.

"But, how can we break the sun?" asked one of his friend.

"We can break it by throwing a spear. But it should be a magic spear," said Rangga.

"How can we get the magic spear?" asked his friend.

"Let's meditate in the jungle. We ask the elf to guide us to find the magic spear," explained Rangga.

Then Rangga and his friends meditated in the jungle. It was not an easy thing to do. They weredisturbed by wild animals. Luckily they had strong concentration. They were safe from the animals. After a while, an alf finally came to them.

"What do you want my child?" asked the elf.

"We want to break the sun. We need to find a magic spear," explained Rangga.

"Hmm...the magic spear belongs to the great thief. You have to fight him and grabs the spear from him," said the elf.

Rangga and his friends understood. They knew about the great thief. They heard that he had a supernatural power. Luckily the elf had also given them the supernatural power to fight against the great thief.

Rangga and his friends were looking for the great thief. They finally found him. At first Rangga nicely asked the great thief to give him the spear, but of course the thief refused.

"Why should I give you the spear so you can break the sun? I love darkness. I can steal easily, ha...ha...ha..."said the thief.

Rangga and his friends knew they did not have other choice. Then they were fighting. Thanks to the supernatural power given by the elf, Rangga and friends won the fight.

Finally Rangga held the magic spear. He held it firmly. He did not want to waste the time. He wanted to throw the spear and break the sun.

Rangga concentrated and threw the spear with great power towards the sun. And it worked! The sun was breaking into some pieces. The biggest piece became a moon and the small pieces became the stars.

Since then, the sun shines long enough. And when it set to the west, the earth was not completely in the dark. The moon and the stars gave people enough light.