Folklore from West Java

Origin of Lotus

Folklore from 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.***

Cianjur

Folklore from West Java

PAK Pelit is the head of the village. He also the richest man. He owns alot of paddy fields. All the farmers work for him, they don't have their own paddy fields.
The villagers call him Pak Pelit because he is very stingy. Pak Pelit has a son. His name is Budiman. Unlike Pak Pelit, Budiman is very generous to the villager. That's why people call him Budiman.
It's harvest time. According to their belief, the villagers have to hold a party to welcome the harvest. If not, the harvest will fail. They will not have good rice. The farmers then ask Pak Pelit to hold a party. At first Pak Pelit doesn't agree. But he is afraid not to get good rice.
Then they have a party. Suddenly an old woman comes. She asks for some food. Budiman sees what happens. He secretly takes some food and gives it to the old woman.
Nobody knows that the old woman has a supernatural power. She then stamps her foot on the ground On the place the old woman stamps up, slowly water comes out. More and more water comes out. Budiman asks his father to save himself. But Pak Pelit doesn't want to do it. He wants to save his belongings first. Budiman then asks the villagers to go to the higher ground.
Water is now high. Pak Pelit and his belongings are down in the water. Budiman and the villagers are sad.
Their village now gone and becomes a lake. Budiman suggests the villagers to live their new place. He also suggests the people to use the water in the lake as source of the irrigation for their paddy fields.
The farmers work hard. They produce rice with good quality. More and more people come and live there. The village now become a town. They call it Cianjur. Ci means water and anjur means suggestion. The villagers are thankful to Budiman's suggestion.***

The Legend of Lotus

Folklore from West Java

ONCE upon a time, there was a kingdom named Umbul Wening. The king was Prabu Ranubahu. He had a very beautiful daughter. Her name was Dewi Arum. She had a strange habit. She liked to swim in a pond. She could spend hours swim­ming and forgot everything. Her parents often reminded her not to swim too long. And the king often got angry when Dewi Arum swam in the pond and neglected her duties as a princess.
Meanwhile, people lived happily. However their happy lives were disturbed when they suf­fered a terrible illness. And that made the king sad. He already asked the palace healer to heal them. Unfortunately the palace healer was also unable to heal the illness.
The king then prayed to god. Days and nights he asked god to heal the illness. And when the king was sleeping, he had a dream. An old man told the king that the illness could be healed with flowers in the pond. And the person who had to pick the flowers was Dewi Arum.
However the pond was in Krendawahana jungle.
When the king woke up, he immediately called the princess. He told her about the dream and asked her to pick the flowers. Actually the king was not sure his daughter could go there. It was very far from the palace. The king then asked the ladies-in-waiting to accompany the princess.
After going through a very difficult journey, the princess and the ladies-in-waiting finally arrived in Krendawahana jungle. Nobody had ever been to this jungle before. Wild animals were everywhere. They all were really scared. They all hoped to find the pond soon and picked the flowers. They really wanted to leave the jungle immediately.
Finally, they found the pond. It was very beauti­ful. The water was very clear. For a moment, they all forgot about their mission. They were amazed by the beauty of the pond. The princess was the happiest person. She had never seen a beautiful pond like this. She swam and swam for hours. The ladies-in-waiting had tried to remind the princess. They asked her to pick the flowers and went home. Unfortunately she ignored them.
Meanwhile the king was waiting in the palace. He was very restless. He knew the people really needed the flowers to heal the illness.
The king was impatient. He could not wait any longer. He then went to the jungle to follow the princess. When the king arrived at the pond, he saw the princess swimming! The king was really angry.
“Dewi Arum! What are you doing here? Our people are dying and you are having fun swim­ming in the pond. I’ve told you many times not to neglect your duties. You are allowed to swim but you have to do your duties first. I’m really disappointed with you! You don’t deserve to be the princess and live in the palace. You deserve to live here in the pond!” said the king. He was really angry.
Amazingly, the princess disappeared from the water. Later it appeared a beautiful flower. The king was surprised.
He regretted what he said. But it was too late. He knew his daughter could not live with him in the palace anymore. The princess had changed into beautiful flowers. And when the king brought the flower to the palace, surprisingly everybody was cured. And people were also amazed by the flowers. They named it Lotus. ***

Princess Nilarani

Folklore from West Java

ONCE upon a time in West Java, there was a kingdom named Pasir Batang. The kingdom was ruled by KingMarundata. The King had only one child. Her name was Princess Nilarani.
The king and the queen loved the princess very much. She was not only beautiful but also kind-hearted. She always helped people. That was why the people of Pasir Batang kingdom also loved her. Many young men had tried to propose her and asked her to be their wife. But Princess Nilarani could not decide.One of the young men the princess refused to marry was Duruwiksa. He was a son of a witch. The witch was so angry. She kidnapped Princess Nilarani and changed her into a very ugly woman.
The king and the queen were sad.They then made a promise. They would give a lot of jewelleries to whomever who could find Princess Nilarani.
Many people searched for Princess Nilarani. One of them was Prince Sumirat from the neighbouring kingdom. He was a handsome man and had great skills in martial arts.He had heard that a witch kidnapped Princess Nilarani. He also knew that the witch lived across a jungle. Nobody dared to cross the jungle. There were robbers and wild animals lived in there. Those robbers were mean and would harm everyone. Prince Sumirat was a brave man.
He crossed the jungle and met the robbers. The robbers forcedPrince Sumirat to give them his moneyor they would kill him. Prince Sumirat refused to give his money. The robbers then get angry. They were fighting.Luckily, Prince Sumirat had great skills in martial arts.He won the fight and continued his journey.Later, he found the witch’s house.
He was sneaking to the window. He heard that Princess Nilarani could be cured if she drank water from a kendi.
It was a water jug. The witch hid the kendi in the ceiling. After he knew all about the kendi, Prince Sumirat broke the window and entered the house.
The witch was surprised. She was so angry that someone entered her house without permission. She became angrier when she knew that Prince Sumirat wanted to help Princess Nilarani.
They were fighting. Luckily, Prince Sumirat did not only have skills in martial arts. His father had taught him about magical skills. So, he used the skills to fight the witch.
Finally, Prince Sumirat won and he immediately asked Princess Nilarani to drink water from the kendi. Slowly, Princess Nilarani turned back as she was before, a very beautiful girl. Prince Sumirat then brought Princess Nilarani back to the palace. Princess Nilarani fell in love with Prince Sumirat and Prince Sumirat also had the same feeling. Afterwards, they got married and lived happily ever after. ***

The Origin of Pantai Karang Nini

A Folktale from West Java

ONCE upon a time in a village in Ciamis, West Java lived a couple of elderly husband and wife. The elderly husband was called Aki and the elderly wife was called Nini. They had two sons and one daughter. Their sons lived across the ocean and their daughter lived in another place far away from Aki and Nini.
Every Lebaran, their two sons visited Aki and Nini. But their daughter never did. Aki and Nini missed their daughter. Two days before Lebaran day, Aki toldNini that he wanted to visit their daughter. Nini wanted to come along, but Aki refused.
“You should stay home and wait for our two sons,”said Aki to Nini. Aki promised that he would return two days after Lebaran day. Nini was sad when Aki left the village on a boat with other passengers. She looked at the boat as it sailed away on the ocean. She imagined meeting her daughter, together with Aki.
On the day Aki promised to return, Nini dressed up and went to the beach, to wait for the boat to return. She couldn’t wait to meet her husband. Hours passed by. Days passed by. Nini still sat on the beach, waiting for her husband. The boat was never seen. But Nini kept waiting on the beach. Several days later, the people of the village heard that the boat sank into the ocean. They quickly went to Nini’s house to tell her about the bad news. But she was not there. Then they looked for her at the beach. Nobody was there either. Only the wind and the sand.
They kept searching for Nini, calling her name. Finally they found a rock that looked like an old woman sitting down on the beach. They believed it was Nini, who was sitting down on the beach, waiting for her husband, Aki, to return.
The rock symbolizes a wife’s faithfulness to her husband. The beach is then called Pantai Karang Nini. Which means the beach’s of Nini’s rock.***

Telaga Warna

A Folktale from West Java

The king of a famous kingdom in Cipanas, West Java, is very wise man. He has a beautiful daughter. The king and queen love their daughter so much.
But all their love is not enough for the princess. Even though they give her everything, she is not happy. All the jewelries that they have are not enough for her. She is not satisfied with her gorgeous look either.
The princess then has an idea. She plans to put all the jewelries that they have in every single hair in her head. She wants to be the most beautiful girl in the world.
So the princess goes to see her mother and father and tell them about her plan. She is very sure they will not say no.
The king is surprised to hear about his daughter plan. He tries to convince her that her plan is not proper.
"My Daughter, the beauty of a princess is not measured by her clothes or by the jewelry she is wearing, but by her attitude. It's not that we don't love you, but what will people think if you go through with your plan?" says the king.
The princess is shocked to hear that. So she runs to her room to get her jewelry box. Then she returns to her parents.
She screams: "You are so miserly. Here, I am returning the every single jewelry you ever gave me." She throes her jewelry box to her father.
The wise king is outraged seeing his daughter did.
"You are ungrateful daughter!"
Suddenly, the floor of the palace erupts and water pours out from the crack. In a matter of second the palace if flooded, drowning the ungrateful princess and her jewelry. The palace then replace by a lake.
The lake always reflects multiple colors to its surrounding. Some say the colors come from the princess's jewelry. The lake is known as Telaga Warna that means colorful lake. ***
Situ Bagendit
Folklore from West Java

Nyai Bagendit was a widow. She was the richest person in the village. She had a very big house fill with a lot of jewellery. She also had many servants working for her. Nyai Bagendit was also known for her bad attitude. She did not like to help others. Whenever the villagers needed some money, they borrowed the money from her. However, when they returned it, the villager had to pay double. If they were not able to return the debt, Nyi Bagedit would ask her servants to take the villagers belongings. Nyai Bagendit also hated beggars. She thought that beggars were lazy people. She never felt sorry to any beggars coming to her house. So when the old beggar came to her house, Nyai Bagendit immediately to ask her to go. Go away you lazy old woman! Go out of my house! Please, Nyai, give me some money or just give me some food. I'm so hungry. Said the beggar. Food? You asked for food? This is my house not a restaurant. Go now! I dont want to see you here! Nyai Bagendit then threw a stone to the old beggar. The old beggar was very sad. She then said, "Nyai Bagedit, I know you are the riches person in this village. You have anything but you never help other people. You are not grateful to God. Wait for the punishment from God. You will be punished!" The old beggar then left Nyai Bagedit's house. "Ha ha ha! You are right. I'm the richest person here. So no one can punnish me, not even God can punish me!" Nyai Bagendit was very arrogant. Nyai Bagendit then went back to her big house. Not long after that, an earhquake happened. Her house fell down. Nyai Bagendit cried for help. "Help me! Somebody please help me!" But nobody listened her crying for help. Nobody in the village felt the earthquake. amazingly, the earthquake only happened in Nyai Bagendit's house. The land was opened. It was so big that the entire Nyai Bagendit's house, and all her wealth were gone. The villagers just wathes what happened to Nyai Bagendit and her house. They were amazed. They knew that God punished Nyai Bagendit for behaving badly and never helped other people. Slowly, the place where Nyai Bagedit's house stood became lake. Since then, people named the lake as Situ Bagendit It means Lake of Bagendit.***

The Story of Panyalahan Village

A Folklore from West Java

LONG time ago in Tasikmalaya, West Java, lived a young couple. They were farmers. They lived happily with their baby. The couple also had some animals. One of them was a tiger. When the couple went to work on the paddy field, the tiger looked after their baby. As usual, the couple went to the paddy field. Before they left, they asked the tiger to look after their baby.
“We will go to the field now. Look after our baby, okay?” The tiger nodded. So, the couple went to the field. They worked from morning until afternoon. When the couple arrived home, the tiger welcomed them. The tiger acted differently. He wagged his tail and rubbed his body to the couple’s legs. He looked very happy. The husband became suspicious.
“Why does this tiger behave strangely? He does not act as usual?” he thought. The husband looked at the tiger carefully. He was shocked. The tiger’s mouth was full of blood. Then he remembered his baby. He thought the tiger had eaten the baby.
“Why is your mouth full of blood?” he asked the tiger. “You must have done something bad to my baby! Have you killed him? Why did you do that?” he was very panicked. The husband took his knife and killed the tiger in anger. Then they both entered the house. They were shocked. They looked at each other. Their baby was sleeping peacefully in his cradle. He was not eaten by the tiger. Quickly, the wife took the baby and kissed him. The baby woke up. He opened his eyes and smiled. The couple found a very large snake under the cradle. The snake was dead and full of blood.
“Oh, my wife,” the husband said. “We have done a terrible thing. The tiger is not guilty! Look at the dead snake. The tiger must have killed him. He had saved our baby, but I killed him. Oh, my God! What have I done? I am so sorry. Forgive me, my dear tiger. Forgive me, please?”
The couple felt very guilty. They have killed their faithful tiger. It all happened because they did not check the baby first before they killed the tiger. Since then, the couple’s village was called Panyalahan. The word Panyalahan derives from the word “nyalahan”, which means “wrong guess”. ***

The Golden Antelope

Folklore from West Java

THERE was an old and poor man lived alone in the jungle. His wife passed away years ago and he did not have any children. Everyday he collected some woods and sold them in the village.
One day, the old man saw a beautiful antelope. The antelope was different from other antelopes. The color of the skin was golden. The old man walked slowly towards the antelope. The antelope looked very weak. He then gave the antelope some food.
"Thank you, Sir. You are very kind to me," said the antelope.
"You could talk? Who are you? Are you the ghost of the jungle?" the old man was very shocked. He was so surprised to see a talking antelope.
"I'm sorry old man. I can't tell you who I am. If I did, many people will hunt me. Just don't tell anyone about me, OK?" asked the antelope.
Since then the old man had a new friend, the golden antelope. He did not feel lonely anymore because he had a friend to talk now, it's the golden antelope. One day, the old man was ill. He could not collect the woods.
"Don't worry. I will collect the woods for you," said the golden antelope. The golden antelope then went to the jungle. She did not know that some hunters were following her. One of the hunters was Prince Wijaya. Prince Wijaya took his arrow. He pointed it to the golden antelope. The arrow hit the antelope's body. Suddenly, smoke came out of the golden antelope's body. The smoke then was gone, later a beautiful girl appeared.
"Thank you. You just released me from the curse. I'm Princess Sutha. A goddess cursed me into a golden antelope. I could turn back into human if a prince hit me with his arrow," she explained. Then Prince Wijaya asked her to go to the kingdom with him. Princess Sutha agreed only with one condition. She wanted the old man also to join them.
They then went to the old man's house. The old man was surprised when there were a prince and a princess in his house. He was so happy after Princess Sutha explained everything. He then agreed when they asked him to live with them in the palace. Not long after that, Prince Wijaya and Princess Sutha got married. They were happy ever after. ***

Lutung Kasarung

Folklore from West Java

PRABU Tapa Agung was an old king. He had two daughters, Purbararang and Purbasari. Prabu Tapa Agung planned to retire as a king. He wanted Purbasari to replace him as the leader of the kingdom. Hearing this, Purbararang was angry.
"You cannot ask her to be the queen, Father. I'm older than she is. It's supposed to be me, not her!" said Purbararang. But the king still chose Purbasari to be the next queen.
Purbararang then set a bad plan with her fiance, Indrajaya. Together they went to a witch and asked her to put a spell on Purbasari. Later, Purbasari had bad skin. There were black dots all over her body.
"You are not as beautiful as I am. You cannot be the queen. Instead, you have to leave this palace and stay in a jungle," said Purbararang.
Purbasari was very sad. Now she had to stay in the jungle. Everyday she spent her time playing with some animals there. There was one monkey that always tried to cheer her up. It was not just an ordinary monkey, he had magical power. And he also could talk with humans. The monkey's name was Lutung Kasarung. He was actually a god. His name was Sanghyang Gurumina. Lutung Kasarung planned to help Purbasari. He made a small lake and asked her to take a bath there. Amazingly, her bad skin was cured. Now she got her beautiful skin back.
After that, she asked Lutung Kasarung to accompany her to go back to the palace. Purbararang was very shocked. She knew she had to come up with another bad idea. She then said, "Those who have longer hair will be the queen."
The king then measured his daughters' hair. Purbasari had longer hair. But Purbararang did not give up. "A queen must have a handsome husband. If my fiance is more handsome than yours, then I will be the queen," said Purbararang.
Purbasari was sad. She knew Purbararang's fiance, Indrajaya, was handsome. And she did not have a fiance yet. "Here is my fiancé, Indrajaya. Where is yours?" asked Purbararang. Lutung Kasarung came forward. Purbararang was laughing very hard. "Your fiance is a monkey, ha ha ha."
Suddenly, Lutung Kasarung changed into a very a handsome man. He was even more handsome than Indrajaya. Purbasari then became the queen. She forgave Purbararang and her fiance and let them stay in the palace. ***


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