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. Prabu Tapa Agung appoint Purbasari, her youngest daughter to replace him as a the leader of the kingdom.

"I'm too old, it's time I stepped off the throne," said Prabu Tapa. Purbasari has a sister named Purbararang. Hearing this, Purbararang was angry. He does not agree his sister was appointed to replace their father. "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, suddenly Purbasari had bad skin. There were black dots all over her body. Purbararang make it an excuse to expel her sister. "People who cursed like her does not deserve to be a Queen!" said Purbararang to her father. And then Purbararang go to meet her sister. "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. Then she sent a Patih (Governor) to alienate Purbasari into the forest. Purbasari was very sad. Arriving at the jungle, Patih (The Governor) is still kind enough to make a hut for Princess Purbasari. He also advised Purbasari, "Be brave Princess. The affliction will surely end, the Almighty will always be with Princess". "Thank you uncle," said Purbasari. Now she had to stay in the jungle. Over in the jungle he has many friends of animals that are always good to her. Everyday she spent her time playing with some animals. Among these animals there was a mysterious black hairy 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. The monkey is the most attention to Purbasari. Lutung Kasarung is always make happy Princess Purbasari to get the beautiful flowers and fruits with their friends.

At the time of full moon night, Lutung Kasarung acting strange. He walked to a quiet place and meditate. He is obtaining something to the Gods. This proves that the Lutung Kasarung no ordinary creature. Not long later, near the monkey broke ground and created a small lake, the water was clear as a bell. The water contains a ingredients that is very fragrant. The next day Lutung Kasarung meet Purbasari and asked her to bathe in the lake. "What's in it for me?" thought Purbasari. But she was willing to oblige. Shortly after he plunged himself into the river. Something happened to her skin. Her bad skin is cured and she becomes beautiful again. Purbasari very surprised and very happy when she looked in the mirror in the lake. After that, she asked Lutung Kasarung to accompany her to go back to the palace. Purbararang was very shocked, she not believe to see her sister get the beauty skin again. She knew she had to come up with another bad idea. "Who is the longest hair she was the one who wins and will be the queen!" said Purbararang. Originally Purbasari not want to, but because Purbararang urged continued to serve her. The king then measured his daughters hair. Apparently Purbasari hair is longer. "Purbasari had longest hair," said the king. But Purbararang did not give up. "Well I lose,, but now let us compete, who have the handsomest fiance,, This is my fiance," said Purbararang while approached Indrajaya. Purbasari was sad. She knew Purbararang's fiance was handsome. And she did not have a fiance yet. Purbasari became restless and confused. Finally, he glanced at his hand and pulled Lutung Kasarung. Lutung Kasarung bounced as if to calm Purbasari. Purbararang laughed out loud, "So the monkey is your fiance?" At that time also Lutung Kasarung immediately meditated. Suddenly there was a miracle. Lutung Kasarung turn into a handsome young man looking very handsome, and he was even more handsome than Indrajaya. All surprised to see the incident as she cheered. Purbararang finally admitted defeat and guilt over this. He apologized to his brother and begged not to be punished. She forgave Purbararang and her fiance and let them stay in the palace. At last, Purbasari become a queen, accompanied by a young man in her dreams. The young man who turns out has always been with him in the forest in the shape of a monkey.

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.***

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.

Changed into a man Purbasari was sad. She knew Purbararang's fiance, Indrajaya, was handsome. And she did not have a fiance yet. "Here is my fianc, 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. ***

Nyai Anteh and the Moon Folklore from West Java

THERE were two girls lived in a palace. There were princess Endahwarni and Anteh. Princess Endahwarni was the daughter of the king and the queen while Anteh was the daughter of the lady-in-waiting. Anteh's mother died while she was a baby. The queen felt sorry to her and raised her like her own child. Anteh was more beautiful than Princess Endahwarni. She was often jealous with Anteh. However she still loved Anteh just like her little sister. The king and the queen thought it was time for princess Endahwarni to get married. A prince from a neighboring kingdom named Anantakusuma proposed the princess to marry him. The king and the queen had accepted the proposal. And it made Endahwani became very restless. She never met Anantakusuma yet. A week before the wedding, Prince Anantakusuma came to talk about the wedding ceremony. While he passed the palace garden, he heard a girl singing a song beautifully. He came to the garden and saw a beautiful girl singing. He thought the girl was Princess Endahwarni. But he was wrong, the girl was Anteh. The wedding could not be cancelled. During the ceremony, Princess Endahwarni saw that her husband was always looking at Anteh. She knew that her husband fell in love with Anteh. She was trying to steal her husband. She was very angry. She asked Anteh to leave the palace. Anteh was very sad. She never fell in love with the prince or wanted to be his wife. Anteh then went to her mother's hometown. She stayed at her uncle's house. Years passed by and Anteh was married and have two children. She helped her husband to earn the living by working as a tailor. The dresses she made were very beautiful. She became very famous. People then called her Nyai Anteh. Princess Endahwarni heard that Nteh became a famous tailor. She was very guilty asking Anteh leave the palace. She wanted to apologize to Nyai Anteh by asking her to stay in the

palace again. She even asked Nyai Anteh to become the palace tailor. Nyai Anteh agreed but she asked her family to stay in the palace. Princess Endahwarni did not mind with that. And since then Nyai Anteh lived in the palace. Nyai Anteh had a pet. It was a cat. Every time Anteh was making a dress, the cat always accompanied her. Nyai Anteh was very happy that she could be back in the palace. But she did not know that prince Anantakusuma still love her. He secretly often looked at her. Although Nyai Anteh was not young anymore, she was still beautiful. And hat why the prince still loved her. It was a beautiful evening and the moon was full. Nyai Anteh and the cat were in the garden. Nyai Anteh was weaving the dress. Suddenly the prince came to her. "Anteh, I have to tell you something. I love you and I want to marry you." "But that is impossible. I don't love you. You are married and I'm also married." Nyai Anteh was very scared. The prince was forced her to run away. Nyai Anteh prayed, "God, please help me. I don't want to live here anymore." Suddenly moonlight covered her body. Slowly the light lifted her and the cat. The light brought them to the moon. The prince was very shocked. He regretted his behaviour. He was very sorry but it was too late. Nyai Anteh stayed in the moon and never came back to the earth. People said that we still can see the image of Nyai Anteh and the cat during full moon. We can see that Nyai Anteh is weaving. ***

TAMPOMAS MOUNTAIN

Exposition: Years ago, there was a kingdom. The kingdom name was Sumedang Larang. It was a wealthy peace kingdom. The people of the kingdom lived in harmony peace. A Gede volcano mountain stood on the side of capital. Because of this condition, the kingdom blessed a good soil and fertile-thick jungle. The nature had provided many advantages for the people. On the dry season they never lack of water while on the west season flood had never happened in that kingdom. The king of Sumedang Larang was also a good man. Young, but wise, brave and respected, smart and patient, the king was admired either friends or enemies. He taught his people to take a good care of nature. Rising action: But one day, the peaceful suddenly broke the silent into terror when the earth quake shocked all of the people in the kingdom. Peoples ran and screamed, to safe their life. Outside the house, they saw a big fire on the top of mountain. Apparently the mountain was about exploded. Slowly, the kingdom turns into darkness. It surrounded black clouds, dust, and smoke. Sometimes flash of fire light up the darkness, made everyone panic. Climax: Realized that the explosion because great damage for the kingdom, the king becomes very sad. He entered the palace and started to asceticism. He prayed and prayed without sleep or eat for days. Weak and tired, then he fell unconscious. On his unconscious moment, he saw an old man who talked to him. if you want to safe your kingdom and the people. There is any a way that you can do climb up the mountain, then put the harritage golden keris into the crater of the Gede mountain. Falling action:

Everyone in that palace was extremely astonished. They tried to stop him because the situation of Gede Mountain was in danger. They wanted to safe their king from his horrible decision. But the king was very sure about what he was doing. Dont stop me. I have to stop the explosion before its too late. The king ignored his people and went straight to the Gede Mountain. Riding his strong horse, the king started to climb up. He broke through hot air, dark smoke, black cloud, and loud of thunders. Finally, he arrived to the crater. He took the harritage golden keris and threw into the crater. I give you this most valuable heritage golden keris to you. I have to safe my people and Sumedang Larang kingdom. resolution Remarkable, the crater was slowly off. Followed by the mountain this was turn into silent. The black cloud gone and the fire were off. The sky turned into blue followed by the wind which blew the dark hot air, and the bird started to sing again. The king kneels down and grateful. He returned to the palace and welcomed by his excited people. Since that moment, Gede Mountain never exploded again. The crater extinguished. The name Gede changed into Tampomas which means a mountain which received (tampa/tampo) a heritage golden keris(mas).

The story of Tampomas Mountain

Once upon time, there was Sumedang Larang kingdom. Sumedang larang was blessed by god, because the condition of the kingdom was safe and it had fertile nature which was coloured by good scenery that was Gunung Gede Mountain in the capital. Sumedang Larang kingdom had the kind king. The kingdom was always protected by him. All people in the kingdom were like to him, because he was fair king. Suddenly, the safe condition in sumedang larang was broken by exploded mountain. The people became panic and afraid because the condition of the kingdom was coloured by smoke, dust and black cloud and it could cause damage and illness. The king was sad to see the condition, and then he did asceticism to get solution from the problem until he was tired. A few moments later, he was given a solution for his problem that was he should climb up the mountain and threw away the golden keris to the crater of Gede mountain. Then, he went to the mountain but he was forbidden by many people in the palace because the condition of the mountain was danger. Although, he was forbidden by many people, he stayed to go to the mountain, the harritage golden keris was thrown away by him to the crater of gede mountain. Suddenly the mountain became silent and the condition of the kingdom became safe from the danger. Then, the name Gede was changed into Tampomas.