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Kebo Iwa
Folklore from Bali
ONCE upon a time in Bali, a man and his wife were praying. They
have been married for a long
time but did not have any children. They asked God to give them
a child. They prayed and
prayed.
God finally answered their prayers. The wife, then, got pregnant
and they had a baby boy. They
were very happy.
The baby was extraordinary. He was very much different from
other babies. He ate and drank a
lot. Day after day he ate more and more. His body was getting
bigger and bigger. And by the
time he was a teenager, his body was as big as a buffalo. People
then started to call him Kebo
Iwa.
Because of his eating habit, Kebo Iwas parents spent a lot of
money to buy his food in large
amount. They finally went bankrupt. They gave up and asked the
villagers to help them provide
the food.
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The villagers then worked together to cook and build a big house
for Kebo Iwa. He was like a
giant. He could not stay in his parents house anymore because of
his big body. Sadly, after a
few months, the villagers also could not afford to cook him the
food. They then asked Kebo Iwa
to cook his own food. The villagers just prepared the raw
materials.
Kebo Iwa agreed and as an expression of his gratitude to the
villagers, he built a dam, dug wells,
and he also protected the villagers from animals and people who
wanted to attack their village.
He did those things by himself.
Meanwhile, the troops of Majapahit were planning to attack Bali.
They knew about Kebo Iwa.
And they also knew that they could not conquer Bali with Kebo
Iwa there. Kebo Iwa was more
powerful than they were.
Gajah Mada, the Maha Patih (Chief Minister) of Majapahit then
planned something. They were
pretending to invite Kebo Iwa to Majapahit to help them dig some
wells. They said that
Majapahit was suffering from a long dry season and needed much
water. Kebo Iwa did not know
the plan, so he went to Majapahit.
When Kebo Iwa was busy digging a very big well, the troops
covered the well. Kebo Iwa had
difficulty in breathing and buried alive. He died in the
well.
After the death of Kebo Iwa, Bali was conquered by Majapahit.
Until now, people still remember
Kebo Iwa because he had done a lot for Majapahit and Bali. The
stone head of legendary Kebo
Iwa can be found in Pura Gaduh temple in Blahbatuh. ***
Jayaprana and Layonsari
Folklore from Bali
Once upon a time, there was a poor kid. His name was Jayaprana,
He was an orphan. He lived
alone in his house.
Jayaprana wanted to serve his life to the king. So one day,.he
went to the palace and told the king
that he wanted to dedicate his life to the kingdom.
The king was so touched to see a young boy who had great
motivation to serve his life to the
kingdom. He welcomed Jayaprana and let him work and stay and in
the palace.
Time passed by and Iayaprana became a handsome young man. The
king liked him very much.
Jayaprana was loyal, faithful, and obedient to the king.
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One day the king asked Jayaprana to meet him.
"What can I do, Your Majesty?" asked ]ayaprana politely.
'You are adult now and I want you to get married. There are
ladies-in-waiting in this palace.
Choose one to be your wife," said the king.
"Please pardon me, Your Majesty. If you want me to get married,
please let me find a girl from
outside this palace. I would rather marry a girl from a village
who is just like me, your Majesty."
The king smiled. "If that's what you want, I let you do it. Iust
let me know when you find that
girl. I will write a letter to her parents asking them to let
you marry her."
Jayaprana was so happy. He immediately left the palace and
looked for the girl he would marry.
]ayaprana arrived in a village. He saw a very beautifirl girl.
He loved her at the first sight.
]ayaprana followed her and asked her name. She said that her
name was Layonsari.
Jayaprana rushed to the palace and told the king about
Layonsari. As promised, the king wrote a
letter to Layonsari's parents.
Jayaprana gave the letter and Layonsari's parents accepted the
marriage proposal. They
immediately set the plan for the party.
The party was held at the palace. And when the king saw
Layonsari, he fell in love with her! The
king had a bad plan. He wanted to kill Jayaprana and later
married Layonsari.
The king made a plan. He asked Jayaprana to go to the jungle for
hunting a deer. The king asked
his soldier to secretly followed Jayaprana and then killed
him.
Jayaprana told his wife that the king asked him to go hunting.
Layonsari asked him not to go.
She had a bad feeling. However Jayaprana convinced her that he
would go home safely.
Jayaprana arrived in the jungle. He did not know that a soldier
silently followed him. Suddenly,
the soldier stabbed him. Jayaprana died.
The king told Layonsari that Iayaprana was attacked by a tiger.
He pretended to be sad when he
told her the bad news.
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Layonsari was crying terribly. She could not imagine that she
would lose her beloved husband.
The king said "I know you are sad but life goes on. You have to
continue your life. Why don't
you stay in the palace and marry me. You can become a
queen."
Layonsari could not believe what she just heard. "No, Your
Majesty! I don't want to marry you. I
love my husband."
The king was angry! "If you don't marry me, you will die!"
"I'd rather die, Your Majesty!" said Layonsari. She grabbed a
knife and killed herself.
Layonsari lost too much blood. She died.
The king was angry. He lost his control. He attacked and killed
people around him.
That made people became restless. They worked together to stop
the king. And flnally they
cornered the king. They caught the king and put him in a prison.
***
The Hidden Treasure
Folklore from Bali
A long time ago, there lived a farmer with his five sons. The
farmer's wife died when
the youngest child was a baby. The farmer was rich. He had a
spacious rice field. He had a
big house and lots of money. The five sons were teenagers.
Sadly, they did not like to help their
father. They only played and wasted their time having fun with
their friends. They always asked
money to their parent and wasted it by gambling.
The father had repeatedly advie always told them to work hard
and not to wasted the money.
Unfortunately they never listened to their father. They always
ignored him. The father was sad.
He always thought about his children's bad behavior. It made his
health get worse. He suffered
an illness.
What did the children do when they knew their father was sick?
They did not care at all! They
kept on wasting their father's money.
The father was not able to work. He did not have any income. He
spent all the money to buy the
medicine. Slowly, the farmer was getting poor.
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The father was in the critical condition. He thought that he
would not be able to live any longer.
He asked all his children to meet him.
"My health is getting worse and I think I cannot live any
longer. Before I die, I want to tell you a
secret. Promise that you will never share this secret to any
other people," said the father.
"What secret, Father?" asked the oldest son.
"I have a great treasure. The value is so expensive. Ifyou sell
it, you will have Iots of money,"
said the father.
"Really? Wis the treasure, Father?" asked the second son.
"I buried it in my rice fleld. I forget which side of the field.
You haVe to hoe and dig all areas,"
explained the father. Not long after he. told them the secret,
the father died.
Later, those flve sons went to the rice fields. It was not in a
good condition. It was dried.and
there was no rice plant at all. They brought some hoes and
crowbars.They started to dig the rice
field.
The rice fleld was so spacious. It was almost dark and they had
not got any signs of the treasure.
"I think it's enough for today. Let's go home and we will
continue tomorrow" suggested
the oldest chi-ld. The others agreed.
They all went home. The next morning, they went back to the rice
fleld. They hoed and dug the
land. Again, until it was almost dark, they could not find the
treasure.
On the third day, they had completed hoed and dug the land..They
were confused.
"Do you think our father lied to us? He said that he buried the
treasure in this fleld. We have dug
all areas but we cannot flnd it," said the oldest son.
'Yes, you are right! I think our father lied to us," said the
third son.
The youngest son interrupted. He said, "No! You are wrong! Our
father did not lie to us. He was
right when he said the treasure is inside this field. In fact we
are now looking at the treasure."
"What do you mean?" asked the fourth son.
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"This rice field is our treasure. You see... this field is so
spacious. When it is time to harvest, the
field
will give us lots of money. Where do you think our father had
tots of money? The money is from
this field! Come on, let's work hard and cultivate this field.
I'm sure we will have lots of money
during the harvest," explained the youngest child.
All the other sons understood. They also realized their
mistakes. They knew they had been
wrong and they had to stop their bad habits. Since then, the
five sons worked hard. Slowly they
became rich again. ***
I Ceker Cipak
Folklore from Bali
ONCE upon a time, there lived a young man with his mother. His
name was I Ceker Cipak. He
was a good son. He was obedient and helpful to his mother. His
father died. when he was a baby.
I Ceker Cipak wanted to have a better life. He told his mother
that he wanted to buy some corns.
He planned to cook the corns and later sold them. His mother
agreed. She then gave him some
money.
I Ceker Cipak went to the market. It was far from his house. On
the way to the market, he saw
some people were beating a cat. The cat stole their food. I
Ceker Cipak did not have the heart to
see the cat in such a great pain. He told them,
"May I buy the cat?"
Those people were laughing. They taught he was crazy. However,
they let him buy the cat. Then
he continued the journey. Later he saw some people were hurting
a dog. They said that the dog
stole their eggs. The dog was in pain and I Ceker Cipak was sad
to see that. He then asked if he
could buy the dog. The people were laughing, however they
agreed. He gave them some
moneyandbrought the dog withhim.
Later, he saw some people were hurting a snake. They said that
the snake ate their chiclten.
Again, he bought the snake. He continued the journey. Then, he
saw some people were hurting a
mouse. They said that the mouse had destroyed their rice field.
]ust like before, he bought the
mouse.
He continued his journey with the dog, the cat, the snake, and
the mouse. Suddenly he realized
that he did not have any money. All his money was spent to buy
those animals. I Ceker Cipak
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was sad. He was thinking of his mother. He stopped and
cried.
The animals were sad to see him crying. The snake said,
"Don't be sad. I have something that can make you happy. Here,
please take this ring. If you rub
it to a thing, it will change into gold!"
I Ceker Cipak was surprised. He did not know that the snake was
a-ble to speak! He accepted the
ring. He rubbed it to his bag. Amazingly, it changed into gold!
I Ceker Cipak was extremely
happy.
He immediately went home. I Ceker Cipak and his mother became
very rich. He let the animals
live inside his new big hbuse.
One day, I Ceker Cipak accidentally dropped the ring. It had
some cracks. He went to a
goldsmith. He planned to ask him to flx the ring.
Sadly, the goldsmith accidentally found our that it was a magic
ring. He had a bad idea. He made
a new a ring that exactly looked Iike the magic ring. He then
gave the false ring to I Ceker Cipak
and kept the real ring.
At home, I Ceker Cipak tried to rub the magic ring to a stone.
However the stone did not change
into gold.
"Hey, this is not our ring," said the mother.
"The goldsmith must have replaced our ring!"
I Ceker Cipak was confused. He did not know what to do. He knew
that they did not any proof
that the goldsmith had replaced their ring.
"We must help our master," said the snake to the cat, the dog,
and the mouse. Later, they went to
the goldsmith's house.
They slowly walked inside the house. The dog used his nose to
sniff the ring. When they saw the
ring, they carefully took it. Later they ran very fast!
At home, the animals gave the rqagic ring to I Ceker Cipak. He
was so happy.He put the ring
carefully. Since then I Ceker Cipak and his mother lived happily
ever after. ***
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Dewi Ratih and Kala Rau
Folklore from Bali
WISNULOKA was a kingdom in heaven. Only the Gods or Dewa and the
Goddesses or Dewi
lived in the Wisnuloka kingdom. Humans did not live there. They
lived on earth.
The Gods and the Goddesses were restless. They were really
worried. There was a kingdom on
earth named Balidwipa Kingdom. There were no humans in Balidwipa
Kingdom. They were
giants!
And the king of Balidwipa kingdom was Kala Rau. He was the
biggest, the strongest and the
meanest giant! Giants and especially humans were afraid of
him!
Kala Rau fell in love with Dewi Ratih. She was the most
beautiful Goddess. She was also named
as the Goddess of Moon. Dewi Ratih did not love Kala Rau. She
rejected his proposal. Kala Rau
was angry! He wanted to attack Wisnuloka Kingdom. The king of
Wisnuloka was Dewa Wisnu.
He was trying to calm all the gods and the goddesses.
"Don't worry. I know how to handle Kala Rau. I have prepNed
tirta amerta.It\s water o{ life.
Anyone drinks the water will live forever. So you don't have to
worry that Kala Rau will kill
you. After you drink the water, you will not die," said pewa
Wisnu. Howeve4, one of those
giants heard about tirta amerta. He reported to Kala Rau.
"Ha..ha.. ha... Now Iknow how to
marry Dewi Ratih. I will use their secret!" said Kala Rau.
Dewa Wisnu gathered all the gods and the goddesses in the
palace. He put the water in the jug.
He asked all the gods and the goddesses to take turn drinking
the water. One by one they drank
the water. They fett very fresh. It was time for Dewa Kuwera to
drink the water. Dewa Wisnu
felt there was something strange withDewa Kuwera. He was bigger
and talle4 and he was also
smelly. Dewa Wisnu did not know that it was not the real Dewa
Kuwera. He was Kala Rau
disguising as Dewa Kuwera.
When the false Dewa Kuwera was about to drink the water, the
real Dewa Kuwera showed up.
Dewa Wisnu immediately knew the problem. He took his arrow and
shot him at the neck! The
shot was so powerful. It cut and separated the head and the
body. Dewa Wisnu threw the body
back to earth. It became a lexmg. It is a mortar that people use
to pound the rice. What about the
head? Unfortunately, Kala Rau had a chance to drink the rvater.
His head could live forever
althou gh it was already separated from the body. Dewa Wisnu
immediately threw the head to
the sky.
The head of Kala Rau n'as still in the sky Iooking for Dervi
Ratih. And when he saw Dewi Ratih,
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he tried to grab her. But he did not have hands, so he used his
mouth to catch Dewi Ratih. He
succeeded! He sn allowed Dewi Ratih!
And because he did not have any parts of body, Dewi Ratih could
escape.
And when Dewi Ratih was being swallowed by Kala Rau, the moon
was dark.
After all, she was the goddess of moon right?
People on earth hated to see the dark moon. So thev pounded Kala
Rau's body which already
changed into lesung. When people pounded the lesung, Kala Rau
felt the pain. So he escaped.
Until now, when there is a moon eclipse some people still pound
lesung. They believe that Kala
Rau is still chasing Dewi Ratih. ***
A Loyal Farmer
Folklore from Bali
A long time ago, there was a small village in Bali. The
villagers were farmers. They were very
happy. The gods gave them fertile land. They always had a great
harvest. There were no poor
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family in that village.
One day, a young man came to the village. He came from a very
far place.
He went to the richest farmer in the village. The richest
farmer's name was Jero Pasek.
"My name is I Tundung. I came here to work, Sir. I promise I
will work hard."
"Hmm... Okay, I will let you work in my rice field. But
remember, I will ask you to leave if you
are lazy." said Jero Pasek.
I Tudung was very happy. He did not want to disappoint Jero
Pasek, his master. He worked
diligently and patiently. Jero Pasek was very grateful. The
harvest was a good deal better.
Besides cultivating, I Tundung also look care of the animals,
such as chickens, ducks, goats and
cattle. The number of the animals also increased. Jero Pasek
become richer.
Jero pasek planned to ask I Tundung to cultivate his field in
Kangin Hill. Unlike the land in the
village, the land in Kangin Hill was not fertile.
However, I Tundung accepted it very happy. He felt that Jero
Pasek had already trusted him. He
wanted to repay his trust by giving him great harvest.
The land on the hill was arid. It was very dry. However, I
Tundung was never given up. There
was a small spring. I Tundung made irrigation. He used the water
in the spring and flew it
through the irrigation.
It worked! The ground was not dry anymore. The plants grew very
well. And again they
delivered an outstanding harvest. Now the whole hills are green,
thanks to I Tundung.
Unfortunately, their happiness did not last long. A thief stole
the harvest and the animals.
Sadly, I Tundung was never able to catch the thief. The harvest
and the animals kept on missing,
Jero Pasek was angry.
"I'm very disappointed in you. I have lost a lot of harvest and
animals!"
I Tundung was sad. He went to a temple to pray. While he was
meditating, he heard a voice.
"I recognize your problem and I can help you."
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"Thank you. I'm willing to do anything as long as I can protect
my master's harvest and animals."
said I Tundung.
"I will change you into a big black snake. You will live on the
hill and you can protect the
harvest and the animals."
I Tundung agreed. He did not want to take his master
disappointed and angry at him. Slowly, he
changed into a big black snake.
Meanwhile, Joko Pasek was looking for I Tundung. And when he
arrived at his field, he saw a
big black snake. He was so surprised when the snake was able to
speak!
"Don't be afraid, Sir. It's me, I Tundung. From now on, I will
always protect your harvest and
your animals."
Jero Pasek was very distressing. He never meant to ask I Tundung
to do anything. But it was too
late. ***
--------------------------------------@@@------------------------------------
Did you know?
wikipedia.org
Subak is the name of water management (irrigation) system for
paddy fields on Bali island,
Indonesia which was developed more than 1,000 years ago. For
Balinese, irrigation is not simply
providing water for the plant's roots, but water is used to
construct a complex, pulsed artificial
ecosystem. Paddy fields in Bali were built around water temples
and the allocation of water is
made by a priest. (wikipedia.org)
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I Teruna Tua
Folklore from Bali
A long time ago there was an old man. His name was I Teruna Tua.
He was single. He only
wanted to marry a girl whose birthday was the same as his
birthday.
It was I Teruna Tua's birthday. He heard that his friend's wife
just give birth a baby girl. I Teruna
visited his friend. His name was Pan Kayan. I Teruna Tua brought
his wooden stick.
"I want to put my stick under the baby's bed. I will take it
back late1," said I Teruna Tua.
"Sure, no problem," said Pan Kayan.
Several years latex, I Teruna Tua came to Pan Kayan's house. He
wanted to take his stick back.
He was so surprised to see termites had eaten his stick.
"Pan Kayan, the termites have eaten my stick.
Now the termites are mine. However, I will put the termites
here. I will get them back later," said
l Teruna Tua.
"That's OK. You can take the termites back later" said Pan
Kayan.
Several years later, I Teruna Tua came to Pan Kayan'shouse. He
saw Pan Kayan's hen was eating
the termites.
Several years late{, the hen was fighting with Pan Kayan's dog.
The hen lost the fight. She died.
I Teruna Tua saw the incident.
He said, "Pan Kayan, your dog killed my hen. Now the dog is
mine. I want to put the dog here. I
will get him back later."
Several years later, the dog was attacking Pan Kayan's buffalo.
The buffalo was angry. He killed
the dog. And again I Teruna Tua saw the incident.
He said "Your buffalo killed my dog. Now the buffalo is mine. I
want to put the buffalo here. I
will get him back later."
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The buffalo was sleeping under the mango tree. Unfortunately, a
big branch fell down and hit the
buffalo's head. The buffalo
was dead. And I Teruna Tira then again told Pan Kayan that the
mango tree belonged to I Teruna
Tua.
Years passed by, Pan Kayan's daughter was a teenager. There were
some mangoes in the
branches of the tree. She liked to eat mangoes, so she picked
all the mangoes.
I Teruna Tua was surprised when there were no mangoes left. He
knew that all the mangoes were
eaten by Pan Kayan's daughter.
"Pan Kayan, your daughter ate my mangoes. She is mine now. I
want to marry her."
Later I Teruna Tua and the girl got married. Later they had a
baby. And when the baby was
crying, I Teruna Tua tried to cheer her up. He was singing a
song about his wife.
Your mother was first a stick, then changed into termites, then
changed into a hen, then changed
into a dog, then changed into a buffalo, then changed into a
mango tree, then finally changed into
your mother."
His wife heard the song. She was angry. She brought the baby and
went back to her parents'
house.
I Teruna Tua was sad. He tried to persuade his wife to come back
to him but she refused it.
Pan Kayan held a ceremony under the mango tree. He gave some
offering to the gods
I Teruna Tua was hiding behind the tree. He talked to Pan Kayan
as if he was one of the gods.
"l will not accept your offering here. I want you to ask your
daughter to give the offerings to her
husband."
Pan Kayan heard the voice. He immediately asked his daughter to
bring the offering to I Teruna
Tua. And when she met her husband I Teruna Tua apologized and
promised not to hurt her heart
again. Since then, they have lived happily. ***
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I Cikampeng
Folklore from Bali
THERE was a rich but stupid man. His name was I Cikampeng. He
had a lot of money because
he never wasted it. He was very careful in spending his
money.
For example, he never took a bath in the bathroom and never
bought any soap. If he wanted to
take a bath, he only went to the river. He thought taking a bath
with water and soap in the
bathroom only wasted his money. He also did not have any
utensils.
If he wanted to eat, he just bought a little rice and he divided
the rice into three very small parts.
They were for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That was why his
body was so skinny. He also only
had one clothes. He kept on wearing it even though it was
already worn-out.
One day I Cikampeng went to a wedding party. People asked why he
did not get married yet. He
said that actually he wanted to get married soon. He was still
looking for the perfect girl. He
wanted to marry a girl who did not like to waste money.
Someone said that there was a girl I Cikampeng was looking for.
Her name was I Mayang Sari.
And she was as skinny as I Cikampeng.
Soon I Cikampeng went to visit I Mayang Sari. He fell in love
with her and asked her to marry
him. I Mayang Sari agreed. She had been waiting for a man to
marry her. Later I Cikampeng and
I Mayang Sari got married.
I Cikampeng did not know that I Mayang Sari was suffering a
terrible disease. Because she did
not get enough food from I Cikampeng, her disease was getting
terrible. She was dying. And
finally she was dead.
It was in the morning. I Cikampeng wanted to go to the rice
field. He woke his wife up. He
thought that she was still sleeping. In the afternoon, I
Cikampeng saw his wife was still in the
bed. I Cikampeng was happy. He could save the food for tomorrow
because his wife was still
sleeping.
It happened on the following days. He always thought that his
wife was still sleeping. In the
mean time, his wife's body started to decay and produced a very
bad smell.
The neighbors asked I Cikampeng where his wife was. And they
also asked why there was a bad
smell coming from his house. I Cikampeng said that his wife was
sleeping. The neighbors were
suspicious. They wanted to see his wife. And when they saw her,
they were very surprised.
-
"I Cikampeng, your wife is dead! Don't you smell it?"
"Really?" asked I Cikampeng. He was very stupid.
Since then he thought that when someone smelled very bad as it
meant that the person was dead.
I Cikampeng and the neighbors buried I Mayang Sari. And when
they have finished, they all
went home. In the evening, I Cikampeng was farting. The smell
was very bad. I Cikampeng then
remembered what the people said about the bad smell.
He thought he was dead. He did not want to tell his neighbors
that he was dead. He had to spend
some money when he asked the neighbors to bury his wife. He did
not want to waste his money,
therefore he wanted to bury his body by himself.
He dug the ground and when it was deep enough, he slowly covered
his body with the soil. And
finally almost all parts of his body were covered by soil.
Except for his head, it was not covered
yet.
When people saw I Cikampeng, they asked what happened. He told
them everything. The people
were laughing. They all said that I Cikampeng was very stupid!
***
Nang Butuh Mosel and His Magic Ring
Folklore from Bali
THERE was a poor family. The father's name was Nang Butuh Mosel.
He and his wife had three
children. Although they were poor, they were happy. Nang Butuh
Mosel was a good father. He
loved his children very much. He always taught his children to
be kind to others.
Nan Butuh Mosel did not have a permanent job. He got some money
by helping others. And he
always worked at the market.
One day he went to the market. On the way there, a man was
trying to kill a snake. The man said
that the snake ate his chicken.
Nang Butuh Mosel felt sorry for the snake. He wanted to save the
snake by buying it from him.
The man agreed. Nang Butuh Mosel gave him some money and later
he put the snake inside his
bag. Later he continued his trip to the market. Suddenly he saw
a man was trying to kill a mouse.
The man said the mouse always ate his rice. Nang Butuh Mosel
felt sorry, he bought the mouse
and put him inside his bag.
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And when he continued his trip to the market, he saw a man was
trying to kill a cat and a dog. He
said the cat and the dog always ate his fish. Again Nang
Butuh
Mosel saved their lives by buying them. He put the cat and the
dog in his bag. He did not have
any money. He already spent all his money buying the
animals.
Nang Butuh Mosel was tired. He rested under a big tree. He fell
asleep. And when he woke up,
there was a very big snake in front of him. The snake was able
to talk!
"Don't be afraid, Sir. I'm the mother of the snake you saved. I
want to thank you, here please
accept my ring. It is a magic ring. Whatever the thing you
insert through the ring, it will change
into gold," said the big snake.
Nang Butuh Mosel opened his bag. The snake went out and followed
his mother. He was very
curious. He took a small twig and inserted it through the ring.
Amazingly the twig changed into
gold!
He was so happy and later he went home. He also brought the
mouse, the cat and the dog with
him. He wanted to give those animals to his children as their
pets.
At home Nang Butuh Mosel and his wife started to change
everything into gold. Later they
became very rich. They did not tell anyone about the ring,
including their children.
Unfortunately his children played with the ring. It fell and
broke into two pieces. Nang Butuh
Mosel was not angry. He just advised them to be careful when
playing. Nang Butuh Mosel
brought the broken ring to a goldsmith. And after the ring was
fixed, a piece of string
accidentally was inserted through the ring. The string charged
into gold.
The goldsmith was surprised. He had a bad plan. He exchanged the
magic ring into an ordinary
ring. And when Nang Butuh Mosel came to take his ring, he
received the ordinary ring. His
magic ring was kept by the goldsmith. Nang Butuh Mosel finally
found out that his magic ring
was exchanged. He was sad. The pets felt so sorry to see their
master sad. They knew about the
magic ring. They wanted to help and got the magic ring back.
They went to the goldsmith's house. The dog used his nose to
trace the ring. They found the
magic ring was inside a box. The mouse used his teeth to open
the box. It made a noise. The
goldsmith woke up from his sleep. The cat then made a sound of
miaow. The goldsmith thought
it was just a cat, he went back to sleep.
After they got the magic ring, they went back home. They gave
the ring to Nang Butuh Mosel.
He was so happy and thanked them. This time he kept it very
carefully.***
-
Ni Timun Mas and I Lantang Hidung
Folklore from Bali
NI Timun Mas was a beautiful girl. She lived with her mother in
a house near a jungle.
Ni Timun Mas always helped her mother. When her mother worked in
a rice field,
Ni Timun Mas always stayed at home to clean up and cook. she was
not allowed to go to the rice
field. Her mother was afraid that a giant would kidnap her. Yes,
there was a giant lived in the
jungle. His name was I Latang Hidung. He loved to eat young
people!
Her mother always went home in the afternoon. She always asked
Ni Timun Mas not to open the
door while she worked. Her mother would sing a song, "Ni Timun
Mas, I'm home. Please open
the door" Then NiTimun Mas opened the door.
Sadly, it happened. I Lantang Hidung came to see the house. The
giant was hungry. He banged
the door. Ni Timun Mas was so scared. Because the door was not
opened, the giant left. He was
sure there was somebody in the house. He was hiding behind the
trees.
And when her mother went home, the giant knew that the door
would be opened when a song
was sung. He planned to come back and he would sing the song. Ni
Timun Mas told her mother
about the giant. She was very happy that the door was not
opened. Unfortunately, they did not
know that the giant already knew their secret.
On the following afternoon, I Lantang Hidung came. The giant
sing the song, "Ni Timun Mas,
I'm home. Please open the door." He imitated Timun Mas mother's
voice.
Of course Timun Mas thought it was her mother who came home. She
opened the door and
suddenly ILantang Hidung grabbed her. The giant kidnapped her
and brought her to his house in
the jungle.
-
When her mother arrived, she was so shocked. The door was opened
and her daughter was not
home. She ran and cried. While she was looking for her daughter,
she met a man. He was beating
a cat. She felt sorry. She bought the cat from the man and kept
the cat. Then she continued her
journey, this time she saw a mouse was beaten by a man. She
saved and bought the mouse. Later,
she met a man who was beating a dog. Again, she saved and bought
the dog. And finally she met
a man who was trying to kill a snake. She also saved and bought
the snake.
It was already dark. The mother decided to go home. She would
look for her daughter later in the
morning. At night, she remembered she remembered her daughter.
She cried. The animals she
saved were looking at her. They were carious. The cat asked
her.
"Why are you crying?"
The mother was surprised. The animals could talk like humans.
She explained that a giant
kidnapped her daughter. The animals were so sorry. They wanted
to reply her kindness. They
would free Ni Timun Mas from the giant.
The animals went to the jungle. They saw the giant was sleeping
and Ni Timun Mas was tied
with a rope. They set a plan. The mouse would bit the rope. The
cat would observe and told them
when the giant woke up. The dog and the snake were ready to
attack the giant.
They started to do their plan. The mouse slowly bit the rope. It
started to loosen up. Finally she
was free. Unfortunately, the giant woke up. The cat immediately
told his friends. The mouse
asked Ni Timun Mas to follow him. The dog and the snake
immediately attacked the giant. The
dog bit and the snake squeezed the giant, The giant was loosing
so much blood. He finally died.
The animals and Ni Timun Mas arrived home. Her mother was very
happy. She did not
worry animorebecause the giant was dead, Since then, Ni Timun
Mas, her mother and the
animals lived peacefully. ***
-
The Legend of Singaraja
Folklore from Bali
SRI Sagening was the king of Klungkung Kingdom, Bali. He had a
lot of wives. His last wife
was Ni Luh Pasek. She was the most beautiful wife and that made
the other wives were jealous.
They often told bad things to the king. Sadly, the king was
influenced and he finally asked
Ni Luh Pasek to leave the palace. Ni LuhPasek was very sad, but
she had no other choice. She
became very sad when she knew that she was pregnant! Ni Luh
Pasekarrived at a village. An old
man felt very sorry with her condition. His name was Jelantik
Bogol. He was a holy man and had
supernatural power. He married Ni Luh Pasek. And when the baby
was
born, Jelantik Bogol named him I Gusti Gede. He loved Igusti
Gede just like his own son.
I Gusti Gede grew as a strong man. He also mastered a lot of
skills such as martial arts and
supernatural power. His step father taught him the skills. One
day his step father asked him to go
to a jungle in Den Hill. It was the place Ni Luh Pasek was
born.Jelantik Bogol asked him to go
there to get more supernatural power. Before he left, his step
father gave him two weapons, a
spear and a keris, it's a traditional wavy double-bladed dagger.
I Gusti Gede did it. He went to
the Den Hill and meditated. While he was meditating, a spirit of
the jungle came to him. The
spirit spoke to him.
-
"You will be a great king. Go to Panumbang beach, help the
people there."
I Gusti Gede continued his journey. When he arrived at
Panombangan Beach, there was an
incident. There was a ship from Bugis sinking at the beach. The
people had tried to help, but they
did not succeed.
I Gusti Gede wanted to help. He asked the people to stay away
from the ship. He prayed and
took out hos weapons. Suddenly, two big spirits came out of the
spear and the keris.
I Gusti Gede asked the spirits to pull the sinking ships back to
sea. The people could not see the
spirits. They only saw I Gusti Gede moving his hands. The
spirits slowly pulled the ship. In just
a minute, a ship just back in the sea. The owner was very happy.
He gave some of his wealth to I
Gusti Gede. People were amazed with his power. they named him as
I Gusti Panji Sakti.
I Gusti Panji Sakti went back to Den Hill. He started to build a
village. People came one by one.
I Gusti panjiSakti protected them from bad people. Slowly the
village became a kingdom. I
Gusti Panji Sakti became the king and he named the kingdom as
Sukasada.
sukasada became a big kigdom, I Gusti Panji Sakti planned to
make another kingdom. He
opened up a new area. It was full of buleleng trees. Therefore
he named the kingdom
as Buleleng Kingdom.
He also build a great palace. People named it Singaraja. Singa
means lion and Raja means king.
With his power I Gusti Panji Sakti was like a lion. He always
protected his people from bad
people. While he became a king, Buleleng Kingdom was safe and
prosperous. ***
The Legend of Catu Island
Folklore from Bali
A long time ago there was a village in Bali. The people worked
as farmers. One of the was Jurna.
He was a diligent farmer. He always had a great harvest. However
he was never satisfied. He
wanted to have better and better harvest.
"I will promise to gods. If they give me better harvest than I
have now, I will give them offerings
and I will share the harvest to the neighbors," said Jurna to
his wife.
"I agree, But remember, you have to keep your promise," said his
wife.
Soon, Jurna had better harvest. He had more rice than he had
before. He was happy. And as
-
promised, he prepared offerings to the gods and he also shared
to his neighbors. They were very
happy.
Jurna was not satisfied. He wanted to have better and better and
more harvest. Therefore he
promised to gods that he would double his offerings and his
sharing to the neighbors.
His wish came true. His harvest was much better than before. The
other farmers were amazed.
They were also very thankful because he shared his harvest to
them.
One day, Jurna went to his rice field. When he arrived, he saw a
pile of soil on the ground. It
looked like acatu. Catu was made of coconut shell. People used
catu to measure the amount of
rice. At home, Jurnatalked about a soil which looked like a catu
to his wife. She had an idea.
"Let's make catu from rice," she said. Jurna agreed. Later they
formed the rice just like catu. On
the following day, Jurna went to his rice field. He saw the soil
catu was getting bigger.
"Hmm...I will make rice catu bigger than this," said Jurna
himself. He asked his wife to make
bigger ricecatu. He felt very satisfied. He wanted to show his
rise catu to his neighbors. He
hoped that his neighbors would prise him as a rich man. And they
did! All the neighbors praised
him. Jurna became arrogant. On the next day, Jurna went to his
rice field. He hoped the
soil catu were not getting bigger and bigger. But he was wrong.
Strangely, the soil catu was
bigger.
"Don't worry, I have much rice. I can make rice catu bigger,"
said Jurna arrogantly. While he
was making the rice catu, he was thinking how the neighbors
would prise him.
And his wish came true. All the neighbors were so amazed by the
size of the rice catu. They all
said thatJurna was very rich. Jurna became more arrogant.
Then Jurna went to his rice field. He hoped the soil catu would
stop growing. But he was wrong.
Again, it became much bigger than before. Jurna was really
upset. He made rice catu bigger than
before.
It always repeated. Every time he went to his rice field he
always found the soil catu became
bigger and bigger.
His wife always reminded him to stop making rice catu. She said
that their stock was getting
lesser and lesser. She asked him to stop wasting the rice.
But Jurna ignored her. He was only thinking how he could make
his rice catu bigger than the
-
soil catu. Soon he lost all of his rice. He became poor. He
regretted his bad behaviour.
Meanwhile the soil catubecame very big. It was like a hill.
People then named it as Catu Hill
or Bukit Catu. ***
Putri Luh Cendrasari
Folklore from Bali
PRABU Maha Sila was a king. He had a beautiful daughter. Her
name wasPutri Luh Cendrasari.
Many young men fell in love with her. They wanted to propose her
to be their wife.
The king asked his daughter to choose carefully. Some of the men
were princes from other
kingdom. The king did not want to make the men disappointed and
it would start a war.
Putri Luh Cendrasariunderstood. She held a competition. She
would marry a man who could
bring her the eyes and the scales of a white dragon. All the
participants agreed. They started to
look for a white dragon.
It was not easy to find a white dragon. Some of them climbed the
mountains and some of them
swam in the sea. However they still could not find the white
dragon. One by one the participants
gave up.
-
One of the participants was Manik Angkeran. He was not a prince.
He was just a
villager. Manik Angkeranreally wanted to marry Putri Luh
Cendrasari. Actually the princess also
fell in love with Manik Angkeran.
She really hoped he could win the copetition. Manik Angkeran
went to his teacher in his cave.
The teacher was meditating. Manik Angkeran told his teacher
about Putri Luh Cendrasari and the
competition.
"What will you do to win the competition?" asked the
teacher.
"I will do anything, Master. If I have to sacrifice my soul,
yes... I will do it,
said Manik Angkeran.
"I really admire your persistence. I can see that you really
love her. And I also really love
you, ManikAngkeran. And I will do anything to make you
happy."
The teacher continued, "Actually I am a white dragon. Gods
allowed me to be human," said the
teacher.
Later an amazing things happened. The teacher slowly turned into
a white
dragon. Manik Angkeran was very surprised. He did not know that
his teacher actually a white
dragon.
The white dragon took out his eyes and shook his body. The
scales fell off. He gave his eyes and
his scales to Manik Angkeran. Then the white dragon disappeared.
He went back to heaven.
Manik Angkeran was very sad. He lost his beloved teacher. He
immediately went to the palace.
The princess was happy. The winner was Manik Angkeran. They soon
got married.
Not long after that the princess was pregnant. Everybody was
happy except Manik Angkeran. He
knew hehad to fulfill his promise. He would die soon.
Manik Angkeran was talking to Putri Luh Cendrasari. Suddenly he
fell
down. Putri Luh Cendrasari saw the gods took manik Angkeran's
spirit.
She cried. She asked gods not to take her husband. She told gods
that she wanted to follow her
husband. She also wanted to die.
The Gods answered, "It's not your time to die. You are
pregnant."
"But I really want to be with my husband," said the
princess.
-
Actually the gods did not want to take Manik Angkeran's spirit.
They just want to test the
princess if she really loved him, knowing that he was just a
villager, The gods answered her
request. Slowly ManikAngkeran came back to life.
He lived again. Since then Manik angkeran and Putri Luh
Cendrasari lived happily ever after.***
Manik Angkeran
Folklore from Bali
A long time ago, lived a very rich family in Bali. The father
was Sidi Mantra. He was very
famous for his supernatural power. He lived happily with his
wife and his only child Manik
Angkeran. Manik Angkeran was a spoiled son. He also had a bad
habit. He liked to gamble.
Because of his bad habit, his parents soon became poor. They
always advised Manik Angkeran
to stop his bad habit, but he never listened to them. Instead he
kept on begging for his parents to
give him a lot of money.
The parents then did not have the heart to see him begging. Sidi
Mantra then went to Agung
Mountain. There lived a mighty dragon with his great
supernatural power. He could provide
jewelries to those who could say the right prayers and ring the
bell. Sidi Mantra had the bell and
he also knew the prayers.
"My name is Sidi Mantra. I have a problem. My son likes to
gamble. He made me poor. And
-
now he asks a lot of money. I want to give him some, but now I
want him to promise to stop his
bad behavior," explained Sidi Mantra after he met the
dragon.
Sidi Mantra then said the prayers and rang the bell. Suddenly,
jewelries came out from the
dragon's body. He was very happy and immediately brought the
jewelries home. This time Sidi
Mantra wanted Manik Angkeran really to stop gambling.
The son then promised. But soon he broke the promise and he did
not have any money again. He
heard that his father got the jewelries from the dragon living
in Agung Mountain. So he stole his
father's bell then went there.
After arriving at Agung Mountain, Manik Angkeran rang the bell.
The dragon knew him.
"I will give you anything you want but you have to promise to
stop gambling. Remember the
karma!" then the dragon gave him the jewelries.
Manik Angkeran was very happy. Suddenly he had a bad idea. He
wanted to kill the dragon and
stole all his jewelries. The dragon knew his plan and with his
great power he killed Manik
Angkeran. Sidi Mantra was very sad. He asked the dragon to bring
his son back to life. The
dragon agreed but they had to live in different places.
After a few moments, Manik Angkeran lived again. Then Sidi
Mantra used a stick to make a big
line between them on the ground.
From the line, water flowed. Soon it became a river. Finally it
became a strait. It separated Java
and Bali. People then named the strait as Bali Strait. ***