The Legend of Gunung Bagus

Folklore from Cenral Java

A long time ago the king of Mataram kingdom was Gusti Sultan Agung. At the time Mataram had small area called Rangga. One of the areas was Blimbing and the head was called Rangga Blimbing.

All areas in the Mataram Kingdom had to provide tributes to the king. Rangga Blimbing often asked his son,  Jaya Ketok, to accompany him when providing the tributes.

]aya Ketok was happy when he could join his father to the palace because he could meet the beautiful daughter of Gusti Sultan Agung. Her name was Gusti Rara Pembayun.

Jaya Ketok was a handsome man. Gusti Rara Pembayun fell in love with him. However, they could not tell Gusti Sultan Agung about their relationship. He did not bless their relationship and asked them to end it. Gusti Sultan Agung also asked Rangga Blimbing to advise his son not to continue their relationship.

The couple still continued to meet secretly. Sadly Gusti Sultan Agung finally found out their forbidden relationship. He was angry. He asked his soldiers to attack Blimbing.

Mataram soldiers could not beat Blimbing soldiers. Before they lost the war, Gusti Sultan Agung asked the Netherlands to help him. They agreed but Gusti Rara had to marry the chief of Netherlands soldiers.

Mataram won the war, and ]aya Ketok was killed. Gusti Rara was very sad. She did not know that her father had already arranged her marriage. She refused it! The Chief of Netherlands soldiers were angry. They attacked Mataram.

Gusti Sultan Agung saved their families in Kedunglumbu Village. There was a very beautiful girl in the village. Gusti Sultan Agung fell in love with her and made her as a concubine. Not long after that the concubine was pregnant. Gusti Sultan Agung's wife, the queen was also pregnant. They both delivered the babies almost at the same time.

Both the queen and the concubine delivered baby boys. The queen's son was named Jaka Trenggana while the concubine's son was named Jaka Bagus. Gusti Sultan Agung loved them and he did not treat them differently. Later ]aka Trenggana and Jaka Bagus grew up as good men. And they always helped each other.

One day Jaka Bagus suffered a strange illness. Gusti Sultan Agung was sad. He asked healers from many places but no one could cure him. Gusti Sultan Agung was helpless. And before he lost his hope, he heard that there was a great healer lived in Giring Village near Kidul Mountain.

The healer's name was Ki Ageng Wonoboyo. Gusti Sultan Agung brought ]aka Bagus to Giring Village and he asked Ki Ageng Wonoboyo to cure him. Ki Ageng Wonoboyo said that he would do his best to cure ]aka Bagus. But he could not promise much. He told Gusti Sultan Agung that |aka Bagus was in a very critical condition.

Gusti Sultan Agung understood. He told Ki Ageng Wonoboyo that if Jaka Bagus died, he asked Ki Ageng to bury ]aka Bagusbody in the highest hill in the area. Then Gusti Sultan Agung left and went back home.

Not long after that Jaka Bagus died. Ki Ageng did the instruction. He buried |aka Bagusf body in the highest hill. Since then people named the hill as Bagus Mountain.***

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! ***

Prince Amat Mude

Folklore from Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam

THERE was a kingdom in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. The people were sad. Their beloved king just died. He was a great king. He loved his people very much. And he was a wise king. The king had a son. His name was Prince Amat Mude. 

Because he was still a baby, he could not become the next king. He had to wait until he was an adult. And for temporary, the king's younger brother became the king. He was Prince Amat Mude's uncle.

The uncle agreed Prince Amat Mude would become the king when he was an adult. At first everything went well, but soon the uncle changed his mind. He did not want Prince Amat Mude replaced him as the king.

The uncle wanted to be the king until he died. The uncle had a bad plan. He asked the soldiers to bring the prince and the queen to the jungle. The soldiers felt very sorry for them. So they build a house in the jungle.

The queen raised the prince by herself. She taught all good things for her son. Soon the prince became a young man, Prince Amat Mude loved fishing. And one day he caught a lot of fish. The queen and the prince sold all the fish in the nearest village.

When they arrived in the village they met a rich merchant. He was surprised to see them. He was the king's best friend. When the king was alive, he often helped the merchant. The merchant wanted to help them. He bought all the fish and asked them to stay in his house.

At home, the merchant asked his wife to cook the fish. But when the wife cut the fish she found gold inside the fish's body. She gave all the gold to the queen and the prince. They then sold the gold and built a home in the village.

The prince continued to go fishing and he always found gold inside the fish body he caught. In just a moment the prince and the queen became very rich. They were very generous. They often helped people with their money. And soon they became very famous.

The bad king heard that there were very rich people in his kingdom. He did not know that they were the queen and the prince. He wanted to know who they were so he invited them to the palace.

When the bad king met them, he was shocked. He thought the queen and the prince are already dead. He pretended to be sorry with their condition in the jungle. He said he would let the prince to be the new king. But before that he asked the prince to help him.

The bad king's wife was ill. And the cure was the coconut fruit in a remote island. The bad king had another bad plan. He asked the prince to get him the coconut fruit. He knew the prince could not get the fruit because a dragon lived in the island.

The prince went to the island. And when he arrived, he met the dragon! The prince tried to calm down. He introduced himself and asked the dragon's permission to pick the coconut fruit. The dragon was able to talk to humans. He was the best friend of the prince's father. He was willing to help the prince get his crown back.

Together the prince and the dragon went back to the palace. The bad king was so scared when he saw the dragon. He had no other choice. The people were very happy, they knew Prince Amet Mude would become a great king like his father. ***