The Story of Panyalahan

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”. ***

Source : indonesianfolklore.blogspot.com

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.***

source : indonesianfolklore.blogspot.com

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. ***

source : indonesianfolklore.blogspot.com

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. ***

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.***

source : indonesian folklore.blogspot.com