THE LEGEND OF MOUNT TANGKUBAN PERAHU
Once upon a time in west Java, Indonesia lived a wise king who had a beautiful
daughter. Her name was Dayang Sumbi. She liked weaving very
much. Once she was weaving a cloth when one of her tool fell to the
ground. She was very tired at the time so she was too lazy to take
it. Then she just shouted outloud.
‘Anybody there? Bring me my
tool. I will give you special present. If you are female, I
will consider you as my sister. If you are male, I will marry you’
Suddenly a male dog, its name was Tumang, came. He brought her the
falling tool. Dayang Sumbi was very surprised. She regretted her
words but she could not deny it. So she had to marry Tumang and leave her
father. Then they lived in a small village. Several months later
they had a son. His name was Sangkuriang. He was a handsome and
healthy boy.
Sangkuriang liked hunting very much. He often went hunting to the wood
using his arrow. When he went hunting Tumang always with him. In
the past there were many deer in Java so Sangkuriang often hunted for deer.
One day Dayang Sumbi wanted to have deer’s heart so she asked Sangkuriang
to hunt for a deer. Then Sangkuriang went to the wood with his
arrow and his faithful dog Tumang. But after several days in the wood
Sangkuriang could not find any deer. They were all disappeared.
Sangkuriang was exhausted and desperate. He did not want to disappoint
her mother so he killed Tumang. He did not know that Tumang was his
father. At home he gave Tumang’s heart to her mother.
But Dayang Sumbi knew that it was Tumang’s heart. She was so angry that
she could not control her emotion. She hit Sangkuriang at his head.
Sangkuriang was wounded. There was a scar in his
head. She also repelled her son. Sangkuriang left
her mother in sadness.
Many years passed and Sangkuriang became a strong young man. He
wandered everywhere. One day he arrived at his
own village but he did not realized it. There he met Dayang Sumbi.
At the time Dayang Sumbi was given an eternal beauty by God so she stayed young
forever. Both of them did not know each other. So they fell in love
and then they decided to marry.
But then Dayang Sumbi recognized a scar on his Sangkuriang’s head. She
knew that Sangkuriang was his son. It was impossible for them to
marry. She told him but he did not believe her. He wished that they
marry soon. So Dayang Sumbi gave a very difficult condition. She
wanted Sangkuriang to build a lake and a boat in one night! She said she
needed that for honeymoon.
Sangkuriang agreed. With the help of
genie and spirits Sangkuriang tried to build them. By midnight he had
finished the lake by building a dam in Citarum river. Then he
started building the boat. It was almost dawn when he nearly finished
it. Meanwhile Dayang Sumbi kept watching on them. She was very
worried when she knew this. So she made lights in the east. Then
the spirits thought that it was already dawn. It was time for them to
leave. They left Sangkuriang alone. Without their help he could not
finish the boat.
Sangkuriang was very angry. He kicked
the boat. Then the boat turned out to be Mount Tangkuban Perahu. It
means boat upside down. From a distant it looks like a boat upside down.
Baguss
BalasHapus