A Loyal Farmer

A long time ago, there was a small village in Bali. The villagers were farmers they were very happy. Gods gave them fertile land. They always had great harvest. There were no poor 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. Jero Pasek was very grateful. The harvest was much better. Besides cultivating, I Tundung also look care of the animals, such as chickens, ducks, goats and cows. 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 in the hill was arid. It was very dry. However, I Tundung was never gave 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 land was not dry anymore. The plants grew very well. And again they had great 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 know your problem and I can help you."

"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 in the hill and you can protect the harvest and the animals."

I Tundung agreed. he did not want to make 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 talk!

"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 sad. He never meant to ask I Tundung to do anything. But it was to late.

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The Legend of Putri Luh Cendrasari

PRABU Maha Sila was a king. He had a beautiful daughter. Her name was Putri 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 Cendrasari understood. 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 Angkeran really 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, Manik Angkeran. 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 he had 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 Manik Angkeran came back to life.

He lived again. Since then Manik angkeran and Putri Luh Cendrasari lived happily ever after.

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The Legend of Catu Island

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 a catu. Catu was made of coconut shell. People used catu to measure the amount of rice. At home, Jurna talked 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 rice catu. 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 that Jurna 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 catu became very big. It was like a hill. People then named it as Catu Hill or Bukit Catu.

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The Legend of Singaraja

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 Luh Pasek was very sad, but she had no other choice. She became very sad when she knew that she was pregnant! Ni Luh Pasek arrived 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 I gusti 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 panji Sakti 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.

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Ni Timun Mas and I Lantang Hidung

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 Ni Timun 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 I Lantang 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 animore because the giant was dead, Since then, Ni Timun Mas, her mother and the animals lived peacefully.

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The Stupid Crocodile

Folklore from South Sulawesi

IT was very hot day. A crocodile was lying on the ground. He wanted to go to the river and enjoyed the water. However, he was too weak to go there. He was waiting for an animal to help him. His wish came true. A buffalo was passing by. He asked the buffalo to helped him.

"I want to go to the river. But I am too weak. May I jump on your back and take me to the river?" asked the crocodile.

"Certainly, Mr Crocodile. I'm glad to help you," said the Buffalo.

Soon the crocodile was on top of the buffalo's back. And when they arrived at the river side, the buffalo asked the crocodile to get off.

"Not now, there is not much water here. Please go farther," said the crocodile.

The buffalo continued walking. They were almost at the middle of the river. The water was on the neck of the buffalo. The crocodile get off from the buffalo's back. Instead of saying thank you, the crocodile bit the buffalo's leg.

"Hey what are you doing?" asked the buffalo.

"I'm so hungry. You have to be my lunch!" said the crocodile.

"But it is not fair! I already helped you!"

"I don't care!" said the crocodile.

A mouse deer saw their argument. He was standing at the river side. He wanted to know what happened.

"Hey, what are you arguing about?" asked the mouse deer.

"I already helped Mr. Crocodile, but now he wants to eat me."

The mouse deer knew that the crocodile was a mean animal. He wanted to help the buffalo.

"What? I cannot hear you. Both of you are too far from me. Come closer to the ground.

Slowly, the buffalo moved his body. The crocodile was still biting his leg. And when they were on the ground, the mouse deer whispered to the buffalo's ear.

"Kick the crocodile now and run. The crocodile cannot move fast to the ground."

The buffalo immediately kicked the crocodile with his other leg. The crocodile was in pain. He opened his mouth. The buffalo was free. Soon the buffalo and the mouse deer ran fast to save their lives.

"Wait for my revenge mouse deer. I will eat you alive!" the crocodile was angry.

Several days later, the crocodile met the mouse deer.

"Aha! I will eat you now!"

"No, wait! Do you know what I'm doing here?" asked the mouse deer. He continued, "Do you see that big and shining rope over there? Well, it's not a rope. It's a magic belt. The god of the jungle asked me to guard it."

"Really? What kind of magic does this belt have?" asked the crocodile.

"Anyone who wears the belt will have great power," explained the mouse deer.

The crocodile wanted to have great power. However, he did not know that the belt was actually a big snake. And the snake was sleeping.

The crocodile asked the mouse deer to go away. And when the mouse deer left. The crocodile lifted the belt and put it around his body.

The snake was angry! He squeezed the crocodile! The crocodile was in great pain. He asked for help but no one helped him. Slowly, the crocodile died. ***

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The Legend of Telaga Pasir

Folklore from East Java

ONCE upon a time, there lived a husband and wife in the jungle of Lawu Mountain, East Java. They were Kyai Pasir and his wife Nyai Pasir. They lived peacefully. Kyai Pasir was a farmer. He worked in a field. Nyai Pasir just stayed at home. Everyday she cleaned up the house and cooked for them.

It was a beautiful morning, Kyai Pasir left the house and went to his field. While he was walking, he stumbled upon something. He looked at the thing carefully, "What is this? Is this an egg? But what kind of egg is this? It's very big."

Kyai Pasir put the egg back to the ground. He continued walking. At home, Kyai Pasir told his wife about the egg. "Why didn't you bring the egg home?" asked Nyai Pasir.

"It's really big. I feel really strange about the egg," explained Kyai Pasir.

"If the egg is really big, then we both can eat. Please bring the egg home, Kyai," asked Nyai Pasir.

On the following days, Kyai Pasir went to the field as usual. He planned to bring the egg home as his wife's request.

Kyai Pasir was walking carefully . he did not want to stumble upon the egg for the second time. He looked around. And aha! He found the egg. He carefully brought the egg home.

"Nyai, this is the egg I told you."

"You are right, Kyai. The egg is big. I wonder what animal has this egg."

Nyai Pasit did not wait for long to boil the egg. And when it was done, they both ate the egg.

They both felt very full. And it made them very sleepy. Not long after that they fell asleep. In the morning Kyai and Nyai Pasir woke up as usual. Kyai Pasir took a bath then he went to the field.

On the way to the field, he felt his body so uncomfortable. He felt his body itchy. He stretched his body. Suddenly he felt his throat so hot. He badly needed water. He was screaming in pain. He was so shocked! he saw his skin changed into scales. Just like scales of reptile. He touched his head. He felt something was growing on his head. He was completely shocked. A horn was growing. And he also had a tail. His body slowly getting bigger. He changed into a dragon!

Meanwhile, at home Nyai Pasir also felt the same. She was so panicked. She was screaming. She was running to the field. She wanted to look for her husband. When she arrived at the field, she saw a dragon was moving his body on the ground.

Slowly Nyai Pasir also changed into a dragon. The two dragons were trying to walk but they were too weak to do that. They just could move their bodies on the ground. They moved their bodies so heavily and it made a very big hole. The hole was getting deeper and deeper. Soon water came out of the hole. The water came out very much. And it made a lake. Since then, people named the lake as Telaga Pasir. ***

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