The Story Of Panyalahan Village

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”. ***

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The Golden Antelope

THERE was an old and poor man lived alone in the jungle. His wife passed away years ago and he did not have any children. Everyday he collected some woods and sold them in the village. One day, the old man saw a beautiful antelope. The antelope was different from other antelopes. The color of the skin was golden. The old man walked slowly towards the antelope. The antelope looked very weak. He then gave the antelope some food. ÒThank you, Sir. You are very kind to me," said the antelope. "You could talk? Who are you? Are you the ghost of the jungle?" the old man was very shocked. He was so surprised to see a talking antelope. "I'm sorry old man. I can't tell you who I am. If I did, many people will hunt me. Just don't tell anyone about me, OK?" asked the antelope. Since then the old man had a new friend, the golden antelope. He did not feel lonely anymore because he had a friend to talk now, it's the golden antelope. One day, the old man was ill. He could not collect the woods. "Don't worry. I will collect the woods for you," said the golden antelope. The golden antelope then went to the jungle. She did not know that some hunters were following her. One of the hunters was Prince Wijaya. Prince Wijaya took his arrow. He pointed it to the golden antelope. The arrow hit the antelope's body. Suddenly, smoke came out of the golden antelope's body. The smoke then was gone, later a beautiful girl appeared. "Thank you. You just released me from the curse. I'm Princess Sutha. A goddess cursed me into a golden antelope. I could turn back into human i a prince hit me with his arrow," she explained. Then Prince Wijaya asked her to go to the kingdom with him. Princess Sutha agreed only with one condition. She wanted the old man also to join them. They then went to the old man's house. The old man was surprised when

there were a prince and a princess in his house. He was so happy after Princess Sutha explained everything. He then agreed when they asked him to live with them in the palace. Not long after that, Prince Wijaya and Princess Sutha got married. They were happy ever after. ***

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The Legend Of Sangkuriang

A long time ago, the ancient land of Sunda was ruled by a king and a queen who had but a single daughter. Her name

was Dayang Sumbi. She was beautiful and clever but also pampered and spoiled.

One day as she was weaving in her pavilion, she became moody and distracted, which caused her to keep dropping her

shuttle on the floor. Once when it fell she exclaimed she would marry the one who gave it back to her. At that very

moment her dog Tumang, a demigod possessing magic powers, came up to her with the shuttle in his mouth. Dayang

Sumbi had to marry him.

They lived happily together, and Dayang Sumbi gave birth to a baby boy, human in appearance but endowed with his

father's magic powers. She named him Sangkuriang. As the boy grew up, he was always guarded by the faithful dog

Tumang, whom he knew only as a companion and not as his father, Sangkuriang became handsome and brave.

One day his mother asked him to go hunting with the dog and bring her venison for a feast. After hunting all day without

success, Sangkuriang worried about facing his mother empty-handed. Desperate, he took an arrow and shot the dog. He

returned home and handed over the meat to his pleased mother.

Soon after the feast, however, Dayang Sumbi questioned her son about the absence of Tumang. At first he evaded her

queries but finally told her what had happened. She was horrified and struck her son so hard on the temple that he

collapsed. For that, the old king banished his daughter from the court and she was made to roam around the kingdom.

Sangkuriang recovered with a large scar on his temple, and he too left the court to wander about the world.

Years later, Sangkuriang met a beautiful woman and instantly fell in love with her. It was his own mother-they did not

recognize each other. He pro¬posed to her and she agreed to marry him. On the day before the wedding, as she was

caressing her fiancee's hair, Dayang Sumbi detected the scar on the temple. Horror struck her, for she was about to

marry her own son, Sang¬kuriang. Without revealing the whole truth to him, she tried unsuccessfully to dissuade him.

Desperate to avoid the marriage, she set conditions she thought impossible to meet: Sangkuriang had to make a lake

that filled the whole val¬ley and build a boat for the couple to sail in, all before dawn.

Sangkuriang started to work. His love gave him extraordinary strength, and he used his magic powers to summon the

spirits to help him. With boul¬ders and mud they dammed the river in the valley and the water rose and began to form a

lake. In the early morning hours he chopped down a huge tree in the forest and began hollowing it out to make a boat.

When Dayang Sumbi saw that he was about to accomplish what she had thought impossi¬ble, she called on the gods to

bring the sun up early and thwart Sangkuriang.

The cock crowed, the sun rose much earlier than usual, and Sangkuriang realized he had been deceived. In a fit of fury

he cursed Dayang Sumbi and kicked the half-finished boat back into the forest. There it lies upside down today, forming

the mountain Tangkuban Perahu (Upturned Boat). Not far away is the stump of the tree Sangkuriang had felled, now

called Bukit Tunggul. The dam Sangkuriang had built caused the valley to become a lake, where both Sangkuriang and

Dayang Sumbi drowned themselves. They were never heard of again.

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Lutung Kasarung

PRABU Tapa Agung was an old king. He had two daughters, Purbararang and Purbasari. Prabu Tapa Agung planned to retire as a king. He wanted Purbasari to replace him as the leader of the kingdom. Hearing this, Purbararang was angry.

"You cannot ask her to be the queen, Father. I'm older than she is. It's supposed to be me, not her!" said Purbararang. But the king still chose Purbasari to be the next queen.
Purbararang then set a bad plan with her fiance, Indrajaya. Together they went to a witch and asked her to put a spell on Purbasari. Later, Purbasari had bad skin. There were black dots all over her body.
"You are not as beautiful as I am. You cannot be the queen. Instead, you have to leave this palace and stay in a jungle," said Purbararang.
Purbasari was very sad. Now she had to stay in the jungle. Everyday she spent her time playing with some animals there. There was one monkey that always tried to cheer her up. It was not just an ordinary monkey, he had magical power. And he also could talk with humans. The monkey's name was Lutung Kasarung. He was actually a god. His name was Sanghyang Gurumina. Lutung Kasarung planned to help Purbasari. He made a small lake and asked her to take a bath there. Amazingly, her bad skin was cured. Now she got her beautiful skin back.
After that, she asked Lutung Kasarung to accompany her to go back to the palace. Purbararang was very shocked. She knew she had to come up with another bad idea. She then said, "Those who have longer hair will be the queen."
The king then measured his daughters' hair. Purbasari had longer hair. But Purbararang did not give up. "A queen must have a handsome husband. If my fiance is more handsome than yours, then I will be the queen," said Purbararang.
Purbasari was sad. She knew Purbararang's fiance, Indrajaya, was handsome. And she did not have a fiance yet. "Here is my fiancé, Indrajaya. Where is yours?" asked Purbararang. Lutung Kasarung came forward. Purbararang was laughing very hard. "Your fiance is a monkey, ha ha ha."
Suddenly, Lutung Kasarung changed into a very a handsome man. He was even more handsome than Indrajaya. Purbasari then became the queen. She forgave Purbararang and her fiance and let them stay in the palace. ***

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