The Legend of Surabaya

A long time ago, there were two animals, Sura and Baya. Sura was

the name of a shark and Baya was a crocodile. They lived in a sea.

Once Sura and Baya were looking for some food. Suddenly, Baya
saw a goat “Yummy, this is my lunch,” said Baya. “No way! This is

my lunch. You are greedy” said Sura. Then they fought for the
goat. After several hours, they were very tired.

Feeling tired of fighting, they lived in the different places. Sura

lived in the water and

Baya lived in the land. The border was the beach, so they would
never fight again.

One day, Sura went to the land and looked for some food in the
river. He was very hungry and there was not much food in the
sea. Baya was very angry when he knew that Sura broke the
promise. They fought again.

They both hit each other. Sura bit Baya’s tail. Baya did the same
thing to Sura. He bit very hard until Sura finally gave up and went
back to the sea. Baya was happy.
 The Story of Toba Lake
Once upon a time, there was a man who was living in north Sumatra. He
lived in a simple hut in a farming field. The did some gardening and
fishing for his daily life.

One day, while the man was do fishing, he caught a big golden fish in his

trap. It was the biggest catch which he ever had in his life. Surprisingly,
this fish turned into a beautiful princess. He felt in love with her and

proposed her to be his wife.

She said; “Yes, but you have to promise not to tell anyone about the
secret that I was once a fish, otherwise there will be a huge disaster”. The
man made the deal and they got married, lived happily and had a
daughter.

Few years later, this daughter would help bringing lunch to her father out

in the fields. One day, his daughter was so hungry and she ate his father’s
lunch. Unfortunately, he found out and got furious, and shouted; “You

damned daughter of a fish”.

The daughter ran home and asked her mother. The mother started crying,

felt sad that her husband had broken his promise.

Then she told her daughter to run up the hills because a huge disaster

was about to come. When her daughter left, she prayed. Soon there was a
big earthquake followed by non-stop pouring rain. The whole area got
flooded and became Toba Lake. She turned into a fish again and the man

became the island of Samosir.

In the past, there was a puppeteer whose name is Geppetto. He eager to have a son
very much but his wife passed away several years ago. One day, he got an idea to
make a puppet in order not to be lonely again. He made a puppet all day long.
Finally, in the morning he had finished his work and he named the puppet Pinocchio.
Soon he felt lonely again since Pinocchio couldn’t walk or talk by itself. One night,
Geppetto prayed to the God to become a real boy. He always thought it on his mind
in his dream.

In the next morning, he was surprised that Pinocchio was alive. He taught Pinocchio
how to walk, how to read, how to speak and to do other things as human. He then
studied at an elementary school. One day, Pinocchio felt bored and it made him go
home late. When Pinocchio finally came home, Geppetto asked him. He said that he
was on school but he wasn’t. Instantly, Pinocchio’s nose grew longer and longer and
it meant that Pinocchio has lied.

The next morning, Pinocchio was kidnaped by the owner of circus. Pinocchio soon
became a slave for the circus. He was so famous because he was a puppet which can
talk. Geppetto worried about him because Pinocchio had not been going home for
almost two days. He tried to find Pinocchio everywhere but he found nothing. When
he searched him on the sea, big wave smashed him. He was then in whale’s stomach
when he awoke. He couldn’t find the way to go out.

In the other side, Pinocchio finally could escape out from the circus. He came home
but nobody was there. Latter on, he searched Geppetto in the sea. He got the same
accident like Geppetto and he met Geppetto in whale’s stomach. Both of them got
out from its stomach by making a fire. In the end of the story, they went home
together and lived happily ever after.
 Tangkuban Perahu

One day, Dayang Sumbi asked her son to go hunting with his lovely dog,
Tumang. After hunting all day, Sangkuriang began desperate and worried
because he hunted no deer. Then he thought to shot his own dog. Then

he took the dog liver and carried home.

Soon Dayang Sumbi found out that it was not deer lever but Tumang’s,

his own dog. So, She was very angry and hit Sangkuriang’s head. In that
incident, Sangkuriang got wounded and scar then cast away from their

home.

Years go bye, Sangkuriang had travel many places and finally arrived at a
village. He met a beautiful woman and felt in love with her. When they
were discussing their wedding plans, The woman looked at the wound in

Sangkuriang’s head. It matched to her son’s wound who had left severall
years earlier. Soon she realized that she felt in love with her own son.

She couldn’t marry him but how to say it. Then, she found the way. She

needed a lake and a boat for celebrating their wedding day. Sangkuriang
had to make them in one night. He built a lake. With a dawn just moment

away and the boat was almost complete. Dayang Sumbi had to stop it.

Then, she lit up the eastern horizon with flashes of light. It made the cock
crowed for a new day.

Sangkuriang failed to marry her. She was very angry and kicked the boat.

It felt over and became the mountain of Tangkuban Perahu Bandung.

Many years ago, rabbits had long tails, not short ones, and crocodiles had
tongues.

One such long-tailed rabbit lived near a pond. He drank water from the
pond and the grass nearby.

Now, in the pond lived a crocodile. The crocodile saw the rabbit eating
grass and drinking water, and he thought how nice it would be to eat the
rabbit.

One day the crocodile swam very close to the edge of the pond. He lay
still in the water, hoping that the rabbit wouldn’t see him. When the rabbit
came to drink, the crocodile opened his mouth wide. Then he closed it
with a snap. The rabbit was caught between the crocodile’s sharp teeth!

Of course, the rabbit was very frightened, but he did not want the
crocodile to know this. “I’m not afraid of you,” said the rabbit. “I’m only
afraid of animals that roar. Everyone knows that crocodiles can’t roar, so
you can’t frighten me.

When the crocodile heard this, he became very angry. He wanted to show
the rabbit that he could roar as fiercely as a tiger. And so, the crocodile
opened his mouth to roar. When the crocodile opened his mouth, the
clever rabbit jumped free. As he jumped, the rabbit’s sharp toe-nails
caught the crocodile’s tongue and tore it out.

The crocodile tried to catch the rabbit again, but his great teeth only
snapped off the end of the rabbit’s tail. Again and again the crocodile
tried to catch the rabbit, but the rabbit was too quick for him. Sometimes
the crocodile caught a piece of the rabbit’s tail, but he could never roar at
the rabbit because he had lost his tongue.

That is why rabbit today have short tail, and crocodiles have no tongue.
 Prambanan Temple

One day, a handsome young man with super natural power named
Bandung Bondowoso defatted and killed Prabu Baka. On seeing Princess
Rara Jonggrang’s beauty, Bandung Bondowoso fell in love wither and
wantted to marry her.

Meanwhile, Princess Rara jonggrang felt sad due to her death father. She
did not want to marry Bandung because he had killed her father. But she
was also afraid of Bandung. So to refuse politely, she made a condition. “I
will marry you but you have to build one thousand temples in one night
as a wedding gift” requested Rara Jonggrang. Bandung Bondowoso
agreed with the condition. Helped by the spirit of the demons, Bandung
Bondowoso started building the temples. Approaching midnight, the
work would nearly be done. Rara Jonggrang knew and thought, “What
shall I do? Bandung Bondowoso is smarter than I. I would lose against
Bandung.”

Suddenly she got an idea. She woke up all the women in the palace and
ordered them to make the noisy sounds of grinding rice so that the
rooster thought at had already been dawn. Bandung Bondowoso got
frustrated because he failed completing the thousandth temple.

“The Princess has deceived me!” Following his anger, he cursed Roro
Jonggrang, “You have been cheated. Now, the thousandth temple is you!”

At once, the Princess turned into a statue. knowing this, Bandung

A long time ago, there was a farmer. He had a small farm. One day he
found that a wall which he had built on previous days was getting
knocked down. The farmer did not know who or what made it. Because he
felt tired of this happening the farmer decided to catch who should be
responsible.

One evening, while the farmer was in guard he heard something strange
near that wall, then he ran to find out who or what it was. It was surprising
him because there were three star maidens there. When they saw the
farmer was approaching, they tried to escape. Two of the star maidens
could run and escape but one of them was left behind.

The farmer then caught the star maiden. She was beautiful and soon the
farmer felt in love with her. Because he was afraid that the star maiden
would run away, the farmer hid her magical wings so she could not fly
anymore. the farmer and the star maiden got married.

The gods saw the tears of the farmer. They felt pity of him so they
decided to build a bridge of different colors for him to climb to the sky
and see his son and wife.

Time went by they live together and got a beautiful baby boy. They lived
happily for a long time, until one day, the star maiden found her magical
wings near their house. She wore her wings back and flew with her son
next to her. The farmer was alone and heart broken.