SANGKURIANG

Once upon a time in West Java, Indonesia, lived a princess named Dayang [Link]
was beautiful and kind-hearted. Her hobby was weaving cloth. But sometimes shecould be
very lazy. One day her weaving tool fell, but she was too lazy to get itherself. She shouted
out, “Can anybody help me get my tool? If you are a female, Iwill take you as my sister. If you
are a male, I will marry you!”
A male creature came, but it was a dog. His name was Tumang. He happily brought
he tool to her. Dayang Sumbi was very surprised, but she kept her promise. She married the
dog. Tumang was actually a man who had been cursed by a witch to become a dog. But at
certain times Tumang could turn back to be a normal man. Their only son, Sangkuriang, was
soon born, and he grew up to be a handsome and healthy boy. He always played with his
very loyal dog, Tumang. He did not know that he was actually his father, because Dayang
Sumbi hid the secret from him. Sangkuriang liked to hunt in the woods, of course with
Tumang
One day Dayang Sumbi asked him to bring home a deer’s heart. But, after hunting for
several days, he could not find any deer in the woods. He did not want to disappoint his
mother and was thinking hard how to bring home a deer’s heart. Suddenly, he had a very
bad idea. He killed Tumang! Then, he brought his heart home and gave it to Dayang Sumbi.
Sangkuring could not cheat her. She knew it was Tumang’s heart. So, she got very
angry and hit Sangkuriang’s forehead with a piece of wood and told him to leave. With a bad
wound on his forehead, Sangkuriang left the village.
Many years later, Sangkuriang grew up to be a powerful man. One day he went back
to his village. He met a beautiful young woman there, and he fell in love with her at the first
sight. It was Dayang Sumbi! She never got older because she had been granted eternal youth
by the gods. Sangkuriang did not know that she was his mother, so he came to her and
proposed to marry her.
When he walked closer to her, Dayang Sumbi got very surprised. She saw the scar in
Sangkuriang’s forehead, and soon she knew that he was her son, who left her a longtime
ago. She told him the truth and tried hard to explain it to him, but he did not believe her.
She did not want to break his heart, so she accepted his proposal but gave him an impossible
thing to do. She wanted him to build a lake and a boat in just one night!
Sangkuriang agreed, because he knew that he could make it with the help of his
genies. By midnight he finished the lake and then started making the boat. Dayang Sumbi
was thinking hard to find a way to fail him. Before dawn, she asked the peoplein the village
to burn the woods in the East, and the light made all the cocks crow. Thinking that the night
would be over soon, the genies ran fast and left Sangkuriang before the boat was finished.
Sangkuriang realized that Dayang Sumbi had cheated him. He got very angry and he kicked
the boat upside down. It gradually became a mountain and it is now known as Mt.
Tangkuban Perahu.
 The Man and The Crocodile Story

A man was hurrying along a river bank. “Help, Help! Please have pity on me.” He
looked all around him. Then he stared. It was a crocodile. There were tears streaming down
its cheeks. It could not move because a tree had fallen on top of it and pinned its tail to the
ground.
The man said, “look, Mr. Crocodile, If I release you, will you eat me up?” “No, no.
how could I be so ungrateful?” said the crocodile. The man pulled the tree off the crocodile’s
tail. The crocodile quickly twisted round and seized the men by the leg. “Wait!” the man
cried, very frightened. “Let’s ask my friend, Mr. Mousedeer, whether this is the right way for
you to repay my kindness.”
When the mousedeer arrived he pretended that he did not believe the story that the
man told him. “I can’t believe that you would be so good to Mr. crocodiles,” he said.
“Probably you were trying to harm him and he caught hold of you. Er … er, Mr. Crocodile,
would you please show me where you were lying when the man came along?” “Why,
certainly,” said the crocodile. “I was here.” Ah he let go of the man, the mousedeer shouted
to the man to drop a log on the crocodile. The crocodile could not move.
The man bowed and thanked the clever mousedeer. “Ah,” said the mousedeer,
“Don’t try to be too kind. It’s man’s nature to be ungrateful,” He called out to an old
sleeping-mat that was floating in midstream. “Hai there, old mat, what’s the reward for
those who do kind acts?” “Mr. Mousedeer,” answered the mat, “just look at me. Once I was
bright and new. Now that I am old you can see what has happened to me.” And then an
empty cooking pot floated past. The mousedeer asked it the same question and receive the
same reply.
 The Legend of Toba Lake

In the past, there lived a young orphan farm in the northern part of the island of Sumatra.
Syahdan, the young man made his life from farming and fishing. One day while he was
fishing he got a fish which was so beautiful in golden brown. While he was holding it, the fish
turned into a beautiful princess. The princess was a woman who was condemned for
violating the prohibitions and it would turn into a kind of creature who first touched it.
Because at that time the human touched it, then it turned into a princess.

Fascinated by her beauty, the young man asked her to be his wife. The application was
accepted on condition that the young man was not allowed to tell the origin of the princess
who came originally from fish. The young man agreed to this requirement. Having got
married for a year, the couple got a boy but he had a bad habit that he never felt satisfied
while he was eating. He ate all the food.

One day the boy ate all the food that should be given to his father. The young man then so
angrily said: "basically you are the offspring of fish!" That statement by itself unlocked the
secrets of his wife and broke his promise.

Shortly afterwards, his wife and son magically disappeared. Suddenly in the land of their
former footsteps went out the springs which were very heavy. The water flew from these
springs continuously and the longer it happened the larger it would be. Finally, these springs
became a vast lake. The lake is now called Toba Lake.
 Snow White

One day, there was a queen sitting near a very beautiful window while tailoring and seeing
the snow. Accidentally, her finger was pierced by a sewing needle so that three drops of
blood dripped out. The drops of blood fell down on the snow. The red color of the blood
which was stuck in the white of the snow looked very pretty. Suddenly the queen thought "If
only I had a child whose skin was as white as snow and whose lips were as red as blood".

As the time went by, finally a queen gave birth to a very pretty princess whose skin was as
white as snow and whose lips were as red as blood. The queen grew up as a very pretty and
kind-hearted girl. She was called Snow White. However, when Snow White was a teenager,
the queen died because of an illness. After the queen's death, the king married again. This
new queen was wicked and hated Snow white. The queen gave orders that Snow White was
to be treated as a servant.

Everyday the queen stood in front of her magic mirror while asking "Who is the most
beautiful woman in the land?" and the mirror always answered, "You are the most beautiful
one of all." The new queen asked the same question everyday and the mirror always
answered the same thing. But one day the mirror answered that the queen was so beautiful
but Snow White was much more beautiful than the queen. It made the queen so angry that
she gave orders to one of her Huntsmen to take Snow White into the woods and kill her.

The Huntsman had such a kind heart that he couldn't do the deed. He told her to run away.
While fleeing into the woods, she found a place in which seven dwarfs lived. Their house
was small and strange. Snow White entered the little house and found it very untidy. Then,
she started to clean up the entire house. In the upstairs she found seven little beds. She was
so exhausted that she stretched out on one of the beds. Not long after that, she was asleep
on the bed.

When the Dwarfs came home they were surprised to find Snow White and after some
argument, decided to let her stay. She promised to cook and look after them. She lived there
together happily. Unfortunately, The Queen discovered the place where Snow White was
living and disguising herself as a witch. She then took a poisoned apple and set out for the
Dwarfs cottage. She gave Snow White the poisoned apple to eat and as soon as she bit the
apple, she sank into unconsciousness.

Thinking she was dead, the Dwarfs built a glass coffin and put her in it. For days she lay in
the forest in her glass coffin. One day, the Prince was riding through the forest looking for
Snow White and found her. He leaned over and kissed her. She opened her eyes and sat up
with a smile. Everyone was happy at that time. The Prince took Snow White to his palace
where they were married and lived happily ever after.
 Pinocchio

In the past, there was a puppeteer whose name was Geppetto. He was 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 God to
become a real boy. He always thought it in his mind in his dream.

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 in school but he
wasn't. Instantly, Pinocchio's nose grew longer and longer and it meant that Pinocchio had
lied.

The next morning, Pinocchio was kidnaped by the owner of the circus. Pinocchio soon
became a slave for the circus. He was so famous because he was a puppet which could 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 for
him on the sea, a big wave smashed him. He was then in the whale's stomach when he
awoke. He couldn't find the way to go out.

On the other side, Pinocchio finally could escape out from the circus. He came home but
nobody was there. Later on, he searched Geppetto in the sea. He had the same accident as
Geppetto and he met Geppetto in the 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.
 Buffalo and Crocodile

One morning a crocodile was struck by a large piece of wood. The crocodile asks for help to
be saved. A buffalo has the intention to help the crocodile. The buffalo raised a piece of
wood that fell on the crocodile and moved it to another place. But without being noticed,
the kindness of the buffalo carried a catastrophe for him. The buffalo's feet are bitten by a
crocodile because he intends to eat the buffalo. The buffalo was in pain and asked the
crocodile to release its legs. The crocodile keeps biting the buffalo's feet and tries to drop it.

Then came the wise mouse deer. Deer sees a buffalo being bitten by a crocodile. The buffalo
asks the deer to help him escape the crocodile. Kancil is very clever and asks buffalos and
crocodiles how it can happen. Buffalo and crocodile also told of the incident but his opinion
was different. The buffalo told the truth and the crocodile lied that he had moved the large
piece of wood. Kancil actually already knew the actual chronology, but he pretended not to
know. Kancil also said that he did not believe in the talk of Buffalo and Crocodile.

Then buffaloes and crocodiles showed the mouse deer that he was strong enough to lift the
big wood. The buffalo asks the crocodile to release his leg for a moment so he can show his
strength to the mouse deer. He lifted the large wood with its horns. Then the crocodile does
not want to lose to the buffalo and asks that the big wood be thrown over the crocodile's
body. The buffalo threw the large wood over the crocodile's body. Crocodile managed to lift
the big wood but not as strong as a buffalo. Because the crocodile was no longer able to
hold back the wood, he asked the buffalo to lift the wood back.

The buffalo wants to help lift the wood again. But the deer said, do buffaloes want to die?
For a moment the buffalo thought because of the deer's words. He realized that if the wood
was lifted again, the buffalo's legs would be bitten by a crocodile. Finally the buffalo did not
lift the big wood. Then the buffalo with the mouse deer left the crocodile crushed by the
wood.