The Stories

A little girl in a village

In  village, live a widow with her two beautiful daughters, Bawang Merah (Red Onion) and Bawang Putih (White Garlic). Bawang Putih's real father which was also the widows's husband died long ago. Bawang Merah and  Bawang Putih had opposite characters and personalities. Bawang Putih was diligent, kind, honest and humble girl. Meanwhile, Bawang merah was lazy, glamorous, proud and envious girl. Bawang Merah's bad personality was worsened because her mother spoiled her. The widow always gave her everything she wanted. It was Bawang Putih who did all the works in the house. Doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning, essentially all works were carried out by herself. Meanwhile, Bawang Merah and the widow just spent times making themselves up, because when they needed something they could just ask Bawang Putih. 

Bawang Putih never complained the bad fate she had to face. She always served her step-mother and sister happily. One day, Bawang Putih was doing her step-mother and sister's laundry. Bawang Putih didn't realize it when a piece of cloth belonged to her mother was washed away by the river. How sad was she, thinking that if the cloth couldn't be found she would be blamed, and it wasn't impossible that she would bu punished and expelled from home.

Being afraid that her mother cloth could not be found, Bawang Putih kept looking and walked along the river with its strong current. Every time she saw someone by the river, she always asked him or her about her mother's cloth which was washed away by the river, but everyone didn't know where the cloth was. Eventually Bawang Putih came to a place where the river flowed into a cave. Surprisingly, there was a very old woman in the cave. Bawang Putih  asked the old woman if she knew of the cloth whereabouts. The woman knew where the cloth was, but she made a condition before she handed it to Bawang Putih. The condition was that she had to work assisting the old woman. Bawang Putih was used to working hard so that her work pleased the old woman.

It was late afternoon and Bawang Putih was saying goodbye to the old woman. The woman handed the cloth to her. because of her kindness, the old woman offered her a gift of pumpkins. There were two of them, one was larger than the other. Bawang Putih was asked to choose the gift she wanted. She wasn't greedy, there she chose the smaller one.

Returning home, the Step-Mother and Bawang Merah were furious because Bawang Putih was late. She told them what happened from the time her mother's cloth was washed away until her encounter with the old woman in the cave. Her step-mother was still furious because she was already late and only brought one small pumkin, so the mother smashed the pumpkin to the ground. "Whack..." and the pumpkin was broken, but it was miraculous that in the pumpkin  there were beautiful golden, jewel, and diamond ornaments. The Widow and Bawang Merah were very schocked. They could get very rich with that much jewelry. But greedy they were, they yelled at Bawang Putih asking why she didn't take the large pumkin instead. In the Widow and Bawang Merah's minds, if the larger pumpkin was taken, they should get much more jewelry. 

Fulfilling their greed, Bawang Merah folowed the steps told by Bawang Putih. She wilingly drifted her mother's cloth, walked along the river, asked people and eventually came to the cave where the old woman lived. Unlike Bawang Putih, however, bawang Merah refused the old woman's order to work and She even arrogantly ordered the old woman to give her the larger pumpkin. And so the old woman gave it to Bawang Merah.

Bawang Merah happily brought the pumpkin that the old woman gave, while imagining how much jewelry she would get. Returning home, the Widow welcomed her beloved daughter. Not waiting for long, the pumpkin was smashed to the ground, "whack ..." but instead of the jewelry, appeared various terrifying snakes. The Widow and Bawang Merah finally realized what they did all this time was wrong and asked Bawang Putih to forgive them.

Once upon a time, not far from a jungle, lived husband and a wife. The were farmers. The were diligent farmers and always worked hard on the paddy fields. They had been married for many years and still not have a child yet. Everyday they prayed and prayed for a child.

One night, while they were praying, a giant passed their house. The giant heard they pray. "Don't worry farmers. I can give you a child. But you have to give me that child when she is 17 years old," said the giant.

The farmers were so happy. They did not think about the risk of losing their child later and agree to take the offer. Later, the giant gave them a bunch of cucumber seeds. The farmers planted them carefully. Then the seeds changed into plants.

Not longer after that, a big golden cucumber grew from plants. After it had ripe, the farmers picked and cut it. They were very surprised to see beautiful girl inside the cucumber. They named her Timun Mas or Golden Cucumber. Years passed by and Timun Mas has changed into a beautiful girl.

On her 17th birthday, Timun Mas was very happy. However, the parents were very sad. They knew they had to keep their promise to the giant but they also did not want to lose their beloved daughter. "My daughter, take this bag. It can save you from the giant," said the father. "What do you mean, Father? I don't understand," said Timun Mas.

Right after that, the giant came into their house. "Run Timun Mas. Save your life!" said the mother. The giant was angry. He knew the farmers wanted to break their promise. He chased Timun Mas away. The giant was getting closer and closer.

Timun Mas then opened the bag and threw a handful of salt. It became sea. The giant had to swim to cross the sea. Later, Timun Mas threw some chilly. It became a jungle with trees. The trees had sharp thorns so they hurt the giant.

However, the giant was still able to chase Timun Mas. Timun Mas took her third magic stuff. It was cucumber seeds. She threw them and became cucumber field. B

ut the giant still could escape from the field. Then it was the last magic stuff she had in the bag. It was a shrimp paste, terasi. She threw it and became a big swamp.

The giant was still trying to swim the swamp but he was very tired. Then he was drowning and died. Timun Mas then immediately went home. The farmers were so happy that they finally together again.

Prince Raden Putra and Dewi Limaran were husband and wife. They lived in a palace. Prince Raden Putra's father was the king of the kingdom.

One day, Dewi Limaran was walking around in the palace garden. Suddenly she saw a snail. It was ugly and disgusting. "Yuck!" said Dewi Limaran and then she threw it away into a river. She did not know that the snail was actually an old and powerful witch. She could transform herself into anything. The witch was angry to Dewi Limaran. The witch put a spell on her and changed her into a golden snail. The witch then threw it away into the river.

The golden snail was drifting away in the river and got caught into a net. An old woman was fishing and used her net to catch some fish. She was surprised to see a golden snail in her net. She took it and brought it home. When the old woman woke up in the morning, she was surprised that the house was in the good condition. The floor was mopped. And she also had food on the table. She was thinking very hard. "Who did this to me? The person is very kind." It happened again and again every morning.

The old woman was very curious. One night she decided to stay up late. She was peeping from her room to know who cooked for her. Then, she could not believe what she saw. The golden snail she caught in the river turned into a beautiful woman. The old woman approached her. "Who are you, young girl?" "I am Dewi Limaran, Ma'am. A witch cursed me. I can change back as a human only at night," explained Dewi Limaran. "The spell can be broken if I hear the melody from the holy gamelan," continued Dewi Limaran. The old woman then rushed to the palace. She talked to Prince Raden Putra about her wife. Prince Raden Putra was so happy. He had been looking for his wife everywhere.

He then prayed and meditated. He asked the gods to give him the holy gamelan. He wanted to break the witch's spell. After several days praying and meditating, finally gods granted his wish. He immediately brought the holy gamelan to the old woman's house. He played it beautifully. And then amazingly the golden snail turned into the beautiful Dewi Limaran. The couple was so happy that they could be together again. They also thanked the old woman for her kindness. As a return, they asked her to stay in the palace.