The Legend of Surabaya

A long time ago in East Java there were two strong animals, Sura and Baya. Sura was a shark and Baya was a crocodile. They lived in the sea. Actually, they were friends. But when they were hungry, they were very greedy. They did not want to share their food. They would fight for it and never stop fighting until one of them gave up.

It was a very hot day. 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! I had not eaten for two days!” said Sura.
Then Sura and Baya fought again. After several hours, they were very tired. Sura had a plan to stop their bad behavior.

“I’m tired of fighting, Baya,” said Sura.

“Me too. What should we do to stop fighting? Do you have any idea?” asked Baya.
“Yes, I do. Let’s share our territory. I live in the water, so I look for food in the sea. And you live on the land, right? So, you look for the food also on the land. The border is the beach, so we will never meet again. Do you agree?” asked Sura.

“Hmm... let me think about it. OK, I agree. From today, I will never go to the sea again. My place is on the land,” said Baya.

Then they both lived in the different places. But 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.

“Hey, what are you doing here? This is my place. Your place is in the sea!”

“But, there is water in the river, right? So, this is also my place!” said Sura.

Then Sura and Baya fought again. They both hit each other. Sura bite Baya's tail. Baya did the same thing to Sura. He bit very hard until Sura finally gave up. He went back to the sea. Baya was very happy. He had his place again.

The place where they were fighting was a mess. Blood was everywhere. People then always talked about the fight between Sura and Baya. They then named the place of the fight as Surabaya, it’s from Sura the shark and Baya the crocodile. People also put their war as the symbol of Surabaya city. ***

 http://indonesianfolklore.blogspot.com/2007/10/legend-of-surabaya-folklore-from-east.html
 

 

 Nama : Asvira

Kelas : 81

No. Absen : 35

Kelompok : 9

Jaka Tarub and Nawang Wulan

Folklore from East Java

Jaka Tarub was a handsome young man. He was very popular in the village. Many young girls fell in love with him. However Jaka Tarub thought that they were not beautiful enough to be his wife. That's why he was still single. He wanted to have a very beautiful wife.

As always, Jaka Tarub went to the forest to collect some woods. Suddenly he heard some noise from the waterfall. He was curious. The noise was from the girls taking a bath in the waterfall.

Slowly, Jaka Tarub walked to the area. When he arrived there, he saw seven beautiful girls taking a bath. He was really amazed by their beauty. After they were finished, the girls slowly took their shawls. Amazingly after they wore the shawls, they flew to the sky. They were not humans. They were fairies!

After that Jaka Tarub went home. He was very restless. He was still thinking about those seven beautiful girls.

On the next day, Jaka Tarub then decided to go back to the waterfall. When the fairies were taking a bath, he stole one of their shawls. And that made one fairy could not fly back to the sky. She cried. Jaka Tarub then approached her.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"I lost my shawl. I cannot go back home. All my sisters have left me. My name is Nawang Wulan. I will give you anything if you can find my shawl."

"I'll help you. But if we can't find it, you can stay at my house. You can be my wife," said Jaka Tarub.

Then Jaka Tarub pretended to look for the shawl. And of course they could not find it. After that they went to Jaka Tarub's home. Later they got married.

They had a baby girl. They had a happy life. They always had enough rice to eat. They did not have to work hard like their neighbors. It was because Nawang Wulan used her magic in cooking.

One day, Jaka Tarub asked her about the magic. Nawang Wulan did not tell him the secret and asked him not to open the cooking pan's lid. She said that if Jaka Tarub opened the lid, they had to work hard to get a lot of rice to cook.

One day, Jaka Tarub was really curious. He then opened the cooking pan's lid. He saw there was only a small portion of rice to cook. When she got home, Nawang Wulan knew that Jaka Tarub had opened the lid. She was angry because she already lost the magic in cooking. Now she had to take a big portion of rice to cook.

Slowly there was not enough rice in the silo. And when Nawang Wulan wanted to take the last portion of rice, she found her shawl. Jaka Tarub hid the shawl in the silo. Nawang Wulan was really happy.

She then said, "I will go home now. Take care of our daughter. When there is a full moon, take her out of the house and I'll come together."

Nawang Wulan then flew to the sky. Jaka Tarub was really sad. And to keep the promise, Jaka Tarub always went out of the house with his daughter when there was a full moon. But Nawang Wulan never came back. ***

 http://indonesianfolklore.blogspot.com/2007/12/jaka-tarub-and-nawang-wulan-tarub-was.html