MINANGKABAU

FLOKLORE FROM WEST SUMATRA
        Do you know why the roofs of houses in West Sumatra have the shape of buffalo horns? Here is the story. Once upon a time there was a kingdom in West Sumatra. The people worked as farmers. Their lives were full of happiness. The land was fertile and the weather was always beautiful. The people also had a wise king. He always protected the people.
       However, soon their happy lives would be disturbed. Majapahit, a kingdom from Java would attack them. The people were so scared. They were so restless. They went to the king to talk about it. The king tried to calm them down.
      "Don't worry, my fellow country men. I know Majapahit have many soldiers. They are also great in war.  If we fight them, maybe we lose. But I have an idea how to beat them," said the king.
      Then he continued. "We can challenge them to a buffalo fight. If their buffalo dies, we win. But if our buffalo dies, they win."

LORO JONGGRANG

Folklore from Central Java

      Once upon a time, there was a kingdom named Prambanan. The people lived peacefully. However, soon their happy lives were disturbed by Pengging Kingdom. The king, Bandung Bondowoso, wanted to occupy Prambanan. He was a mean king.
      The war between Prambanan and Pengging could not be avoided. Prambanan lost the war and led by the new king, Bandung Bondowoso. Pengging could win the war because Bandung Bondongwoso had a supernatural power.
      His soldiers were not only humans but also genies. Those creatures always obeyed Bandung Bondowoso. They always did whatever Bandung Bondowoso asked them to do. The king of Prambanan had a beautiful daughter. Her name was Loro Jonggrang. Bandung Bondowoso fell in love with her and wanted to marry her.
     "If you want to marry me, you have to build a thousand of temples in just one night," said Loro Jonggrang. She hated Bandung Bondowoso because he made the people of Prambanan suffered. "What? Impossible! You just gave me an excuse for not marrying me!" said Bandung Bondowoso. But he did not give up. He asked the genies to help him.

Princess Tandampalik

FLOKLORE FROM SOUTH SULAWESI (NARRATIVE)

King of Luwu had a very beautiful daughter. Her name was Princess Tandampalik. She was very beautiful. Any man who saw her would fall in love with her. Everybody knew about her beauty, including King of Bone. Bone was a kingdom that was far away from Luwu Kingdom.
Then, King of Bone paid a visit to Luwu in order to propose Princess Tandampalik to be her daughter in-law. His son, Prince of Bone, was still single. King of Luwu actually did not want to accept the proposal. According to the culture, he could not have a son-in-law who lived very far from him. Otherwise, he would suffer from terrible disease. But, he knew if he refused it, kingdom of Bone would attack Luwu.
Many of his people would suffer. After that, King of Bone came to Luwu and talked about the marriage proposal. King of Luwu said he needed time to decide. King of Bone understood and went home.
Suddenly, a bad thing happened. Princess Tandampalik was ill. She got skin rash. The kingdom healer said the disease could infect others. The king then decided to put the princess in a safe place. It was in a remote island named Wajo Island.
The princess was not alone. Some soldiers accompanied her. The princess was sad. But she knew if she stayed in the kingdom, many people would be infected. So she was not angry with her father for making her stay in a remote island.

What We Plant, We Will Eat

A Korean Folktale


Many moons ago, two brothers lived with their father in a small house in Korea. The younger brother worked hard and was kind to all he met. The elder, knowing he was to inherit his father's prosperous rice farm, was arrogant and proud. He scorned his younger brother and ignored his aging father.


Every night after supper, the father would say: "Remember, my sons. What you plant you will eat. " The younger son nodded politely, for he loved his parent and honored him. But the elder son would yawn and walk away. The father watched him go with sadness.


On his deathbed, the father beckoned the two brothers close to him. "Remember, my sons. Nothing is as important as family. Share this property and work together. I leave this land to both of you." And so saying, he died.


The elder brother was furious. The law of the land said that an elder son inherited everything. As soon as the funeral ceremonies were past, he thrust the younger brother from their home, ignoring the last wish of his dying father.


Heartbroken, the younger brother walked for many miles, far away from his home and village, until he found some broken down land that nobody wanted. He tended it carefully, planting a small crop of rice and building a mud cottage that was thatched from the dirty straw that dropped from passing farm carts. By saving and scraping, he managed to make enough money to build a small house and make a profit. So he was able to marry and have a family.

STONE FLOWER ( MAPEL KLS XI )

Today, I’d like to tell you a legend from South Sea, Central Java. The title is The Stone Flower or Bunga Batu. Well, listen carefully. A long long time ago the people of Wanakerta Kingdom were very worried because the Queen Dewi Kalasekti had suffered from a strange illness for a long time. Doctors and shamans were ordered to cure the Queen, but the queen was not healed. Meanwhile, the high priest of the kingdom was praying to God, when he heard a voice echoing, “The queen can be cured by the stone flower. This flower has no leaves or stem. It is white. It grows on a stone hill in the same direction of the sunset.”Well, the queen ordered Tumenggung Arungbinang to search for the flower.

The Kind Duck and the Poor Frog

One beautiful summer's day, a duck decided to go to the river for a picnic.
She took a lot of food with her, and was really looking forward to eating it. She
sat down on the river bank and spread the food out in front of her.
"You're not going to eat all that food yourself, are you?" said a small voice.
She looked up and saw a frog sitting at the water's edge.
"Please give me some of it. I am very poor and very hungry, " pleaded the
frog, wiping a tear from his eye. She gave him a sandwich. To her

ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES ( MAPEL KLS II )

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Ali Baba was such a poor man that he had
 only one shoe for his two feet. Even the mice in his house were hungry.
One day, his wife said, "We have no food in the house. No rice. No potatoes.
Go and collect leaves in the forest so that I can make a soup."
Ali was a lazy man. He looked for leaves for about ten minutes and then
he climbed a tree to sleep. He was afraid of wolves. When he woke up,
he was surprised to see forty thieves on forty horses. They stopped in front
of a big rock. "Open Sesame!" shouted the leader.
A door on the rock opened. The thieves carried sacks full of gold into the cave.
When they had finished, the leader shouted. "Close Sesame!" and the door
closed. As soon as the thieves had disappeared Ali Baba jumped down
from the tree, said, "Open Sesame" and went into the cave.

Liu-Always-in-a-Hurry (MAPEL KLS II )

In China long ago, there was a farmer named
Liu. He was not a patient man. He was very
impatient. He was always in a hurry. He rushed
through breakfast. He rushed through lunch. He
rushed through his work. He wanted to be fi rst in
every thing. He didn’t worry about being careful in
his work. He just wanted to fi nish it quickly.
One day, Liu was in the village. Some farmers
were talking about their rice.
"My rice is doing very well,” said one farmer.
“It is almost three inches high.”
"My rice is already three inches high,” said
another farmer.
Liu hurried home. He measured his rice. The
plants were strong and healthy. But they were
only two inches high.