KEBO IWA : A story from Bali

A long time ago in Bali, there lived a wealthy couple. They had been married for a long time but they
were childless. They prayed to God to give them a child, and their prayer was answered. The wife gave
birth to a big, healthy baby boy. They named him Kebo Iwa, which meant “buffalo uncle”. Strangely,
the baby could already eat food for adults. His parents fed him with rice, meat, and vegetables.

As Kebo Iwa grew up, his appetite also increased. In time, his parents’ riches were used up to feed
him. Now penniless, Kebo Iwa’s parents begged the villagers to feed Kebo Iwa.

Years passed. Kebo Iwa became a huge, strong young man. He could dig a well with his large fists.
When he walked, he took large steps. The villagers continued to feed him. In gratitude, Kebo Iwa
guarded the village from bandits. With his enormous body, he could easily defeat anyone who
challenged him. The villagers were fond of Kebo Iwa because he was a kind-hearted and strong young
man.

The news of Kebo Iwa’s strength reached the ears of the King of Bali. All this time, Bali was threatened
by the kingdom of Majapahit under Patih (vicegerent) Gajah Mada. In his famous Palapa Oath
(Sumpah Palapa), Gajah Mada swore to conquer all islands of Nusantara (Indonesia), including Bali.

“Perhaps this young man is the answer to our prayers,” thought the king.

The king invited Kebo Iwa to the palace and told him about the problem that the kingdom was facing.
Then he learned about Kebo Iwa’s skills and promoted him to be a vicegerent (patih). Kebo Iwa was
delighted.

“I promise, as long as I live, I will not let Bali be conquered by another kingdom,” he said.

Kebo Iwa was true to his words. Since he became a vicegerent, he would always defeat anyone who
attacked Bali. Soon, Patih Gajah Mada from Majapahit heard of Kebo Iwa’s greatness. Gajah Mada
realized that he would lose if he attacked Bali. Therefore, he proposed peace between Bali and
Majapahit. Gajah Mada invited Kebo Iwa to Majapahit and promised to marry him to a beautiful
princess of Majapahit.

Accordingly, Kebo Iwa came to Java island. Gajah Mada treated him nicely and held a feast in his
honor. As usual, Kebo Iwa ate a lot. Then Gajah Mada began to tell him about the condition of
Majapahit.

“We are having a drought. We lack water. I heard you are very powerful. Would you help us and build a
well in a short time?” asked Gajah Mada.

“Of course,” said the unsuspecting Kebo Iwa.

Gajah Mada led him to a vast clearing and told him to build the well there. Seeing a large number of
troops surrounding him, Kebo Iwa began to mistrust Gajah Mada. However, he continued digging the
well with his large punches. When Kebo Iwa was deep inside the well, Gajah Mada instructed his
troops to bury him with rocks.

“Kebo Iwa has died! Now we can conquer Bali!” exclaimed Gajah Mada.

But suddenly he heard a rumbling sound. The rocks flew upward. Kebo Iwa emerged from under the
rocks.

“No, I am not dead yet. Gajah Mada, you traitor! You will receive my revenge!” cried Kebo Iwa.

A long battle followed. Gajah Mada and his troops fought against the mighty Kebo Iwa. In the midst of
the battle, Gajah Mada shouted, “Kebo Iwa, give up! Our intention is to unite Nusantara, not to harm
your kingdom! I promise we will bring advancements to your kingdom!”
Kebo Iwa stopped fighting. He realized that Gajah Mada was not lying. He whispered, “But I promised I
would not let anything happen to Bali as long as I live. If I surrender, that will be forfeiting my promise.
Therefore, I must die.”

“What?” Gajah Mada was astonished that his enemy would give in so quickly.

“Yes, for the good of Bali, kill me. My only weakness is limestone. Take a piece of limestone from a
mountain, and smear the powder upon my forehead. I will become weak, and you can defeat me,” said
Kebo Iwa.

Gajah Mada, who had magical powers, took a piece of limestone from the nearest mountain, smashed
it, and smeared the powder upon Kebo Iwa’s forehead. True to his words, Kebo Iwa became weak.
Gajah Mada defeated him easily.

“Promise me, you will bring good to Bali,” gasped Kebo Iwa before his death.

Gajah Mada promised.

Thus fell the mightiest hero of Bali. Majapahit conquered Bali, and Gajah Mada went on to unite the
islands of Nusantara.

Cindelaras

A long time ago in the Jenggala Kingdom. He had two wives, a queen, and a concubine. Both of them were
beautiful. But, the concubine had a bad personality. She was jealous of the queen and wanted to take her place .
She planned to make the queen leave the palace.
So the concubine carried out the plan. She asked the palace healer to help her. They said that the queen wanted
to poison the king. Hearing this, the king was angry. He sent the queen to the jungle as her punishment. Little did
the king know that the queen was pregnant.

The queen now lived in the jungle. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Cindelaras. He grew up as a nice
and handsome man. One day, when Cindelaras and his mother went to collect some fire woods, he saw an
eagle. The eagle dropped an egg. Cindelaras took it, and he took care of it.

The egg hatched into a chick and later grew into a strong rooster. The rooster was mystical. He was very strong
in dueling with other roosters. He could also sing. He sang a song about Cindelaras and his father.

Once Cindelaras heard the song, he ignored it. The rooster kept singing the song until Cindelaras was fed up. He
asked his mother about the song. The queen then told him everything. Cindelaras was surprised to know it.

He decided to go to the palace to meet the king, his father. He brought the rooster as well. On the way to the
kingdom, he met many people who did the rooster fighting. Cindelaras joined, and he always won. The king,
Raden Putra, also heard about the greatness of Cindelaras’ rooster. He invited Cindelaras to the palace to fight
with his rooster.

The king made a bet. If Cindelaras won, he could get all the king’s jewelry. But if he lost, he would be sent to jail.
Cindelaras agreed, and the roosters started fighting. Easy guess. Cindelaras’ rooster won. The rooster then
sings the song.

“My master is Cindelaras. He lives in the jungle. His father is a king. His name is Raden Putra.”

When hearing the song, the king was surprised. He asked about Cindelaras’ origin. The palace healer admitted
the true story that the queen was innocent and that all the things that happened in the past were the concubine’s
evil plan. The king was angry and ordered the concubine to be sent to jail. The king then went to the jungle to
pick up his wife and made her queen again.

Legend of Pesut Mahakam

A long time ago, there was a village in East Kalimantan. The village was near the Mahakam River. The
villagers always worked hard. Although they were poor, they were very happy. They also helped each other.
 In the village, there was a rich family. The head of the family was Mr. Pesut. Everybody knew Mr. Pesut.
He was known not because of his wealth, but because his stinginess. He did not like to help others. His family
always ignored people. That’s why Mr. Pesut’s family always lived alone and never mingled with others.

It was a very long dry season. All the rice fields could not get water properly. The villagers could not
harvest the rice.

Therefore, all villagers were planning to leave their village and find other place to stay. Then they sent
some young men to look for a place that had enough water for their rice fields.

After several weeks looked for a new place, finally those young men arrived. They brought good news.
There was a waterfall and it was enough to water their rice fields. Later, all the villagers rushed to the new place.
Some villagers went to Mr. Pesut’s house to inform about the waterfall. Although Mr. Pesut was stingy, the
villagers did not hate him.

“I’m not going with you! I will stay here. I have enough rice for my family.

We will survive!” said Mr. Pesut arrogantly.

The villagers knew it was useless to ask Mr. Pesut to join them. So, they all left him and his family alone
in the village. When they arrived at the new place, they all were very happy. They had enough water from the
waterfall.

In the meantime, Mr. Pesut and his family were beginning to worry. Their rice slowly was gone. Soon
they would not have enough rice to eat.

It was in the morning when Mr. Pesut’s wife was cooking their last portion of rice. Suddenly, someone
knocked the door. A beggar came to his house.

“Go out! I don’t have enough rice,” said Mr. Pesut. He was lying.

“Please mercy me. I’m so hungry. Give me a little rice please,” asked the beggar.

Mr. Pesut immediately asked his family to eat the rice. He was worried the beggar would enter his
house and stole the rice.

“But the rice is still in the cooking pot. Mother is still cooking it. If we eat the rice, it will be very hot,” said
his son.

“I don’t care! If you all don’t eat now, you will never eat again,” said Mr. Pesut.

Later, Mr. Pesut and his family ate the rice. It was very hot. They needed water to drink. They rushed to
Mahakam River. It was so hot that they finally jumped to the river.

The beggar saw the incident. He then prayed to God. Amazingly, Mr. Pesut family slowly changed into
fish. The fish looked like dolphin. Since then, everybody named the fish as Pesut fish.
 Prambanan

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful Javanese princess named Rara Jonggrang. Rara Jonggrang

was a beauty lady and very famous in the land. She was the daughter of Prabu Baka, the evil king.

One day, a handsome young man with super natural power named Bandung Bondowoso defeated

and killed Prabu Baka. On seeing Princess Rara Jonggrang's beauty, Bandung Bondowoso fell in love with her

and wanted to marry her.

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.I was very confused of it We have to write the

example of narrative text and upload it. Oh I was very confused how to make a thousand statue on a night.

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 thought. 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 that it had already been dawn. Bandung Bondowoso got

frustrated because he failed completing one, 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 Bondowoso regretted and he went

away into a farm land. From then, people called the temple, Prambanan Temple, and the Princess statue, Rara

Jonggrang statue.