Have you heard about Jaka Tarub tale? This
folktale was very famous in Java. A lot of books wrote about Jaka Tarub. But
who is he? Is he real or just a myth? ... real or myth I think it’s not a
problem cause this legend have had a hereditary tale from era to era... and it
has had one of a bigfolktale of Javanesse.
Here is the tale:
Once upon a time there was a handsome young
man, his name was Jaka Tarub. Jaka Tarub was walking in the wood. Suddenly he
hear sounds of women near waterfall. He slowly came close to the direction of
sounds, he hide behind the trees and saw 7 beautiful women taking a bath. A lot
of women in the village liked him, but he stays single because he wanted to
have a very beautiful wife. Those women were so beautiful, Jaka Tarub thought
they must be angels. He stole one of the shawl of the angel and he wait, behind
the dark shadow of trees. It was time for those angels to come home to
Kahyangan (Almost similar with heaven) . One of the Angel immediately realise
she lost her shawl. She said to her sisters, “I lost my shawl, I can’t go back
yet. But I will find it and I will come back. You girls go ahead.” The Bidadari
who lost her shawl is Nawang Wulan. She tried to find the shawl but she
couldn’t find it. She got so depressed and feel alone and she cried. That was
the time Jaka Tarub came to her. Comfort her and promise he will help her find
the shawl so that she could come back to Kahyangan. Then, Jaka Tarub married
her. They have a child, named Nawangsih. But for all that time, Jaka Tarub hide
Nawang Wulan’s shawl in barn where he keep the rice. 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 barn. And when Nawang Wulan wanted to take the
last portion of rice, she found her shawl in the barn. Nawang Wulan was really
happy to find it. She then said to Jaka Tarub, "I will go home now. Take
care of our daughter. "When there is full moon, take her out of the house and
I'll come to get her." said Nawang Wulan and then flew to the sky. Jaka
Tarub was extremely sad. And to keep the promise, Jaka Tarub always went out of
the house with his daughter when there was full moon. But Nawang Wulan never
came back. Moral value : We should admit after telling our lies to gain good
things in the future.
