An Indonesian folktale Lutung Kasarung

An Indonesian Folktale

KaLsuaturnu�n�

Bona Ventura
Illustrated by Diandra Lamees

An Indonesian Folktale from West Java
“Lutung Kasarung”
Retold by
Bona Ventura
Illustrated by
Diandra Lamees

An Indonesian Folktale

KaLsuaturnu�n�

Bona Ventura
Illustrated by Diandra Lamees

An Indonesian Folktale

LUTUNG KASARUNG

Publisher: SekolahTerpadu Pahoa

Jl. Ki Hajar Dewantara No.1, Summarecon Serpong, Kabupaten Tangerang, Banten
1st edition, January 2017

ISBN: 978-602-60368-7-2

Retold by : Bona Ventura
Illustrated by : Diandra Lamees
Editor : Jenny Elfrida Naibaho
Layout : Agung Priambodo
Administrator : Erlin Shanti Tirta & Faustine Valent
Tutors : 1. Hanta Tan
2. Afiyon Kristiyan
Translated by : Veronica Indrayati

Copyright under Law on Copyright No.19/ 2002
Article 1 Paragraph(1)

Copyright shall mean an exclusive right for an Author or the recipient of the
right to publish or reproduce his Work or to grant permission for said purposes,
without decreasing the limits according to the prevailing laws and regulations.

Article 72 Paragraph (2)

Any person who deliberately broadcasts, exhibits, distributes, or sells to the
public a work or goods resulting from an infringement of copyright or related
rights as referred to in paragraph (1) shall be sentenced to imprisonment of at
most 5 (five) years and/or a fine of at most Rp. 500,000,000.- (five hundred
million rupiahs).

Preface

This folktale story book is a part of the ‘informative literacy learning’
programme which is conducted by the library division of Sekolah Terpadu
Pahoa. In the process of publishing this book, the library has coordinated
with Naning Pranoto and other language teachers to guide the students
to develop their skills in retelling the stories and their critical analysis in
comprehending its contents. The literacy learning process is also meant to
revive the Indonesian folktale within the educated communities, in particular
among the students in the school.

It took about 4 months for the author to write this book. Starting with the
initial training which included among others reviewing the sources of the story,
and retelling it followed by more interesting illustrations. Aside from this book,
there are other stories which are retold and illustrated by students from the
elementary, junior high, and senior high students.



It was a long time ago, in the kingdom of Pasir Batang. The recent
king, Prabu Tapa Agung, felt that it was time for him to abdicate
the throne, and it was his will that his youngest daughter be his
successor. His decision broke the tradition that the king usually
passed the throne to his oldest offspring instead of the youngest
one, and thus ignited a conflict in the kingdom. From this conflict,

the story began…

The moral value we can take from this story is that we should
always be honest and kind. We don’t need to be hostile towards

someone else who might have something that we don’t.

(Clean and honest)

It was a long time ago … in the kingdom of Pasir Batang. The king who ruled
Pasir Batang was ready to retire and pass the throne to an heir.

The Pasir Batang Kingdom was ruled by a king called Prabu Tapa Agung.
He had two daughters. Both were very beautiful. The first one was named

Purbararang. The second one was named Purbasari.

Although they shared the same mother, the sisters had two opposite characters.

Purbararang was rude and had always felt envy towards a lot of things. She
always wanted to get anything she desired by any means. Purbasari, on the
contrary, was very caring, kind and wise. She always helped whoever needed help.

Therefore, King Tapa Agung decided that Purbasari would be the heir to the
throne.

Purbararang, of course, cannot accept that her sister will rule the kingdom.
She felt that it was her right as the oldest princess to inherit the throne.
She was very upset. She met her fiancée, Indrajaya, to air her jealously

over her father’s decision. Indrajaya agreed with Purbararang, and said that
Purbararang should have been the one who inheritated the throne. In his heart,
Indrajaya also wanted to be the king if Purbararang was appointed the queen.

So he took Purbararang to meet a witch. They both asked the witch to do
something to Purbasari so that she couldn’t be the queen in the kingdom.

Purbararang and the witch then planned to cast an evil spell on Purbasari. The
spell will change the fate of Purbasari for the rest of her life.

The next morning, Purbasari woke up as the days before. She stood
in front of the mirror, and she was very shocked. There were black

dots all over her face and her body.

When Purbararang heard what happened to her sister, she hurriedly met
her father and reported it. “Father, have you heard about Purbasari?
Her face and her whole body was covered with black dots. Someone with
such skin disease does not worth to be a queen!” Purbararang stated.

“Alright. I will declare my decision soon,” Prabu Tapa Agung answered.

After Purbararang had left, the king summoned Purbasari to appear
before him. He saw that Purbararang had said the truth about
Purbasari, so he decided to exile Purbasari to the wood nearby.

One of the king’s guard then escorted Purbasari to go to the jungle. Before the guard
left her in the wood, he said,” Please be strong, Princess. Everything will be over.”

“Thank you, uncle guard. I am ready to live my life here,” Purbasari quietly answered.

Purbasari then became friends with all animals in the wood. There was one primate
which was very kind and cared a lot about her. The primate, Lutung Kasarung, looked

as if it loved Purbasari.

On a full moon night, Lutung Kasarung suddenly acted oddly. He quickly walked to
a quiet place in the wood then meditated solemnly there.

Lutung Kasarung finished his meditation at almost midnight.

All the animals had been quiet. Lutung Kasarung hurriedly came to
Purbasari’s hut and asked her to come out.

Then he took Purbasari to a lake.

“Please come down to the lake and bathe in it.
Something good will happen to you.”

“What is it?”

“If you bathe in the lake, you will see.”

“Alright,” Purbasari was still confused but she did
what Lutung Kasarung asked her.

After a few moment, Purbasari went out of the lake.
Lutung Kasarung screamed gleefully.

“Look! Your skin now is clean and smooth!” Lutung Kasarung said cheerfully.

Purbasari could not believe her eyes. She directly checked her skin and rubbed it.

“I can believe it! All the black dots and their smell had gone!”
Purbasari was still stunned.

Meanwhile, Purbararang had a nightmare which kept bothering her.
Purbasari’s face was in her mind the whole time.

She looked at the direction of the wood, but tried to ignore her feeling.

One day to the coronation ceremony.

Purbararang was anxious and couldn’t wait to sit on the throne together with
Indrajaya, his fiancé.

Purbararang’s nightmare came true. There was rumors spreading around
the palace that Purbasari had been cured from her disease. Therefore, the

coronation of Purbararang should be cancelled.

Purbararang did not believe the rumors. She set off to the wood to check it
herself. Halfway to the wood, she met Purbasari who was on her way back to

the palace.

Purbararang was startled to see that her sister was as
beautiful as she had been.

She felt that Purbasari would be a threat for her to take
the throne.

Purbararang found a tricky way to stop Purbasari from being a
queen. She challenged Purbasari to compare their fiancés. The one
that was less handsome would be the loser, and the loser would be

beheaded as the punishment.

Purbararang would take Indrajaya with her.
She was very confident that the throne would be hers.

Purbasari was very shocked. It never came across her mind that her sister would
come up with such a challenge.

She didn’t need to think twice that Purbararang would be the winner.
Everybody knew that Indrajaya was the most handsome man in Pasir Batang Kingdom.

Purbasari didn’t have any idea what to do about this situation. She didn’t have any
fiancé to accept Purbararang’s challenge.

Purbasari was more frustrated to see Purbararang showed up with Indrajaya.

“Why don’t you come with your monkey friend from the wood?” Purbararang mocked her
Purbasari still didn’t know who she could take to enter the competition.
From atop of a tree, Lutung Kasarung saw her.

“Take me into the competition.”

“What did you say? You must be joking,” Purbasari screeched.

Lutung Kasarung climbed down the tree and asked Purbasari
to turn around and close her eyes.

He sat on the ground and read a spell.

Suddenly Lutung Kasarung turned into a handsome and athletic man.
“Now turn around again and open your eyes.”
Purbasari was very stunned to see the man.
“Are you really Lutung?”
“Yes, I am. This is the real me.”

Lutung Kasarung had turned to his real figure.
He turned out to be Sanghyang Guruminda, a god

from heaven.

When Guruminda stood next to Indrajaya in the
competition, Indrajaya was no longer the most
handsome man in Pasir Batang Kingdom. He was nothing
at all compared to Guruminda’s handsome figure.

Purbararang and Indrajaya froze. Their faces paled.

Purbasari once again proved her self as a princess with a big heart. She
approached Purbararang and hugged her. She forgave Purbararang
unconditionally.

Purbasari then banished the beheading punishment in the kingdom.

Prabu Tapa Agung declared that Purbasari would inherit the throne. Purbasari
was also ready to be the queen of Pasir Batang Kingdom.

The coronation ceremony was held soon. Purbasari and
Guruminda were also blessed by Prabu Tapa Agung as they

got married on the day of the coronation.

The people of Pasir Batang Kingdom celebrated their wedding
for a week.

Queen Purbasari and Prince Sanghyang Guruminda are
now the rightful leaders of Pasir Batang Kingdom,
and they live happily ever after.

WRITER’S BIOGRAPHY

BONA VENTURA

At present Bona Ventura is a teacher at Pahoa
Junior High School,Jalan Ki Hajar Dewantara No.1,
Summarecon Serpong, Tangerang. He teaches
Bahasa Indonesia and Digital Media at the school. He
also has launched a book “Dear Twitter: Here are
Our Tweet, Heart and Love Journey”, published by
LeutikaPrio. One of his collaboration books “Presiden
Jokowi: Harapan Baru Indonesia” – published by Elex
Media in 2014, has been a best seller among the
others.

ILLUSTRATOR BIOGRAPHY

DIANDRA LAMEES

Diandra Lamees is a grade 8 student this year at
Pahoa Junior High School, Jalan Ki Hajar Dewantara
No.1, Summarecon Serpong, Tangerang. She loves
reading and drawing. Her hobbies make her want to
be an illustrator of children books, but she also wants
to be a doctor in the future. As for her academic
records, Diandra has very satisfied achievements,
among which are the followings:

1. The favourite champion of Hanyufeng poem
reading in Tangerang area, 2016.

2. The 1st champion of drama competition in Pahoa
Elementary School.

3. The 2nd champion of the wall magazine competition
at Pahoa Junior High School 2015.

4. The best scorer from grade 4 to grade 6 at
Pahoa Elementary School.

5. The best scorer of grade 6 school exam at Pahoa
Elementary School.

Aceh

North
Sumatera

Riau Riau Islands East
Kalimantan

West
Kalimantan

West Jambi Bangka Central West
Sumatera South Belitung Kalimantan Sulaw
Sumatera Islands
South
Kalimantan

Bengkulu Sou
Sul
Lampung
Central East
Java Java

Banten Bali
West West
Jawa Nusa
Yogyakarta Tenggara