NYI BUNGSU RARANG

Long long time ago, in a small village in West Java, lived a beautiful kind girl named Nyi Bungsu Rarang. She was the youngest child in the family. She had six older sisters.

 Their parents had passed away since Rarang was a little girl. Because her sisters had got married and moved out, Rarang lived alone in their parents’ old shabby house.

Rarang was very poor. She ran errands but not many people needed her help lately, so she often went to bed with empty stomach. Although her sisters were quite wealthy, they never helped her. What made things worse, whenever Rarang got some food or clothes from her running errands, her sisters would take them away and have the food or clothes for themselves. They were very greedy indeed.

One day, when Rarang was going to wash her clothes in the river, she saw something at the river bank. ….

“Hey, what’s that? “(she was coming closer). …. “Oh, poor little fish. I’m going to bring you home and make you my friend, OK?”

So Rarang brought the dying small fish home and put it in the pond behind her house. She named the fish Leungli. Soon they became good friends.

Leungli grew fast. He is now a big healthy fish with beautiful colour. Rarang loved him very much. She talked and sang for Leungli in her beautiful voice when she was at home.

Her greedy sisters knew about Leungli and they wanted him for themselves.

“Hey, Rarang, give us that fish of yours! We’re gonna make delicious grilled fish out of him.”

“Oh. No,no, please don’t! You can take anything you like from me, but please, not Leungli. He’s my only best friend.”

Her sisters tried anything to have Leungli and finally they succeeded. They caught Leungli from the pond and cooked him. His head and bones were thrown up onto the roof.

Rarang was very upset.

“Oh, why are you so cruel to Leungli? He never caused any harm to you. Why don’t you ever let me happy? I loved him very much.”

“So, you loved him very much, huh? If you loved him that much, take him with you. Here. You can have these head and bones, ha-ha-ha…!!!”

Rarang brought the head and bones home and buried them under her bed. Then a miracle happened! From under the bed where Rarang buried the bones grew a very amazing tree. This wonderful tree had a bronze stem, beautiful golden leaves, and sparkling diamond fruits. The tree shone and sparkled and made the shabby house very bright.

I bet you won’t be surprised to know that her greedy sisters, of course, wanted the tree desperately. But whatever efforts they tried, they couldn’t pick a leaf nor a fruit. There the tree stood, as amazing and beautiful as before. Rarang was happy to find out that the tree was safe with her, away from her sisters’ greed.

One day, Patih Giri Raja from … Kingdom, came to Rarang’s village. He had been traveling the whole kingdom to do the King’s wish to find a girl who owned a magic tree, a tree with bronze stem, golden leaves, and diamond fruits.

He found Rarang, the magic tree, and her wicked sisters.

“Are you the owner of this magic tree?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Oh, no. no, no, Your Honor. She’s lying. We’re the owners of the tree. It is growing inside our parents’ house, so it belongs to us.”

“Ok, Ok, don’t argue. Please, all of you come here. The King said that whoever can pull this tree out is the real owner. So, who will start the competition?”

Rarang’s sisters fought to be the first to pull the tree out. Of course, it was Rarang who could do that. Suddenly, another miracle happened. The tree, having been pulled out, turned to be an ordinary tree, with ordinary stem leaves, and fruits.

But look at Rarang! There was no more the plain poor girl with shabby clothes. Instead, standing there in the middle of the old house, a beautiful princess, with richly beaded clothes and shining jewelry.

Patih Giri Raja took Rarang to the palace. The King fell for her at once and married her immediately. Rarang lived happily in the palace. The King wanted to punish her wicked sisters, but because of her kindness, she let them free. They apologized and thanked her for her generosity.