Once upon a time in west Java, Indonesia lived a wise king who had a
beautiful daughter. Her name was Dayang Sumbi. She liked weaving very
much. Once she was weaving a cloth when one of her tool fell to the
ground. She was very tired at the time so she was too lazy to take it.
Then she just shouted outloud.
‘Anybody there? Bring me my
tool. I will give you special present. If you are female, I will
consider you as my sister. If you are male, I will marry you’
Suddenly a male dog, its name was Tumang, came. He brought
her the falling tool. Dayang Sumbi was very surprised. She regretted
her words but she could not deny it. So she had to marry Tumang and
leave her father. Then they lived in a small village. Several months
later they had a son. His name was Sangkuriang. He was a handsome and
healthy boy.
Sangkuriang liked hunting very much. He
often went hunting to the wood using his arrow. When he went hunting
Tumang always with him. In the past there were many deer in Java so
Sangkuriang often hunted for deer.
One day Dayang
Sumbi wanted to have deer’s heart so she asked Sangkuriang to hunt for a
deer. Then Sangkuriang went to the wood with his arrow and his
faithful dog Tumang. But after several days in the wood Sangkuriang
could not find any deer. They were all disappeared. Sangkuriang was
exhausted and desperate. He did not want to disappoint her mother so he
killed Tumang. He did not know that Tumang was his father. At home he
gave Tumang’s heart to her mother.
But Dayang Sumbi
knew that it was Tumang’s heart. She was so angry that she could not
control her emotion. She hit Sangkuriang at his head. Sangkuriang was
wounded. There was a scar in his head. She also repelled her son.
Sangkuriang left her mother in sadness.
Many years
passed and Sangkuriang became a strong young man. He wandered
everywhere. One day he arrived at his own village but he did not
realized it. There he met Dayang Sumbi. At the time Dayang Sumbi was
given an eternal beauty by God so she stayed young forever. Both of
them did not know each other. So they fell in love and then they
decided to marry.
But then Dayang Sumbi recognized a
scar on his Sangkuriang’s head. She knew that Sangkuriang was his son.
It was impossible for them to marry. She told him but he did not
believe her. He wished that they marry soon. So Dayang Sumbi gave a
very difficult condition. She wanted Sangkuriang to build a lake and a
boat in one night! She said she needed that for honeymoon.
Sangkuriang
agreed. With the help of genie and spirits Sangkuriang tried to build
them. By midnight he had finished the lake by building a dam in
Citarum river. Then he started building the boat. It was almost dawn
when he nearly finished it. Meanwhile Dayang Sumbi kept watching on
them. She was very worried when she knew this. So she made lights in
the east. Then the spirits thought that it was already dawn. It was
time for them to leave. They left Sangkuriang alone. Without their
help he could not finish the boat.
Sangkuriang was very angry.
He kicked the boat. Then the boat turned out to be Mount Tangkuban
Perahu. It means boat upside down. From a distant it looks like a boat
upside down.
