Roro Jonggrang
Long time ago, there was a kingdom named Prambanan.
All the people of Prambanan lived peacefully. But then, Prambanan kingdom was
attacked by the Pengging kingdom. Prambanan then was ruled by Bandung Bondowoso
of Pengging kingdom. He was a mean king. He also had great supernatural
power. His soldiers were not only humans, but also genies.
The king of Prambanan had a beautiful daughter named
Loro Jonggrang. Bandung Bondowoso fell in love with her and wanted to marry
her. “You’re very beautiful. Would you be my queen?” asked Bandung Bondowoso.
Loro Jonggrang was shocked. She didn’t like Bandung Bondowoso because he was a
mean person. She wanted to refuse, but she afraid that Bandung Bondowoso would
be angry and endangered the people of Prambanan. Then, she came up with a plan.
“If you want to marry me, you have to build a thousand temples for me in just
one night,” said Loro Jonggrang. “What? That’s impossible!” said Bandung
Bondowoso. But he did not give up. He consulted with his advisor. “Your Majesty
can asked the genies to help built the temples,” said the advisor.
So, Bandung Bondowoso summoned
his entire genies soldier and commanded them to help him built a thousand
temples. The genies worked in unbelievable speed. Meanwhile, Loro Jonggrang
heard from her servant that the building of a thousand temples was almost
finished. She was so worried. But again, she came up with a great idea. She
asked all of her servants to help her. “Please prepare a lot of straw and
mortar. Please hurry up!” said Loro Jonggrang. “Burn the straw and make some
noise pounding the mortar, quickly.” All those servants did what Loro Jonggrang
ordered them , it making the genies think that
the sun is going to rise. “It’s
already dawn. We have to go,” said the leader of the genies to Bandung
Bondowoso. All the genies immediately stopped their work and ran for cover from
the sun, which they afraid of. They didn’t know that the light was from the
fire that burning the straw, not from the sun. Bandung Bondowoso can’t stop
the genies from leaving. He was angry. He knew Loro Jonggrang had just tricked
him. “You can not fool me, Loro Jonggrang. I
already have 999 temples. I just need one more temple. Now, I will make you the
one-thousandth temple.” He pointed his finger to Loro Jonggrang and said some
mantras. Magically, Loro Jonggrang’s body turned into stone. Until now, the
temple is still standing in Prambanan area, Central Java. And the temple is
called Loro Jonggrang temple.
The End