TIMUN MAS

Once upon a time, an old widow wanted a daughter to live with her in the village.
Knowing her wish, a huge giant visited her house. He gave her a cucumber seed. He told
the old widow that there will be a a baby inside the cucumber. The giant promised to
come back for the baby once she turned sixteen.

The old widow planted the seed in her yard. By the next morning, a cucumber grew.
She cut it open and found a baby girl inside. The old widow was so happy and named
the baby Timun Mas. Day by day, Timun Mas grew into a beautiful lady. The widow
remembered what the giant had warned her. So when Timun Mas turned sixteen, the
widow told her to run into the jungle with a bag of salt. “You must not let the giant
catch you,” the widow cried out as Timun Mas ran into the jungle.

The giant came and asked the widow for Timun Mas. The widow refused to tell him and
so he went into the jungle. He angrily called out for Timun Mas. Timun Mas heard his
voice and ran away from him. The giant chased her. Timun Mas threw the salt that the
widow had given her. It turned the jungle into a muddy field. The muddy field
swallowed the giant and he was never seen again. Finally, Timun Mas returned home
and lived happily ever after with the old widow.
 The Legend of Kesodo Feast in Mount Bromo

Hundreds years ago, the last king of Majapahit had a young princess from one of his
wives. The princess was named Roro Anteng. Later, Roro Anteng married Joko Seger,
who came from Brahman caste.

Because of unfortunate situation the couple was forced to leave the kingdom. They
settled in the mountain area. They ruled the area and named it Tengger, which was
derived from their names, Roro Anteng and Joko Seger.

After several years of reign, the region flourished in prosperity, but Roro Anteng and
Joko Seger were sad because they did not have a child. They climbed the top of
mountain and prayed there night and day hoping that the God would listen. The prayer
was heard and Betoro Bromo promised to give them many children. However, they had
to promise that they would sacrifice their youngest child in return.

Roro Anteng gave birth to a child, then another and another. In the end, Roro Anteng
and Joko Seger had 25 children. Soon it was time to sacrifice the youngest child ,
Kusuma, but the parents could not do it. They tried to hide him, but an eruption
happened and Kusuma fell into the crater. There was silence before they heard a voice.
“I have to be sacrificed so that you will all stay alive. From now on, you should arrange
an annual offering ceremony on the 14th of Kesodo (the twelfth month of Tengerese
calendar)”. It was Kusuma’s voice. Kusuma’s brothers and sisters held the offering
ceremony every year. Instead of human being, they collected fruits, vegetables, rice, and
meat to be offer to the Gods. And this has been done generation after generation until
today.
 SNOW WHITE

One day, there was a queen sitting near a very beautiful window while tailoring and
seeing the snow. Accidentally, her finger was pierced by a sewing needle so that three
drops of blood dripped out. The drops of blood fell down on the snow. The red color of
the blood which was stuck in the white of the snow looked very pretty. Suddenly the
queen thought “If only i had a child whose skin were as white as snow and whose lips
were as red as blood”.

As the time went by, finally a queen gave birth of a very pretty princess whose skin was
as white as snow and whose lips were as red as blood. The queen grew up as a very
pretty and kind-hearted girl. She was called Snow White. However, when Snow White
was about teenager, the queen died because of an illness. After the queen’s death, the
king married again. This new queen was wicked and hated Snow white. The queen
gave orders that Snow White was to be treated as a servant.

Everyday the queen stood in front of her magic mirror while asking “Who is the most
beautiful woman in the land?” and the mirror always answered, “You are the most
beautiful one of all.” The new queen asked the same question everyday and the mirror
always answered the same thing. But one day the mirror answered that the queen was
so beautiful but Snow White was much more beautiful than the queen. It made the
queen so angry that she gave orders to one of her Huntsmen to take Snow White into
the woods and kill her.

The Huntsman had such a kind heart that he couldn’t do the deed. He told her to run
away. In her fleeing into the woods, she found a place in which seven dwarfs lived.
Their house was small and strange. Snow White entered the little house and found it
very untidy. Then, she started to clean up the entire house. In the upstairs she found
seven little beds. She was so exhausted that she stretched out on one of the beds. Not
long after that, she was asleep on the bed.

When the Dwarfs came home they were surprised to find Snow White and after some
argument, decided to let her stay. She promised to cook and look after them. She lived
there together happily.

Unfortunately, The Queen discovered the place where Snow White was living and
disguising herself as a witch. She then took a poisoned apple and set out for the Dwarfs
cottage. She gave Snow White the poisoned apple to eat and as soon as she bit the
apple, she sank into unconsciousness.

Thinking she was dead, the Dwarfs built a glass coffin and put her in it. For days she lay
in the forest in her glass coffin. One day, the Prince was riding through the forest
looking for Snow White and found her. He leaned over and kissed her. She opened her
eyes and sat up with a smile. Everyone was happy at that time. The Prince took Snow
White to his palace where they were married and lived happily ever after.

Moral message: Envy will only bring havoc in the future. While good people will get
happiness and respect from the people around them.
 THE UGLY DUCKLING

Once upon a time down on an old farm, lived a duck family, and Mother Duck had been
sitting on a clutch of new eggs. One nice morning, the eggs hatched and out popped six
chirpy ducklings. But one egg was bigger than the rest, and it didn’t hatch. Mother
Duck couldn’t recall laying that seventh egg. How did it get there? TOCK! TOCK! The
little prisoner was pecking inside his shell.

“Did I count the eggs wrongly?” Mother Duck wondered. But before she had time to
think about it, the last egg finally hatched. A strange looking duckling with gray
feathers that should have been yellow gazed at a worried mother. The ducklings grew
quickly, but Mother Duck had a secret worry.

“I can’t understand how this ugly duckling can be one of mine!” she said to herself,
shaking her head as she looked at her last born. Well, the gray duckling certainly
wasn’t pretty, and since he ate far more than his brothers, he was outgrowing them. As
the days went by, the poor ugly duckling became more and more unhappy. His brothers
didn’t want to play with him, he was so

clumsy, and all the farmyard folks simply laughed at him. He felt sad and lonely, while
Mother Duck did her best to console him.

“Poor little ugly duckling!” she would say. “Why are you so different from the others?”
And the ugly duckling felt worse than ever. He secretly wept at night. He felt nobody
wanted him.

“Nobody loves me, they all tease me! Why am I different from my brothers?”

Then one day, at sunrise, he ran away from the farmyard. He stopped at a pond and
began to question all the other birds. “Do you know of any ducklings with gray feathers
like mine?” But everyone shook their heads in scorn.

“We don’t know anyone as ugly as you.” The ugly duckling did not lose heart, however,
and kept on making inquiries. He went to another pond, where a pair of large geese
gave him the same answer to his question. What’s more, they warned him: “Don’t stay
here! Go away! It’s dangerous. There are men with guns around here!” The duckling
was sorry he had ever left the farmyard.
Then one day, his travels took him near an old countrywoman’s cottage. Thinking he
was a stray goose, she caught him.

“I’ll put this in a hutch. I hope it’s a female and lays plenty of eggs!” said the old
woman, whose eyesight was poor. But the ugly duckling laid not a single egg. The hen
kept frightening him.

“Just wait! If you don’t lay eggs, the old woman will wring your neck and pop you into
the pot!” And the cat chipped in: “Hee! Hee! I hope the woman cooks you, then I can
gnaw at your bones!” The poor ugly duckling was so scared that he lost his appetite,
though the old woman kept stuffing him with food and grumbling: “If you won’t lay
eggs, at least hurry up and get plump!”

“Oh, dear me!” moaned the now terrified duckling. “I’ll die of fright first! And I did so
hope someone would love me!”

Then one night, finding the hutch door ajar, he escaped. Once again he was all alone.
He fled as far away as he could, and at dawn, he found himself in a thick bed of reeds.
“If nobody wants me, I’ll hid here forever.” There was plenty a food, and the duckling
began to feel a little happier, though he was lonely. One day at sunrise, he saw a flight of
beautiful birds wing overhead. White, with long slender necks, yellow beaks and large
wings, they were migrating south.

“If only I could look like them, just for a day!” said the duckling, admiringly. Winter
came and the water in the reed bed froze. The poor duckling left home to seek food in
the snow. He dropped exhausted to the ground, but a farmer found him and put him in
his big jacket pocket.

“I’ll take him home to my children. They’ll look after him. Poor thing, he’s frozen!”
The duckling was showered with kindly care at the farmer’s house. In this way, the ugly
duckling was able to survive the bitterly cold winter.

However, by springtime, he had grown so big that the farmer decided: “I’ll set him free
by the pond!” That was when the duckling saw himself mirrored in the water.

“Goodness! How I’ve changed! I hardly recognize myself!” The flight of swans winged
north again and glided on to the pond. When the duckling saw them, he realized he was
one of their kind, and soon made friends.

“We’re swans like you!” they said, warmly. “Where have you been hiding?”

“It’s a long story,” replied the young swan, still astounded. Now, he swam majestically
with his fellow swans. One day, he heard children on the river bank exclaim: “Look at
that young swan! He’s the finest of them all!”

And he almost burst with happiness.