A long time ago, the ancient land of Sunda
was ruled by a king and a queen who had but a single daughter. Her name
was Dayang Sumbi. She was beautiful and clever but also pampered and
spoiled. One day as she was weaving in her pavilion, she became moody
and distracted, which caused her to keep dropping her shuttle on the
floor. Once when it fell she exclaimed she would marry the one who gave
it back to her. At that very moment her dog Tumang, a demigod possessing
magic powers, came up to her with the shuttle in his mouth. Dayang
Sumbi had to marry him.
They lived happily together, and Dayang Sumbi
gave birth to a baby boy, human in appearance but endowed with his
father’s magic powers. She named him Sangkuriang. As the boy grew up, he
was always guarded by the faithful dog Tumang, whom he knew only as a
companion and not as his father, Sangkuriang became handsome and
brave.One day his mother asked him to go hunting with the dog and bring
her venison for a feast. After hunting all day withoutsuccess,
Sangkuriang worried about facing his mother empty-handed. Desperate, he
took an arrow and shot the dog. He returned home and handed over the
meat to his pleased mother.
Soon after the feast, however, Dayang Sumbi
questioned her son about the absence of Tumang. At first he evaded
herqueries but finally told her what had happened. She was horrified and
struck her son so hard on the temple that he
collapsed. For that, the old king banished
his daughter from the court and she was made to roam around the kingdom.
Sangkuriang recovered with a large scar on his temple, and he too left
the court to wander about the world.
Years later, Sangkuriang met a beautiful
woman and instantly fell in love with her. It was his own mother-they
did not recognize each other. He pro¬posed to her and she agreed to
marry him. On the day before the wedding, as she was caressing her
fiancee’s hair, Dayang Sumbi detected the scar on the temple. Horror
struck her, for she was about to marry her own son, Sang¬kuriang.
Without revealing the whole truth to him, she tried unsuccessfully to
dissuade him.When Dayang Sumbi saw that he was about to accomplish what
she had thought impossi¬ble, she called on the gods to bring the sun up
early and thwart Sangkuriang.
The cock crowed, the sun rose much earlier
than usual, and Sangkuriang realized he had been deceived. In a fit of
furyhe cursed Dayang Sumbi and kicked the half-finished boat back into
the forest. There it lies upside down today, forming
the mountain Tangkuban Perahu (Upturned
Boat). Not far away is the stump of the tree Sangkuriang had felled, now
called Bukit Tunggul. The dam Sangkuriang had built caused the valley
to become a lake, where both Sangkuriang andDayang Sumbi drowned
themselves. They were never heard of again.
Moral Lessons
In life we have laws and religion. so whatever we do must be in accordance with customary law and religion. The story sangkuriang he loves his mother and wants to marry his own mother. whereas in customs and religion is not allowed. so sangkuriang not destined to marry. We essentially everything we do must be in accordance with the norms prevailing in the community.
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