The Story of Cindelaras

Raden Putra was the king of Jenggala and Raden Putra had a queen and a concubine. The Queen was very beautiful and she had a good heart. However the concubine was wicked. 

The concubine wanted to get rid of the queen. 

Along with the physician of the palace the concubine hatched a plan to get rid of the Queen. 

The concubine pretended to be sick and the healer made sure that all the suspicions for the concubine’s ill health fell on the Queen. 

Soon everyone in the palace believed that the Queen had poisoned the concubine. 

The king Raden Putra was very angry when he heard this. 

He ordered his minister to take the Queen to the forest and kill her there. 

At that time, the king did not know that the Queen was pregnant and carrying his child.

The minister whom the king sent to kill the Queen in the forest was a wise man and he did not believe that the Queen would hurt the concubine in any way. But he did as he was told and he took the Queen in the forest. 

There the minister smeared the blood of another animal on his sword and left the Queen in a hut which he had built for her.

The minister told the king that he had killed the Queen. 

Soon the Queen who was in the forest gave birth to a son. She named the sun as Cindelaras. 

Cindelaras was a very handsome and smart boy. He was friendly with all the animals in the forest. He always helped his mother in the work around the hut. 

Once as Cindelaras was gathering firewood he saw an eagle which had dropped an egg. Cindelaras picked up the egg and kept it safe. 

From the egg there came a rooster. 

The rooster was very strong and it could also sing songs.

One of the songs the rooster sang was 

“Cock a doodle do, my master is Cindelaras. His house is in the forest and his father is Raden Putra.” 

At first Cindelaras ignored the song of the rooster. 

However, curiosity got the better of him and he asked his mother about the meaning of the rooster's song. 

The Queen finally told her son everything. 

Cincelaras was determined that justice was done to his mother and he made his way to his father's kingdom. Cindelaras obviously had taken his rooster along with him. 

On the way he saw many people cockfighting. Cindelaras agreed to let the rooster fight the Cockfighting match. 

The rooster was very strong and it kept winning all the fights. 

Soon the king of the land Raden Putra heard about the rooster.

Raden putra invited Cincelaras to his palace and challenged Cindelara’s rooster to a fight. 

Naturally, Cindelaras’ rooster won the fight. 

At that time Cindelaras rooster fluttered its wings and crowed happily. 

“Cock a doodle do. My master is Cindelaras and his father is Raden Putra.”

The king was stunned when he heard this. 

It was at this time that the minister who was also in the court came forward and he told the king all that had happened. 

The king then punished the concubine and the healer and brought back the Queen to his kingdom .

After that, the Queen lived happily with Cindelaras in the palace

Folk stories from Java

Joko Kendil

Long ago there was a widow who had a son. In that particular place, the pot used for cooking rice was called a kendil. The widow's son's head looked like a kendil so he was named Joko Kendil.

However, the widow loved her son a lot and brought him up with a lot of love and affection. When Joko Kendil was a child he loved to pull pranks on others.

Once when there was a function in their village Joko Kendil lined up along with the pots placed near the cooks who were cooking for the function. 

The busy cook did not differentiate Joko Kendil’s head from the other pots and put some food on his head.

Joko Kendil took the food home with his mother and shared it with all his friends. 

When Joko Kendil became an adult he asked his mother to approach their king to find a good match for him. 

The king had three daughters and Joko Kendil was sure that one of them would marry him. 

Joko Kendil's mother was however a little apprehensive of approaching the king. 

Joko Kendil finally convinced his mother to go.

Having no choice, the mother went to the king about her son's wishes. 

The king then turned to his three daughters. 

The second daughter told the king that she wanted to marry only a handsome prince. The  first daughter did not want to marry a poor man from a village. 

However the third daughter happily accepted the proposal of Joko Kendil's mother.

After this the king told the widow that his third daughter had accepted Joko Kendil's proposal. 

Joko Kendil married the third princess and lived with his wife in the palace. 

The youngest princess loved the witty Joko Kendil and was very happy with him. However, her elder sisters very often made fun of the third sister and the third sister’s husband.

One day the king of the place hosted a competition where all the people could show off their skills. 

Joko Kendil however could not participate in the event because he was sick. 

At that time a young nobleman came and showed off his amazing skills. Looking at this the first two princesses mocked the third princess even more for having a husband who could not do any of this.

Back to the nobleman, he was extraordinarily handsome and rode a fierce horse and had handsome clothes. 

The first two princesses were awestruck looking at the nobleman and tried to get his attention. They were even more stunned when they saw that the noble man was extremely talented in all the competitions set there. 

However the nobleman completely ignored the first two princesses. He went and stood before the third princess who had been unhappy that her own husband could not participate in the event. 

It was at this time that the noble man told the third princess that he was Joko Kendil. Joko Kindle had been cursed to have a head like a pot and the curse could be broken only if a princess married him with her whole heart and lived happily with him. 

That was what the third princess had done after she had married Joko Kendil and lived happily with him.

Adapted from folktales of Java