Folklore And Fairy Tales

The Origin of the Great Teak Tree - Great

It is said that in ancient times the teak tree was small.

Not as big as it is now.

The size of teak trees grew during the kingdom of Medang Kamulan related to the king of Medang who buried his son alive because of shame.

According to East Java folklore, long ago in the area of Medang Kamulan, the former kingdom of Dewata Cengkar, lived a king who had aged but did not have a son who would inherit his kingdom.

Feeling sad, the king then decided to go to the temple, asking the gods to have a son.

While in asceticism, the deity granted his prayers and gave the king a clue through a dream that soon the empress would conceive a child.

Overjoyed, the king thanked the gods and then returned to the palace.

Upon his arrival at the palace, the king conveyed a hint from the gods to the empress that made the empress feel happy.

A few days later, the queen said she was pregnant.

Of course the king was very happy.

So a feast was held in the royal palace for forty days and forty nights.

The expected moment finally arrived.

After nine months of pregnancy, the queen gave birth.

But not a baby boy born by the empress, but a baby antelope.

The king was disappointed, angry and ashamed.

Because they did not want to be known to others, without thinking long the king immediately took the baby deer into the forest and buried him alive.

No one else knows about it.

The king then immediately returned to the palace.

Upon his arrival in the palace, the king suddenly became seriously ill.

His body was so swollen that it was difficult to move.

Many healers came and gave medicine, but the king's pain did not heal.

Finally the king called his beloved servant named Sulang.

“Return, I will tell you a secret. But remember, don't tell anyone. If you break it, I'll cut off your head. So Sulang, the empress has given birth, but not giving birth to a human child but a deer. Because of shame, then the baby antelope I buried alive in the forest.”

Miraculously, after telling the secret, the king was healed from his pain.

“Good Your Majesty. Servant will not tell this secret to anyone.” Sulang pamit.

After listening to the secret from the king, Sulang suddenly felt his entire body ache and swelling.

Sulang tried to take drugs but the pain did not heal.

Sulang thought that the king recovered from his illness after telling his secret but Sulang did not dare to tell the king's secret to anyone for fear of getting beheaded.

Finally Sulang with great effort went into the wilderness.

In the middle of the forest he sat under a teak tree and said: “Hai teak tree, indeed the empress has given birth to a gazelle. The king felt ashamed and buried the antelope alive in the middle of the forest.”

After telling the king's secret to the teak tree, the miraculous, sick Sumang gradually healed.

His body was no longer sick and swollen.

Sulang, of course, was happy to be free from his illness. He immediately returned to the palace.

After the death of Sulang, the teak tree suddenly turned swollen.

The stems and branches of the teak tree turned big.

Since then the teak tree became as big as it is now.

Because of the large size of the tree, the royal people cut down teak trees to be used as bedugs.

After the bedug is finished made and anchored, comes out a strange sound “dang.dang..dang...King Medang had the son of a deer, buried alive, and delivered to Sulang dang.dang.dang. Repeated twice.

Since the incident, all the people of the kingdom of Medang know that their king has a deer and buried alive.