Once upon a time, there lived a
handsome and dashing young man named Jaka Tarub. He lived alone in his small
hut near the forest. Days by days cultivated his rice field and looked for fire
woods in the forest.
One day,
when he passed the nymph lake from looking for fire wood in the forest he saw
seven beautiful ladies bathing in the lake. He was so curious, he peeped them
through the bushes. Accidentally, there was a pink scarf belonged to one of the
fairies floated near the bushes. He instantly took and hid it.
Not long
after that, the fairies had finished bathing they wanted to go back to the
paradise. They found and wore their own scarves. One fairy, however, could not
find her scarf. She was Nawangwulan, the youngest fairy. The six fairies, then,
flew up to the sky following the way of the rainbow leaving Nawangwulan alone
on the earth. Nawangwulan saw them leaving in tears. She could not fly and go
back to the paradise because she could not find her pink scarf.
Next,
Jaka Tarub appeared from behind the bushes. He gave her a fabric to cover her
body and offered to come home with him. At first, Nawangwulan refused the offer.
Since she did not know where to go. Nawangwulan finally decided to follow Jaka
Tarub. And Nawangwulan stayed in Jaka Tarub’s hut with him.
After staying
for almost a month in the hut, they decided to get married. And after a year
they had a beautiful daughter named Kumalasari. They lived happily and
peacefully in the hut. Days by days Jaka Tarub worked in his field planting
rice and other crops while Nawangwulan did the house jobs while looking after
Kumalasari.
One day,
Jaka Tarub did not go to the field. He stayed at home. He wanted to take care
of Kumalasari on that day. Nawangwulan wanted to wash their clothes in the
river. She asked her husband to keep an eyes on Kumalasari and told him not to
open the pan cover in the kitchen before the rice was done. This made him so
curious that it led Jaka Tarub not to obey what Nawangwulan told. He opened the
pancover. How surprised he was to see that his wife cooked only a single paddy
rice. And since then the rice in the barn was slowly lessen because of Jaka
Tarub’s carelessness.
Month by
month the barn was completely empty. Nawangwulan stopped slowly into the barn
to get rice to cook. She found only a few paddies left. And suddenly she was
very surprised to find her loosing scarf when she took one of the paddies. And after
dinner Nawangwulan showed the scarf that she found in the barn. She told Jaka
Tarub that she had to leave for paradise. Jaka Tarub felt very sorry and asked for
forgiveness, but it was too late. Nawangwulan flew to the paradise with her
scarf leaving Jaka Tarub and Kumalasari behind.
