Tragedy of Jayaprana

Tragedy of Jayaprana Story

Tragedy of Jayaprana

Once upon a time, there was a family with a mother, father, and four children, the oldest of whom was the little boy Jayaprana. This family lived happy and peacefully. But it so happened that season a great illness came to their village.

Each day many people died and had to be buried. Eventually the living became so ill that they could not even take away the dead.

Soon Jayaprana's father and mother both died. That night the sad children carried their parents to the cemetery. Ghosts flew at them along the way. The wind blew out their torch, but they bravely walked on, fighting their terror. Finally, they reached the cemetery and buried their parents.

No sooner were Jayaprana's parents buried, than his three younger brothers died on the spot. Jayaprana was left all alone in the world. He cried and cried. He had no where to go, so he stayed in the cemetery.

One day the king's minister, Galing, who had heard about the terrible sickness, came to the village to see things for him­self. When he arrived not a soul was alive. Then he went to the cemetery.

As Galing walked through the cemetery he heard the cries of young Jayaprana and he saw the boy lying on a gravestone. Galing went over and raised him up and said, 'Why are you crying here’.

Jayaprana answered quietly, 'I cry here because I do not want to live along. I There's no point in living without my mother and father and my brothers. It's better that I stay here and die. I cannot find food to cat.' Tears rotted down Jayaprana's cheeks.

'Poor boy,' said Galing, 'try to think too much of your mother and father and brothers. Let's go together to the palace and you can eat there.' But Jayaprana did not want to leave, because he could not forget his family. In the end Galing had to force the boy to come with him so that he would not die of starvation in the cemetery.

Jayaprana Story

Galing took Jayaprana to the palace, fed him, and gave him a place to live. Jayaprana was given the work of caring for the cocks for the cockfight. He also had to study the old Ba­linese language and poetry. Slowly he become accustomed to living in the palace.

In this way, Jayaprana lived for many years, growing from a small boy to a handsome young man of seventeen years. Galing loved the boy dearly, as if he were his own son. And all the people of the kingdom also grew to love him, especially the young women. There wasn't another man in the entire king­dom as handsome as Jayaprana.

One day Galing said, 'Jayaprana, please marry, because now is the right time, while I am still alive. Do not wait until I am dead and gone.'

Jayaprana listened to the plea of his foster-father and agreed to leave the palace to look for a woman who truly pleased him.

He went outside, and as fate would have it, two girls came by on their way to market. Jayaprana went out to meet them and introduced himself. He asked who they were, and where they came from. The older one answered that her name was Sari while her sister's name was Sekar. They came from the vil­lage of Sekar.

He accompanied them to the market. When he returned to the palace he told Galing about the girl Sari whom he had just met. He said that he had fallen in love with her and wanted to marry her. Galing approved and wrote a letter commanding Sari's father to give his daughter in marriage to Jayaprana.

Jayaprana went to the house of Sari. She saw him coming through the gate and was immediately overcome with tears of joy. Jayaprana went up to the girl's father and gave him Galing's letter.

`My child, Sari,' her father said, 'you have been asked by the king's minister to marry Jayaprana. I hope that this is something you want to do, because it is a great honour which you should not refuse.'

Preparations for the marriage began. Everybody was in good spirits, and all the servants in the palace were busy in getting things ready.

When the marriage ceremony began, the king saw Sari and was struck by her great beauty. Instantly he fell in love with her. The king's wives and the ladies in the palace became jeal­ous of Sari. But Jayaprana and Sari noticed none of this, for they were exceedingly happy. The next day, they were even happier, because they began to talk with each other and to look forward to along life together.

That night the king became crazy with love for Sari. He could not forget her beauty. The next day the king began to plan the death of Jayaprana and summoned his minister Galing to carry out the plot. The king explained that he had fallen in love with Sari, and ordered the minister to invent an 'enemy' , and to have Jayaprana go far away to fight. Galing was upset to hear this, but he had to carry out his king's or­ders.

Galing went to Jayaprana and told him that there was trouble in the countryside, and that had to go there immedi­ately. This was just the third day Jayaprana and Sari had been married.

The news upset and shocked Jayaprana, but he didn't question Galing's words. He got ready to go immediately.

Sari was sad. She remembered the dream which she had just had the previous night, that their house had been de­stroyed by giant warriors. She was sure that her husband was in danger.

Galing and Jayaprana and a troop of soldiers, soon set off and travelled for a long time. They walked for hours and hours. The people in the group were tired, and complained that no en­emy was in sight.

Finally, when they came to the most remote place in the kingdom, Galing gave Jayaprana a letter from the king order­ing him to submit himself to death at the hands of Galing.

Jayaprana read the letter and turned to Galing and asked, 'What did I do wrong?'

Galing answered with tears in his eyes, 'You haven't done anything wrong, but the king wants you to be killed.'

And Jayaprana replied, 'I'm not afraid to die, especially now that my king demands it. You may do as you wish, but be careful lest what you do is wrong. Before I die, let me give you a letter to take to my wife.

In the letter, Jayaprana told his beloved wife that he was going to die because the king had ordered him dead, and that the king himself must be in love with Sari. He added, in his let­ter to Sari, that he would wait for her forever, in heaven.

The minister Galing attempted to kill Jayaprana but he wouldn't die.

Galing's kris seemed powerless against Jayaprana.

Then Jayaprana took out his own kris and handed it to Galing. 'Use this, fathers, to slay me,' he said.

Galing took the kris, raised it in his hands, and slew him. Jayaprana fell down dead and his soul went to heaven, rising in the sky in a cloud of flowers.

Immediately, the wind began to howl rain fell, and there was thunder and lightning. The world became dark. The other men in the party realized that Jayaprana had been killed wrongly. They began to quarrel with one another. Animals at­tacked them. Trees fell and killed them.

A few of the party managed to survive, and together with Galing they hurried back to the palace. Beautiful Sari saw them return and ran out to meet them. She asked over and over again for Jayaprana, but the survivors would say nothing.

The last survivor to come along was on old man, who an­swered truthfully, 'Your husband is dead. He was killed by Galing on the king's ordered.' Sari ran home with tears bathing her face.

No sooner had she returned than Galing appeared with the letter from Jayaprana. She read the letter and began to call out for Jayaprana, telling him to wait in heaven, for she would soon follow.

Meanwhile the king was happy, and got ready to meet Sari. The next morning the king summoned Galing to bring Sari be­fore him.

She was extremely angry. 'You may be king, but you are evil,' she said. 'There's no excuse for killing Jayaprana. I would rather die than become your wife.'

But the king did not hear anything that Sari said. He kept on asking her to marry him, over and over again, until finally Sari said yes.

Sari returned to her own house, while the wedding cer­emony was set for the next day. Again and again she called for Jayaprana and asked him to wait for her. Then she took out her knife and killed herself, to join Jayaprana, her husband, who was waiting for her in heaven.

In the morning the king came to Sari's house to fetch her. When he found her dead he became crazy. In his madness, the king began to think that everybody was Sari. He went up to people and asked them to marry him and tried to kiss them. In the end he took out his sword and killed everybody who was there, including Galing. Then he killed himself and went to hell, ridding the kingdom of his evil. Thus ended the tragedy of Jayaprana.