The Legend of Golden Snail

The Legend of Golden Snail

A Folklore from Central Java, Indonesia

Synopsis:
Keong Emas (Javanese and Indonesian for Golden Snail) is a popular Javanese folklore about a princess magically trasformed and contained in a golden snail shell. The folklore is a part of popular Javanese Panji cycle telling the stories about the prince Panji Asmoro Bangun (also known as Raden Inu Kertapati) and his consort, princess Dewi Sekartaji (also known as Dewi Chandra Kirana).

Here is the story:
Once upon a time, king Kertamarta from Daha Kingdom had two daughters namely Dewi Galuh Ajeng and Dewi Candra Kirana. Daha is bordered by Kahuripan Kingdom. To strengthen the brotherhood ties between the two kingdom, Dewi candra Kirana was engaged to the Crown Prince of Kahuripan namely Raden Inu Kertapati, a brave, handsome and wise prince.

Galuh Ajeng envided Candra Kirana because she had feelings for Raden Inu Kertapati, too. To prevent Candra Kirana from marrying him, Candra Kirana was slandered so that she was expelled from this place. More than that, to harm her, Galuh Ajeng asked a favor from a witch. The witch put a curse on Candra Kirana to become Keong Emas (Golden Snail) and then threw her away to the sea. The curse would disappear if Keong Emas could meet Raden Inu Kertapati.

One day in Dadapan village, Keong Emas was found by an old woman when she ws fishing. The snail attacted her so she took it home. The next day, the old woman went fishing in the sea like usual. That day she couldn’t caught any fish. She went home sadly. To her surprise , a variety of delicious food was always available at her home.

Until one day, she was too curious and tried to find out who on earth had cooked the meal. She went out early pretended to go fishing. She actually hid behind her house to see what was going on. She saw a very beautiful girl cooking in her house. She asked the girl,

“Beautiful girl, who are you truly?”

The girl eventually told the woman that she was actually Candra Kirana, the princess of Daha Kingdom, who was put on a course by a witch sent by Galuh Ajeng that envied her. When the sun was getting high Candra Kirana turn into Keong Emas again.

Meanwhile, Raden Inu Kertapati kept searching for Candra Kirana who had left the palace. In the search, he disguised as a commoner. On his way, he met a talking crow. He asked the crow for the direction to where Chandra kirana was, and he followed the direction pointed by the crow. Yet, the direction was misleading because the crow was actually the witch in disguise who prevent him from meeting her queen to be. Later he met a starving old man actually had a supernatural power, and in return for his kindness, he was assisted in fighting the witch and was given the direction to where Candra Kirana was.

Following the old man’s direction, Raden Inu Kertapati headed to Dadapan Village. She saw an old woman repairing her house. He approached her and offered her some help. After the work was done, she offered him to rest in her house. To his surprise, Candra Kirana was there. They were happy to see each other and the curse put by the witch disappeared. Candra Kirana introduced him to the old woman, and brought her back to Daha Kingdom.

In Daha Kingdom, King Kertamarta was furius after learning the evil Galuh had done to Candra kirana. Being frightened, Galuh Ajeng ran to the woods and fell from a steep slope. King Kertamarta asked Candra Kirana to forgive him. The wedding of Raden Inu Kertapati and Candra Kirana proceeded joyfully and welcomed happily by the people of both kingdoms. The pair lived happily ever after.

The Golden Snail other version