Legend of Loro Jonggrang

Legend of Loro Jonggrang
A Folklore from Central Java, Indonesia

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom named Prambanan. The people lived peacefully. However, soon their happy lives were disturbed by Pengging Kingdom. The king, Bandung Bondowoso, wanted to occupy Prambanan. He was a mean king.

The war between Prambanan and Pengging could not be avoided. Prambanan lost the war and led by the new king, Bandung Bondowoso. Pengging could win the war because Bandung Bondongwoso had a supernatural power.

His soldiers were not only humans but also genies. Those creatures always obeyed Bandung Bondowoso. They always did whatever Bandung Bondowoso asked them to do. The king of Prambanan had a beautiful daughter. Her name was Loro Jonggrang (Rara Jonggrang). Bandung Bondowoso fell in love with her and wanted to marry her.

"If you want to marry me, you have to build a thousand of temples in just one night," said Loro Jonggrang.

She hated Bandung Bondowoso because he made the people of Prambanan suffered.

"What? Impossible! You just gave me an excuse for not marrying me!" said Bandung Bondowoso. But he did not give up. He asked the genies to help him.

Then all those genies worked hard to build the 1.000 temples. Meanwhile, Loro Jonggrang heard from the lady-inwaiting that the building of 1.000 temples was almost finished.

She was so scared; she did not want to marry Bandung Bondowoso. And then she had a great idea. She asked all the ladies-inwaiting to help her.

"Please prepare a lot of straw and mortar. Come on! Hurry up!" said Loro Jonggrang.

All those ladies-in-waiting were confused. They did not know why Loro Jonggrang asked them to prepare a lot of straw and mortars in the middle of the night.

"Listen, all those genies are building the temples, right? We have to stop them by burning the straw and make some noise by pounding the mortar. The genies will think that sun is going to rise and they will run away. Genies are afraid of sunlight."

It worked! All those genies thought that sun rose. They did not know the light was from the fire that burning the straw. And the noise from pounding the mortar was like the start of a new day.

Bandung Bondowoso was angry. He knew Loro Jonggrang just tricked him.

"You cannot fool me, Loro Jonggrang. I already have 999 temples. I just need one more temple. Now, I will make you the one-thousandth temple."

With his supernatural power, Bandung Bondowoso made Loro Jonggrang a temple. Until now, the temple is still standing in Prambanan area, Central Java. And the temple is named Loro Jonggrang temple.