Narrative text ~ Jayaprana and Layonsari

Love Story of Jayaprana and Layonsari. Folklore from Bali. Once upon a time there was a small kingdom called Kali Anget. At one time the kingdom was plagued by deadly diseases which killed many of its people including most of the king’s family members. This made the King was very sad so he decided to visit his people to entertain himself and his people of his kingdom. At a crossroad he met a little boy who was crying for the loss of his parents and brothers. The king decided to adopt the boy since he had already lost all his children in the epidemic that swept through the kingdom. He took the boy to his palace and made arrangements for him to be one of his family. The king taught him to be a soldier to service the kingdom in the future. The boy’s name was Jayaprana.

        The king loved him as his own child and did everything to keep him happily. Still, as the boy grew to become a handsome adult Jayaprana decided not to interfere with others and approach life in a simple way, even though being the son of a King.

       The king was so touched to see a young boy who had great motivation to serve his life to the kingdom. He welcomed Jayaprana and let him work and stay and in the palace.

       Time passed by and Iayaprana became a handsome young man. The king liked him very much. Jayaprana was loyal, faithful, and obedient to the king.

        One day the king asked Jayaprana to meet him.

      “What can I do, Your Majesty?” Asked ]ayaprana politely.

       “You are growing adult now and I want you to get married. There are ladies-in-waiting in this palace. Choose one to be your wife,” said the king.

        “Please pardon me, Your Majesty. If you want me to get married, please let me find a girl from outside this palace. I would rather marry a girl from a village who is just like me, your Majesty.”

        The king smiled. “If that’s what you want, I let you do it. Just let me know when you find that girl. I will write a letter to her parents asking them to let you marry her.”

       Jayaprana was so happy. He immediately left the palace and looked for the girl he would marry.

        ]ayaprana arrived in a village. He saw a very beautifirl girl. She was a flower seller in the market. Her name was Ni Layonsari. Jayaprana fell in love with Ni Layonsari. She also fell in love with Jayaprana.

        Jayaprana rushed to the palace and told the king about Ni Layonsari. As promised, the king wrote a letter and asked Jayaprana to give the letter to Ni Layonsari’s parents. Jayaprana gave the letter and Ni Layonsari’s parents accepted the marriage proposal. They immediately set the plan for the party.

         The lovely couple intended to get married and this was a happy news to the whole kingdom. The party was held at the palace. It was such a happy atmosphere surrounding the kingdom especially for the married couple. But what’s a pity. When the king saw Ni Layonsari, he suddenly fell in love with Ni Layonsari when Ni Layonsari had been Jayaprana’s wife. He was really obsessive to Ni Layonsari though he realized that Ni Layonsari had been to be Jayaprana’s wife. The king had a bad plan. He wanted to kill Jayaprana and later married Ni Layonsari.

        The king set up a plan to kill Jayaprana by ordered him going to the forest near the sea to kill the intruders/robbers accompanied by his guards. With this strategy the king hoped he could give Jayaprana away from his wife and he could persuade Jayaprana’s wife to be his wife. Jayaprana went to the forest although his wife had told him about her bad sign for his journey. He was accompanied by Patih Sawung Galing, the head guard of the kingdom.

        After several days they reached the forest eventually. There were many faiths with the robbers, and they succeeded in killing all the robbers. At the last faith with the robbers, Patih Saunggaling tried to kill Jayaprana. But he could not. He tried many times with various ways but nothing could kill him. Then Patih Saunggaling stopped. Jayaprana and Patih Saunggaling made a conversation. Jayaprana asked Patih Saunggaling why he wanted to kill him. According to Patih Saunggaling, that was the king’s order.

        He told Jayaprana that the king had a desire for Ni Layonsari and wanted her to be his wife. Jayaprana understood and became sad. He knew the king was very kind of him during his life. Jayaprana wanted to give anything to the king but his wife. He had promised to obey all the orders of the king. Of course, Jayaprana could killed Patih Saunggaling and then killed the king. But what for? He thought, with the event, he had nothing anymore in his life except his wife. He was so sad. Then he decided to let Patih Saunggaling to kill him in order to fulfil his promise to the king, his step-father. He took the flower he was using in his hair and gave it to Patih Saunggaling. Jayaprana also gave his Keris (Balinese wavy dagger) to Patih Saunggaling so he could kill him. Jayaprana asked Patih Saunggaling to send his mesage to his wife that he was died in order to fulfil his promise to the king. The tears of Patih Saunggaling dropped when he took the flower and Keris. With just one hit Patih Saunggaling could kill Jayaprana easily.

         Then the magic began. A good smell came from the body of Jayaprana and spread out to cover the forest. All animals became sad and screamed out but a white tiger. The tiger jumped to Patih Saunggaling and killed the Patih Saunggaling with one hit. The rest of the guards, deeply sad, went back to Kali Anget kingdom and told the story to the king.

        At the palace, the king told Ni Layonsari that Iayaprana was killed. He pretended to be sad when he told her the bad news.

        Ni Layonsari was crying terribly. She could not imagine that she would lose her beloved husband.

        The king said “I know you are sad but life goes on. You have to continue your life. Why don’t you stay in the palace and marry me? You can become a queen.”

        Ni Layonsari could not believe what she just heard. “No, Your Majesty! I don’t want to marry you. I love my husband.”

        The king was angry! “If you don’t marry me, you will die!”

        “I’d rather die, Your Majesty!” said Ni Layonsari. She grabbed a knife and killed herself.

       Ni Layonsari lost too much blood. She died. And the same thing happened, a good smell came from her body and spread out to cover the palace. (Jayaprana’s wife had her name from this event. Layonsari derived from two words; Layon means the death body, and Sari means a good smell). The good smell was a sign that they had no sins. The king was so sad with the event. Then he withdrawn himself and stopped reigning the kingdom.

     People of Kali Anget then brought the body of Ni Layonsari to the forest where Jayaprana killed few days before (because they wanted to meet them together again). At the place the people built two graves. One grave for Jayaprana and Ni Layonsari, another grave was for Patih Saunggaling. The last man was destined to be the guard of the grave forever. After a complete ceremony, Jayaprana and Ni Layonsari were stated as holy spirit.


Name : Ayu anggraini/14
Class : X IPS 1