Jaka Tarub

JAKA TARUB
Once upon a time there was a widow who lived in the village of Dadapan. She had a son
whose name was Jaka Tarub. She raised that boy all by herself, so she worked so hard because
Jaka is the only family she got. Sadly, she dies not long after that, leaving Jaka Tarub alone.
Many years later, Jaka Tarub grows up to become a splendid young man. Dadapan village was
close to a wood so Jaka Tarub liked to go to the wood. He liked hunting for animals with his
blowpipe. One day, he was hunting for a deer in Dadapan Village but he did not find any deer.
While searching fo a deer, he heard the sound of girls laughing. As the place is deep inside the
forest, Jaka Tarub wondered why there were girls there. He followed the sound and arrived at a
small pond where he saw seven apsaras descended from heaven to take a bath.
The apsaras looked like young girls and were very beautiful.
While the apsaras were bathing, Jaka sneaked out and took one of the shawls lying on a
rock nearest to him and went back into hiding. He watched as the apsaras were chatting among
themselves while bathing. After they finished bathing and getting dressed, one of the apsaras, the
youngest and the most beautiful of all, looked puzzled because she could not find her shawl,
which was stolen by Jaka. Without her shawl, she could not fly back to heaven. Jaka heard the
other apsaras called her Nawang Wulan while they told her that it was getting late and they had
to return to heaven so could not stay with her to look for her shawl. After the other apsaras had
gone, she was crying while staying in the water. Jaka Tarub approached her.
‘Why are you crying lady?’

‘I lose my dress so I cannot go home’
‘Where is your home?’
‘I live in heaven. I’m an angel. My name is Nawang Wulan. But I lose my shawl so I
cannot fly anymore’
‘I you don’t mind I will take my mother’s shawl for you’
‘OK, please do’
‘Wait for me here, I’ll be back’
Then Jaka Tarub went home to take her mother’s shawl and gave it to Nawang Wulan.
He also asked her to stay at his house. The trustful Nawang Wulan agreed to go with Jaka Tarub
to his home. Eventually the two fell in love and got married. It turned out that Nawang Wulan
was a good wife and was very skillfull in doing house chores without making much effort.
Moreover, their rice supply seems like never decreased after he married her. But Nawang Wulan
forbade Jaka to look inside the rice cooker while she cooked rice.
Not long after, Nawang Wulan got pregnant and at due time she gave birth to a baby girl
whom they named Nawangsih. Now, added with the task of taking care of a baby, Nawang
Wulan still seems to have no difficulties in doing her house chores, while most other woman
would have some difficulties in doing all she did.
Feeling very curious about all these, Jaka tried to find out her secret. He did what
Nawang Wulan forbid him to do. He opened the lid of the rice cooker and looked inside it. He
found out that Nawang Wulan only used one single grain of rice to cook into a full rice cooker.
Now he knew why their rice supply was never decreased and that all these times Nawang Wulan
had been using her apsara powers to do house chores.
But something happened after Jaka peeked inside the rice cooker. Nawang Wulan began to have
various difficulties in doing her tasks. Furthermore, their rice supply began to decrease. Nawang
Wulan had lost her apsara powers and became an ordinary human being. When their rice supply
was nearly used up, Nawang Wulan unintentionally saw her old shawl lurking from below their
rice supply while she went to the granary to get some rice. To her surprise, she found out that it
was Jaka who stole her shawl all along, which made her could not go back to heaven. She
immediately wore it and talked to Jaka Tarub.
‘My dear husband, now I know what you did to me’

‘Forgive me, my dear. I admit that I did this because I love you’
‘I love you too. But now I find my shawl. I must come back to heaven. I am an angel. My
place is not here. I have to go now’.
She was shocked, sad, and disappointed, and now that she had find her shawl, she decided to
return to heaven. Jaka pleaded her not to leave, but her decision was final.
‘How about Nawang Sih? She needs you’

‘I will leave her but don’t worry. I will take care of her. Anytime she needs me I will be
here. For that purpose please build a tower. When Nawang Sih cries put her there then
call my name. I will come immediately. But I will be invisible to you. ‘
‘farewell, my dear’
Then Jaka Tarub built a tower behind his house. Since then Jaka took Nawangsih to the
tower every night until she grew up. Every time Nawang Sih cried he would put her there.
Nawang Wulan would come and take care of Nawang Sih. Nawang Wulan always cared for her
family from heaven and always provided help for her family when they needed it.
Moral : If you feel like wanted something, don’t you ever try to use no good way
Keep in mind there is always a big price to pay for every single sin in your life
Summary:
This is a story about an ordinary man named Jaka Tarub, who stole the shawl of one of
the 7 apsaras so he could marry her. Even though everything seems to be going well, one day
Jaka Tarub also gets the consequences. He must be abandoned by the one he loves, even though
it was stated that his wife still loves him and felt bad, she got no choice but to comeback to
heaven. Jaka’s wife, Nawang Wulan could only meet their child once in a while but she will be
invisible to Jaka. This is Jaka’s karma for getting things the wrong way.

Jaka Tarub

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JAKA TARUB

‘Why are you crying lady?’

‘My dear husband, now I know what you did to me’

‘How about Nawang Sih? She needs you’

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