Nyi Banjarsari
Folklore from Banten
IT was a rainy season. The villagers were happy, most of them were farmers. Rain would water their rice field and soon they would harvest their rice. Pak Bong was one of the farmers. He was also very happy.
He wanted to buy some clothes for himself, his wife, and his beloved daughter, Nyi Banjarsari. She was a very beautiful girl. Her parents loved her because she was very obedient. One night, Pak Bong had a terrible dream. An old man came to him and said the rain would never stop. There would be a great flood.
At first Pak Bong thought it was just a dream but he had the same dream in the following nights. He decided to tell all the villagers about his dream and asked them to evacuate on a hill not far from their village.
"Ha ha ha! You are joking, Pak Bong? How can we leave our rice field? We are going to have great harvest, remember?" Everybody was laughing at Pak Bong.
Pak Bong did not give up. He kept on asking the villagers to evacuate to the hill. Finally some villagers believed him. Together with his wife, and his daughter Nyi Banjarsari, Pak Bong and his friends went to the hill.
In the meantime, heavy rain fell days and nights. It continued until water entered the houses. The villagers were sorry they did not listen to Pak Bong and ignored his advice. Soon, the village was drowned! Pak Bong and his friends could not do anything. They were sad because their village was under water.
Then they prayed to God. They asked God how the water dried up from their village. The answer came in Pak Bong's dream. In his dream, the same old man told him how to save their village.
"If you want the water to dry up, you have to sacrifice your daughter. She has to jump into the water!" said the old man.
Pak Bong was very sad. He then told his family about his dream. His wife did not agree at all. She did not want to lose her lovely daughter.
"That's OK, Mother. If this is the only way to save our village, I would jump into the water," said Nyi Banjarsari.
Her parents could not say anything. They could not prevent their daughter from jumping into the water. Slowly, water dried up. Pak Bong and his friends then returned to their village. They built their houses and had their lives back. To show their thankfulness and gratefulness to Nyi Banjarsari, the villagers named their village into Banjarsari.***
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