THE LEGEND OF LOTUS
ONCE upon a time, there was a kingdom named UmbulWening. The king was
PrabuRanubahu. He had a very beautiful daughter. Her name was Dewi Arum. She
had a strange habit. She liked to swim in a pond. She could spend hours
swimming and forgot everything. Her parents often reminded her not to swim
too long. And the king often got angry when Dewi Arum swam in the pond and
neglected her duties as a princess.
Meanwhile, people lived happily. However their happy lives were disturbed
when they suffered a terrible illness. And that made the king sad. He
already asked the palace healer to heal them. Unfortunately the palace
healer was also unable to heal the illness.
The king then prayed to god. Days and nights he asked god to heal the
illness. And when the king was sleeping, he had a dream. An old man told the
king that the illness could be healed with flowers in the pond. And the
person who had to pick the flowers was Dewi Arum. However the pond was in
Krendawahana jungle.
When the king woke up, he immediately called the princess. He told her about
the dream and asked her to pick the flowers. Actually the king was not sure
his daughter could go there. It was very far from the palace. The king then
asked the ladies-in-waiting to accompany the princess.
After going through a very difficult journey, the princess and the
ladies-in-waiting finally arrived in Krendawahana jungle. Nobody had ever
been to this jungle before. Wild animals were everywhere. They all were
really scared. They all hoped to find the pond soon and picked the flowers.
They really wanted to leave the jungle immediately.
Finally, they found the pond. It was very beautiful. The water was very
clear. For a moment, they all forgot about their mission. They were amazed
by the beauty of the pond. The princess was the happiest person. She had
never seen a beautiful pond like this. She swam and swam for hours. The
ladies-in-waiting had tried to remind the princess. They asked her to pick
the flowers and went home. Unfortunately she ignored them.
Meanwhile the king was waiting in the palace. He was very restless. He knew
the people really needed the flowers to heal the illness.
The king was impatient. He could not wait any longer. He then went to the
jungle to follow the princess. When the king arrived at the pond, he saw the
princess swimming! The king was really angry.
“Dewi Arum! What are you doing here? Our people are dying and you are having
fun swimming in the pond. I’ve told you many times not to neglect your
duties. You are allowed to swim but you have to do your duties first. I’m
really disappointed with you! You don’t deserve to be the princess and live
in the palace. You deserve to live here in the pond!” said the king.
He was really angry.
Amazingly, the princess disappeared from the water. Later it appeared a
beautiful flower. The king was surprised.
He regretted what he said. But it was too late. He knew his daughter could
not live with him in the palace anymore. The princess had changed into
beautiful flowers. And when the king brought the flower to the palace,
surprisingly everybody was cured. And people were also amazed by the
flowers. They named it Lotus.