The Indonesian tale of the Golden Snail Princess

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful Princess "Dewi Galuh Chandra Kirana" from the Kingdom of Daha.
When she grew older she met Prince "Inu Kertapati" from the Kingdom of Kahuripan and they fell in love. Much to the happiness of everyone and with the support of the Kings from both Kingdoms, they became engaged.

The people of both Kingdoms celebrated the good news of the engagement and every one was happy, except one. The jealous Lady Galuh Ajeng did not enjoy the news as she wanted to become the wife of the Prince. She said to herself: "I need to find a way to separate the Prince and the Princess before they get married". Desperate as she was and willing to do everything to avoid a marriage, Lady Galuh Ajeng went to an evil Witch and asked the Witch to put a spell on Princess Dewi Galuh Chandra Kirana. "Your request, Lady Galuh Ajeng, will be fulfiled . I'll put a spell on the Princess", said the bad Witch. "That's good news. After the Princess is cursed, the Prince will marry me!", exclaimed Lady Galuh Ajeng with joy and laughter.

Under Lady Galuh Ajeng's influence, the King of Daha started to despise the Princess.
"Get out of this palace, you are not worth to be my daughter anymore. You will not marry Prince Inu Kertapati!", screamed the King in anger to Princess Dewi Galuh Chandra Kirana. So it was, the King told his own daughter to leave the Kingdom.

Since then on, the Princess roamed the country without direction. She wandered through forests and walked through the fields. Until one day she found herself all alone on a deserted beach. " Dear God, what will happen to me. What will I become?", cried the Princess in tears as she fell on her knees. It was at that moment, that the spell of the bad Witch fell on her and the Princess turned into a Golden Snail. A large wave came and dragged the Golden Snail into the sea.

Finally, after days, the Golden Snail washed ashore on a beach nearby the village of Dadapan. There an old lady from the village of Dadapan saw the Golden Snail on the white sandy beach. "What a beautiful snail you are", said the old lady. "Come with me, I will take well care of you", and she took the Golden Snail to her humble home near the beach. As soon as she arrived home, the old lady placed the Golden Snail in a pot with fresh clean water. "Stay here, beautiful snail" she said with a large smile on her old and wrinkled face, and then as usual she went to the beach to catch fish. The old lady had no luck that day and went home with empty hands and a rumbling stomach. However, when she came home she was surprised to find her table laid with delicious and tasty food.

The following day, when she came back from the beach, she saw smoke coming out of her house and wondered "What is going on in my house?". The old lady took a peek into the house and there she saw a young lady cooking in her kitchen. "Who is she?", asked the old lady to herself, and then rushed in to ask the young lady. Princess Dewi Galuh Chandra Kirana told her story about the curse and how she turned into a Golden Snail. "Jealousy is indeed a terrible thing and can cause other people to suffer" said the old lady, feeling sad to hear the Princess' story. The old lady prayed: "Dear God, please listen to my humble pray, take the curse off the Princess".

Meanwhile, the news of the missing of Princess Dewi Galuh Chandra Kirana came to the ears of Prince Inu Kertapati. The Prince felt unhappy and immediately went of to search his beloved Princess.

Months passed by and the Prince roamed the country and roved the seas and one day he came to the village of Dadapan, where he found his Princess. The Prince and Princess had finally found each other again and from that moment on the curse vanished from the Princess forever. Prince Inu Kertapati took the Princess back to his palace, and they brought the old lady from the village of Dadapan with them.

At the end, the Prince and the Princess got married, and later on Prince Inu Kertapati was crowned as King Kameswara I of the Kindom of Kahuripan (Kediri).

Moral
Love and faith can overcome all problems and truth and honesty will win over hatred and evil deed. That is the moral of the story of the Golden Snail Princess.

By Uli Aritonang, October 2000

Freely translated for non commercial purpose from
Original Children's Story of Indonesia Indonesian
Version Published by Gramedia Group 15198002

This page is not under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License

Except where otherwise noted, this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License . http://www.applesnail.net