INDONESIAN FOLKTALES Series 2006

Special Stamps Issuance

On 2 February, Directorate General of Post and Telecommuncation issue Indonesia Folktales series stamps. In previous years, Indonesia Folktales series special stamps issuance were always accompanied by Souvenir Sheets. In this issuance, however, miniature sheets which are especially printed without perforation (imperforated) will be issued to supplement the stamps issuance. On the same day, PT Pos Indonesia Co. issue the First Day Cover (FDC).

If we scrutinize previous Indonesian Folktales Series stamps issuance, each folklore presented on the stamp design was always a local legend and represented certain ethnic group or province. Up until the 8th folklare series stamps issuance in 2005, all Indonesian provinces had already been represented in the stamp designs. In this 2006 folklore Series designs, folklore or legends which are well-known throughout the whole Indonesian community will be presented instead of the ones which represent certain ethnic group or province. The tales are so habitually told so that they become stories which are told over and over again by mothers to their children at bedtime or by teachers to their students at schools.

Things to consider in selecting story materials in stamp designs, besides the stories or tales which are well-known throughtout Indonesian community, are the essences of the stories which give many lessons and morals in life. for example, good deeds will be rewarded by goodnes, and the opposite: evil will be rewarded by badness. The essence of the story of si kancil: To reach an objective in life, besides lucks and miracles, wit and rationality are required as well.

BAWANG MERAH BAWANG PUTIH

In village, live a widow with her two beautiful daughters, Bawang Merah (Red Onion) and Bawang Putih (White Garlic). Bawang Putih's real father which was also the widows's husband died long ago. Bawang Merah and Bawang Putih had opposite characters and personalities. Bawang Putih was diligent, kind, honest and humble girl. Meanwhile, Bawang merah was lazy, glamorous, proud and envious girl. Bawang Merah's bad personality was worsened because her mother spoiled her. The widow always gave her everything she wanted. It was Bawang Putih who did all the works in the house. Doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning, essentially all works were carried out by herself. Meanwhile, Bawang Merah and the widow just spent times making themselves up, because when they needed something they could just ask Bawang Putih.

Bawang Putih never complained the bad fate she had to face. She always served her step-mother and sister happily. One day, Bawang Putih was doing her step-mother and sister's laundry. Bawang Putih didn't realize it when a piece of cloth belonged to her mother was washed away by the river. How sad was she, thinking that if the cloth couldn't be found she would be blamed, and it wasn't impossible that she would bu punished and expelled from home.

Being afraid that her mother cloth could not be found, Bawang Putih kept looking and walked along the river with its strong current. Every time she saw someone by the river, she always asked him or her about her mother's cloth which was washed away by the river, but everyone didn't know where the cloth was. Eventually Bawang Putih came to a place where the river flowed into a cave. Surprisingly, there was a very old woman in the cave. Bawang Putih asked the old woman if she knew of the cloth whereabouts. The woman knew where the cloth was, but she made a condition before she handed it to Bawang Putih. The condition was that she had to work assisting the old woman. Bawang Putih was used to working hard so that her work pleased the old woman.

It was late afternoon and Bawang Putih was saying goodbye to the old woman. The woman handed the cloth to her. because of her kindness, the old woman offered her a gift of pumpkins. There were two of them, one was larger than the other. Bawang Putih was asked to choose the gift she wanted. She wasn't greedy, there she chose the smaller one.

Returning home, the Step-Mother and Bawang Merah were furious because Bawang Putih was late. She told them what happened from the time her mother's cloth was washed away until her encounter with the old woman in the cave. Her step-mother was still furious because she was already late and only brought one small pumkin, so the mother smashed the pumpkin to the ground. "Whack..." and the pumpkin was broken, but it was miraculous that in the pumpkin there were beautiful golden, jewel, and diamond ornaments. The Widow and Bawang Merah were very schocked. They could get very rich with that much jewelry. But greedy they were, they yelled at Bawang Putih asking why she didn't take the large pumkin instead. In the Widow and Bawang Merah's minds, if the larger pumpkin was taken, they should get much more jewelry.

Fulfilling their greed, Bawang Merah folowed the steps told by Bawang Putih. She wilingly drifted her mother's cloth, walked along the river, asked people and eventually came to the cave where the old woman lived. Unlike Bawang Putih, however, bawang Merah refused the old woman's order to work and She even arrogantly ordered the old woman to give her the larger pumpkin. And so the old woman gave it to Bawang Merah.

Bawang Merah happily brought the pumpkin that the old woman gave, while imagining how much jewelry she would get. Returning home, the Widow welcomed her beloved daughter. Not waiting for long, the pumpkin was smashed to the ground, "whack ..." but instead of the jewelry, appeared various terrifying snakes. The Widow and Bawang Merah finally realized what they did all this time was wrong and asked Bawang Putih to forgive them.

KEONG EMAS (THE GOLDEN SNAIL)

Once upon a time, king Kertamarta from Daha Kingdom had two daughters namely Dewi galuh Ajeng and Dewi Candra Kirana. Daha is bordered by Kahuripan Kingdom. To strengthen the brotherhood ties between the two kingdom, Dewi candr Kirana was engaged to the Crown Prince of Kahuripan namely Raden Inu Kertapati, a brave, handsome and wise prince.

Galuh Ajeng envided Candra Kirana because she had feelings for Raden Inu Kertapati, too. To prevent Candra Kirana from marrying him, Candra Kirana was slandered so that she was expelled from this place. More than that, to harm her, Galuh Ajeng asked a favor from a witch. The witch put a curse on Candra Kirana to become Keong Emas and then threw her away to the sea. The curse would disappear if Keong Emas could meet Raden Inu Kertapati.

One day in Dadapan village, Keong Emas was found by an old woman when she ws fishing. The snail attacted her so she took it home. The next day, the old woman went fishing in the sea like usual. That day she couldn't caught any fish. She went home sadly. To her surprise , a variety of delicious food was always available at her home. Until one day, she was too curious and tried to find out who on earth had cooked the meal. She went out early pretended to go fishing. She actually hid behind her house to see what was going on. She saw a very beautiful girl cooking in her house. She asked the girl, "Beautiful girl, who are you truly?" The girl eventually told the woman that she was actually Candra Kirana, the princess of Daha Kingdom, who was put on a course by a witch sent by Galuh Ajeng that envied her. When the sun was getting high Candra Kirana turn into Keong Emas again.

Meanwhile, Raden Inu Kertapati kept searching for Candra Kirana who had left the palace. In the search, he disguised as a commoner. On his way, he met a talking crow. He asked the crow for the direction to where Chandra kirana was, and he followed the direction pointed by the crow. Yet, the direction was misleading because the crow was actually the witch in disguise who prevent him from meeting her queen to be. Later he met a starving old man actually had a supernatural power, and in return for his kindness, he was assisted in fighting the witch and was given the direction to where Candra Kirana was.

Following the old man's direction, Raden Inu Kertapati headed to Dadapan Village. She saw an old woman repairing her house. He approached her and offered her some help. After the work was done, she offered him to rest in her house. To his surprise, Candra Kirana was there. They were happy to see each other and the curse put by the witch disappeared. Candra Kirana introduced him to the old woman, and brought her back to Daha Kingdom.

In Daha Kingdom, King Kertamarta was furius after learning the evil Galuh had done to Candra kirana. Being frightened, Galuh Ajeng ran to the woods and fell from a steep slope. King Kertamarta asked Candra Kirana to forgive him. The wedding of Raden Inu Kertapati and Candra Kirana proceeded joyfully and welcomed happily by the people of both kingdoms. The pair lived happily ever after.

SI KANCIL (THE DWARFT DEER)

In one beautiful day, si Kancil was out of his den. He was very hungry. He wanted to go straight to the place where he usually looked for food. Unfortunately, there was not much food left. Available food couldn't fill his stomach. Eventually he decided to roam to other places for food and he arrived at a river bank.

Si Kancil saw plenty of food across the river, green grass grew, trees were decorated with green leaves and ripe fruits. He drooled, imagining how delicious the food across the river was. Yet, he was baffled how he could cross the river because there was no bridge joining the two banks.

Then si Kancil tried to step into the river, just in case it was shallow enough so he could cross it without any bridge. It was only one of his feet that had touched the water when it was caught by crocodile's jaws. Apparently the crocodile had been watching him until he was careless. Si Kancil's situation was critical, his life would end with one movement from the crocodile, his flesh would be a tender meal for the crocodile. "I intended to search for delicious meal, but now I end up become the delicious meal for the crocodile", si Kancil thought.

However, si Kancil was not a mere animal, his brain wit was as quick as his movement. This wasn't the first time he was in a critical situation. It was many times that his life was saved by his wit. While his brain was working, he saw a group of crocodiles were behind the one which caught him and they were also ready to chew his flesh. The plurality of the crocodiles didn't scare him. Instead, it became an opportunity for him to escape from death. Then si Kancil started to play his wit. "Dear crocodile, you should know that I am here voluntarily. I feel I've been living to long in this world, and now I've made up my mind to end my life. I've also decided to distribute my flesh and my whole body to the crocodiles inhabiting this river. But I make a condition that my flesh must be distributed fairly and squarely to all the crocodiles here. Deal? All the crocodiles stunned for a while, they were amazed by what si Kancil had said. "Alright, Kancil. if we are greed with what you've just said, how are we going to do?". "Hmm ... the trap starts to work," si Kancil thought. "First, I have to count how many crocodiles inhabiting this river. If I already know the number, I'll be able to determine home much of my flesh for each of you. Therefore, you don't need to fight one another. "The crocodiles seemed to be more interested in si Kancil's explanation because they saw the advantage before them. as if they were charmed by si Kancil, the crocodiles position themselves side from one river bank to the other. Then, si Kancil executed his clever plan. While stepping on each crocodile that made a line on the river surface, he started to count, "One ... two ... three ..." and finally until the last crocodile..."bye-bye..." and he quickly jumped to the river bank and ran into the green, thick bush leaving the crocodile stunned, realizing their stupidity.

TIMUN EMAS (GOLDEN CUCUMBER)

Once upon a time, there was a widow who lived alone. Because there was no one on her side, she felt lonely and dreamed of the presence of a child. In the same village, there lived a giant. Knowing her uneasiness, the giant offered his help by giving a child, on condition that when the child is 6 year old, it must be returned to the giant to become his meal. Because of her strong desire to have a child, the widow agreed with the od condition. The giant then gave her a cucumber seed to be planted at the widow's lawn.

Two weeks passed and the cucumber started to bear fruits, and there was one which was large and shined like gold. The widow picked the large cucumber and splitted it carefully and it appeared that there was a cute baby girl inside. How happy the widow was, and the baby was named Timun Emas.

Times passed so fast, 6 years ws Timun Emas' age now. At this age she became a beautiful and clever child. The giant came to the widow to fulfill her promise, but she loved her child and didn't want to lose her child. She asked the giant to come back two years later, told him that Timun Emas would be bigger and more appetiziting to eat then. The giant agreed.

Two years passed, the time had come for the widow to let the giant have Timun Emas. The widow loved her child too much. She didn't want her child to become the giant's meal. Yet, it was impossible to confront him. Eventually the widow ordered Timun Emas to go to Gunung Kidul (Southern Mountain) to meet a powerful hermit there. He gave Timun Emas four small packages contained cucumber seeds, needles, salt and terasi ( a kind of seasoning). He didn't forget to order Timun Emas to pray for safety from the giant

One morning the giant came to the widow to fulfill her promise. The widow ordered Timun Emas to run through the back door. He chased her. when she was almost caught, she dispersed the cucumber seeds from the package and they suddenly became cucumber field. He stopped chasing her for he was interested in eating the cucumber. Then he chased her again, when she was almost caught she dispersed the needles from the package that became bamboo field. His feet were wounded and bled, pricked by the bamboos. Yet he didn't give up and kept chasing her, then she dispersed the salt from the package and the field became a sea. Yet he kept chasing her. Finally, she dispersed the terasi from the package. Suddenly appeared boiling sea of mud, and finally he was dead. with the dead of the giant, Timun Emas could live happily with her mother.