Lala Seruni || Lombok Folklore

On a night, under the beam of moonlight, King of Lombok named Prabu Kertajagat was heading to Kayangan Temple to worship. Along with him was his wife, family, priests, and some of his men who either held important positions or were highly trusted by him. The full moon that night shone so bright. Around the temple were flambues making the temple even brighter. Upon arriving, they started to kneel down and worship.

Demung Sandubaya via http://www.ceritadongenganak.com

Among there were also a newly-married couple; Demung Sandubaya and Lala Seruni. Demung Sandubaya was the brother Demung Brangbatun while his wife was a daughter of Rangga Bumbang. A newly-married couple they were that they just vowed to each other no more than a month ago.

That night, in the temple, the king glanced at Lala Seruni. As soon as he saw her face, he was stunned on the beauty of Lala Seruni. Among all women presence in the temple, there were no one more beautiful than her, even the king’s wife. Such a hypnotized man was the king that he accosted Lala Seruni and threw flattery on her. All people in the temple heard what the king just said and were deeply shocked silence. They were murmuring, witnessing what their king were doing before their own eyes.

Lala Seruni was shocked as well. She, then, ran toward her husband and hide behind his back. Meanwhile, the king came to his men and told them what was in his head. Knowing what the king wanted, most of whom were shaking their head showing their disagreement. But as the king insisted, there were nothing they could do but do what they were asked to do.

 

After the worship ritual ended, the king and his men were heading back to the palace in a hurry. As they reached the palace, they walked into a room and locked themselves inside it, making sure there were no one would hear what they were talking. Inside, they were planning oh how getting rid of Demung Sandubaya so that the king could take Lala Seruni as his wife. The king wanted that it looked like that Sandubaya was attacked and killed by a wild animal.

Next day, the palace sent an invitation to Demung Sandubaya to join the palace’s hunt inside the forest. Not knowing what was waiting him inside the forest, Demung Sandubaya looked happy and felt honored. He told his wife of what he just got. Instead of being happy as her husband was, Lala Seruni looked agitated. She asked his husband not to join the palace’s hunt as she had bad feeling about it. She then told what the king did to her the other night.

“Don’t be silly” said Demung Sandubaya “he is a wise king. There is no way he would do such thing.”

“But, you should be very careful” said Lala Seruni “I want you take the horse with you”

“Okay I will take Gagar Mayang with me.”

“Promise me to be safe?”

“Yes. But if I died, my soul would wait you in Menanga Baris” replied the husband

“Just promise me to be safe?”

Then, Demung Sandubaya together with his horse Gagar Mayang headed into the forest where the king and his men were waiting for him. As he reached inside the forest, Demung Sandubaya wondered as he saw no one. Then he went deeper inside the forest. And still, he met no one. As he was still looking for people he should meet, at sudden a spear flew toward him and stabbed him right in his chest. Demung Sandubaya fell from his horse, covered in blood.

Gagar Mayang got uneasy and he shook his head over his owner body. He then ran outside the forest to his owner house. Inside the house, Lala Seruni was preparing for lunch while she heard hoof-beats of her horse. She was happy, thinking that her husband was back from hunting. But as she learned that it was only her horse in front of her house and that the horse’s mouth was covered in blood, she panicked. She, then, rode the horse inside the forest and as she found her husband dead body, she screamed and cried as loud as she could. Day was getting dark, Lala Seruni had calmed herself a little bit. She then decided to take her husband to the house and buried him in the backyard, under maja tree. 

The next day, the king and his men came over to Lala Seruni’s house to show his condolence. But Lala Seruni put a lot of suspiciousness on the king and she just stood still door, neither let the king come inside nor respond on what the king asked. The king then uttered his purpose to take her as his wife. Lala Seruni was getting furious and slammed the door in front of the king’s face as she heard what the king said. The king then instructed his soldier to take her to the palace. The soldiers broke open the door and took Lala Seruni. Lala Seruni tried to break loose from the soldiers’ hands. But she was just a little woman that she could not manage to defeat those big soldiers.

Lala Seruni, then, was put and locked inside a big room in a palace. Lala Seruni was screaming and crying all day long. She even refused to eat the delicious food served to her. The king was getting worried as there was no way he could marry her if she could not stop crying and screaming. Till one morning, when the king came inside the room to see Lala Seruni’s condition, the king wondered that she acted much calmer than the days before.

“O..King” said Lala Seruni

“Yes, my beautiful wife’ said the king

“I am not yet your wife. But I would marry you if you take me to a lake in Menanga Baris. I want to wash my body in the lake before I become your wife”.

The king was so happy and directly instructed his men and soldiers to take Lala Seruni to the lake in Menanga Baris. Lala Seruni then soaked herself in the lake. As she washed her body, suddenly she saw a big red lotus flower in the middle of the lake. She asked the king to take it for her. The king asked the soldiers to take it. But as the soldiers swam toward the flowers, the fish suddenly attacked them and make the soldiers panicked and swim back to the land. 

Lala Seruni via http://www.ceritadongenganak.com

The king was angry and he decided to take it by himself. But the same thing happened. He was attacked by hundreds of fish that make him lost his consciousness as he reached the land. While people were busy taking care of the king, Lala Seruni swam toward the red Lotus. Magically, she was not attacked by fish. So big was the lotus leaf that she could sit on it. The lotus then took her in other side of the lake, far from the king and his men. In the other side, waited someone Lala Seruni had been longed for, her husband’s soul. Then as they held hand together, their soul joined together in other world. Meanwhile, the king got crazy as he learned that he just lost a women he loved so much.