THE LEGEND of CINDELARAS

Raden Putra was the king of the Jenggala kingdom. He had a beautiful queen, and in addition, the king also had a beautiful concubine. Unlike the queen, the concubine had a bad personality. She was jealous of the queen, so she planned to make the queen leave the palace. By doing so, she could become the new queen.

The concubine asked the palace healer to help her with her malicious plan. They told the king that the queen wanted to poison him. The king, angry and deceived, sent the queen to a jungle as punishment. However, there was one thing the king did not know—the queen was pregnant.

After several months of living in the jungle, the queen gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She named him Cindelaras. He grew up to be a nice, healthy, and handsome young man. One day, while Cindelaras was helping his mother collect firewood, an eagle dropped an egg. He took the egg and carefully tended to it.

The egg hatched into a chick, which then grew into a strong rooster. This rooster had magical abilities; it was very powerful and skillful in fighting other roosters. Additionally, the rooster could sing. Its song was about Cindelaras and his father, Raden Putra: "My master is Cindelaras. He lives in the jungle. His father is a king. His name is Raden Putra." The rooster often sang this song.

At first, Cindelaras ignored the song, but eventually, he could not ignore it any longer. He spoke to his mother about it, and she told him the whole story. Cindelaras was very surprised and decided to go to the palace to meet the king, his father. He also brought his rooster along.

On the way to the palace, he met some people who asked him to fight his rooster against theirs. Cindelaras’ rooster won every fight, gaining a reputation for its strength. The news of Cindelaras' great rooster eventually reached King Raden Putra, who invited Cindelaras to the palace to have his rooster fight against the king’s rooster.

The king made a bet. If Cindelaras’ rooster won the fight, he would receive all of the king’s jewelry. However, if Cindelaras’ rooster lost, Cindelaras would be punished by being sent to jail. The two roosters fought bravely, and within just a few minutes, Cindelaras’ rooster won the fight! Then, the rooster sang its song.

The king was astonished and asked who Cindelaras was. Cindelaras then told the king about his mother living in the jungle. Later, the palace healer confessed to his wrongdoing and admitted that the queen was innocent and had never tried to kill the king. The king was furious and ordered the concubine to be sent to jail. He immediately went to the jungle to bring back his wife, apologized for his actions, and restored her position as queen.