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Folktales is a stories or tales that people shared through a mouth-to-mouth method rather than in a written form. It is amazing that we can found similarities of many folktales in different countries across the globe. Nonetheless, after i joined a Korea Culture Day from King Sejong Institute Center Indonesia which was held under the theme ‘Folktales and Legend Creature in Korean Drama’, i learned that there are some similarities between Korea and Indonesia folktales or fairy tales.

Folktales are tend to have many version, but in this article i wrote the version that is popular among people surrounding me and from the story i heard when i was a child. Here are 3 similar folktales in Korea and Indonesia.

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“The Fairy and The Woodcutter” & “Jaka Tarub and Nawangwulan”

“The Fairy and The Woodcutter” is a story about a poor woodcutter who met and helped a deer in the woods, and as a ‘thank you’, the deer showed the woodcutter the pond where fairies came down to take a bath. Thus, the deer told the woodcutter about the fairy’s winged clothing which if he took it, the fairy won’t go back to heaven, so the woodcutter could marry her. After he married the fairy and have two children, the woodcutter want to come clean in front of his wife and show the fairy’s winged clothing he stole. In the end, the fairy and her children go back to heaven and left the woodcutter.

The story of ‘The Fairy and The Woodcutter’ directly reminds me of a popular folktales of Indonesia called “Jaka Tarub and Nawangwulan”. The story of Jaka Tarub have many versions, but the version that is the most popular is that this story is about a strong man named Jaka Tarub.

Jaka Tarub was going back and forth in the woods around the Sacred Mountain to hunt animals, but one day, he found a pond and accidentally found 7 fairy angels who were taking a bath in the pond. He then fallen in love with one of those beautiful fairy and took the fairy’s winged clothing called ‘Selendang’ (슬렌당) . Thus, it made one of the fairy couldn’t go back to heaven and left alone by her friends. Jaka Tarub then came out and pretended to help the fairy whose name is Nawangwulan. Long story short, Jaka Tarub and Nawangwulan got married and have a daughter named Nawangsih.

Before married, Nawangwulan warned Jaka Tarub to not ask the secret of her cooking habits. But, he didn’t listen and then sneaked into the kitchen to find that Nawangwulan cooked one grain of rice but then it turned into a basket of rice.

Because Jaka didn’t heed Nawangwulan’s warning, Nawangwulan lost her power, so it made the rice supply in the hut was running out quickly. Not long after that, Nawangwulan found her Selendang that was hidden by Jaka in the hut. She’s mad to Jaka Tarub and then she go back to heaven, but the story also said that Nawangwulan sometimes was still come to take care of her daughter, Nawangsih.

The moral of both story that i could understand was ‘lying will get us nothing’.

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“The Snail-Bride” & “Keong Emas”

In Korea, there’s a folktales named “The Snail-Bride” which tell a story about a poor farmer who was one day found a giant snail shell in his workplace. After he brought the shell home, he experienced strange things such as the appearance of mysterious lunch at his home. He then found out that the giant shell can change into a beautiful woman who can magically summons a feast of food just with a snap of her finger. The farmer who was smitten by her beauty leaped out from his hiding place and confess his love to the beautiful woman. The woman told the farmer that he has to wait few more days, and if she stay now, their ending will be a tragedy. But the farmer didn’t want to let her go. Thus, they live a momentarily happy life. Then, one day, a magistrate carriage passed by the farmer’s farm and saw the wife alone. Smitten by her beauty, the magistrate took the wife away to make her his wife. The farmer who came home late couldn’t find his wife, and after he found out about what happened he asked the magistrate to give back his wife, instead of getting the wife back, the farmer was beaten so hard. The story ends with the farmer died while trying to save his wife, and the wife died because of illness.

The story above reminds me of Indonesian folktales called “Keong Emas” or “Golden Snail”. It is a story about a princess named Candra Kirana that was cursed to be a golden snail by a witch and thrown out to the sea because her sister, Dewi Galuh, was jealous of her because Candra Kirana was supposed to be married with Raden Inu Kertapati, a man who Dewi Galuh loves. To break the curse, the golden snail should meet her fiance or groom-to-be or the love of her life.

One day, a kind grandmother who was fishing near the sea found the golden snail and bring it home. The next day, the grandmother didn’t catch any fish, but surprisingly she found that many delicious foods prepared in her house. She then wondering who prepare the foods, and out of curiosity, the next morning the grandma pretended to go to the sea, but actually she peeked at what was happening inside the house. Then, she found out the golden snail can turn into a beautiful woman who is actually a cursed princess.

Long story short, Raden Inu Kertapati couldn’t stay still knowing that his bride-to-be is missing. After a long search, Raden Inu Kertapati found his fiance were cooking in an old-hut, then he found out the truth. He then bring back his fiance and the kind grandmother to the kingdom. Meanwhile, it is said that Dewi Galuh who did bad things was punished and run into the woods where she stumbled and fell into the abyss.

There are some morals from both story that i could conclude. It is how the snail-bride and Keong Emas was repaying the kindness of a person who found them. Even though not both of the stories end with a happily ever after, but it is show how faithful the snail-bride is.

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“Kongjwi and Patjwi” & “Bawang Merah & Bawang Putih”

‘Kongjwi and Patjwi’ is a Korean folktales which is also known as the Korean version of Cinderella story. It is a story about a girl named Kongjwi who lives with her mean and evil stepmother and stepsister, Patjwi. The evil stepmom and stepsister was prevent Kongjwi to come to the dance party held by a magistrate to find him a wife. And just like how the Cinderella story was going on, Kongjwi and the magistrate were then married. But, in this Korean folktale, Patjwi’s jealousy led her to drowned Kongjwi in a river, and the ghost of Kongjwi haunted the river. Patjwi was then take Kongjwi’s place as magistrate’s wife. Not long after that, a man who was talked to the ghost of Kongjwi in the river were telling the truth to the magistrate. The magistrate then came to the river to meet Kongjwi, but the only things he found was a lotus flower. He kissed the lotus flower, and Kongjwi was ressurected as a human again.

In Indonesia, there’s a folktale called “Bawang Merah and Bawang Putih” or “Shallots and Garlic” in literal English translation. It’s very similar to Kongjwi and Patjwi that it is a story about Bawang Putih who lived with her mean and evil stepmother and stepsister named Bawang Merah. But it is different to Cinderella because there’s no party and there’s no shoes.

Bawang Putih who lived in suffer because of her stepmom and stepsister had only one friend, a talking gold-fish that lived in the river. The Goldfish has a magical powers that always help Putih’s works. But one day, Bawang Merah saw Putih and the Goldfish, and then without Putih’s knowing, she killed the Goldfish and cooked it and feed it to Putih. Putih cried after knowing that the fish she ate was her friend. She then buried the goldfish well in the ground. On the land where the Goldfish was buried, a magical golden plant grows.

Elsewhere, a prince is looking for a magical plant that can heal the ailing King. He then found magical plant near Putih’s house. He asked the guards to uproot the plant, but no one can take the plant out of the ground. Merah who was nearby was asked if the plant was hers, and over-confidently she said it was hers. Then the prince said to everyone there that “if a girl can uproot the plant, i would marry her. And if a man can uproot the plant, i would make him my brother (a.k.a prince)”. After hearing that, Merah tried her best to uproot the plant, but she couldn’t.

Then, Putih came and asked for permission to try to uproot the plant, and without any big effort, she could uproot the plant, and as what the Prince promise, he then marry Putih and bring her to live in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, the stepmom and stepsister lived together in their old house without the help of Putih.

The moral of both folktales is that the good prevailing the evil. Patience is the key. Both Kongjwi and Putih was patiently wait for the time of happiness come to their lives.

That’s all the similarity of 3 Korean and Indonesian folktales that i found. Do you think these folktales are similar?