The Old Javanese version of the Indian Tantri Kamandaka (Book of Fables) is by far the earliest appearance of a fable book in an Indonesian language. It is not a direct translation from the Sanskrit, since its opening chapter is surprisingly close to that of the Arabian Alfu Laila wa Laila (1,001 Arabian Nights), except that in the Arabian story the king kills every one of his wives until he encounters Scheherazade.

In the Javanese version there is a king called Maharaja Eswariapala who came to the conclusion that the most beautiful day in a person’s life is his wedding day. Even the weddings of men from the lower classes were celebrated with such splendor that all the townspeople came to feast their eyes. It was therefore befitting for a king to celebrate a wedding every day, for if the king does not have more than the people, is it worth being a king? So the king ordered his patih (minister and majordomo) to find him a suitable bride every morning.  This he did, but the day came when there were no more pretty virgins in the country.  So the patih, Nitibaddha-Eswaria, withdrew into his bathroom, deeply worried.  His daughter Tantri came to him there and, while tenderly massaging his feet, reminded him of the verses:

The honeybees fill many hives.
As many may be the king’s wives,
But he is only truly wed
When one like Laksmi shares his bed.

Jean-Claude Lejeun/Black Star

Borobudur, founded by Buddhists in the ninth century, is an open air temple for study and meditation.

Tantri said, “The king will soon be bored with each and every one of his wives.  They will bear his children but they will fail to keep his attention.  That is why the king wants a new wife every morning.  Therefore, Father, send me to become the king’s next wife and I will see to it that His Majesty will never be bored again.”  The patih gladly consented, and Tantri was married to the king.  The same night, she began her first story, the tale of “The Bull and the Lion,” which follows.

Once upon a time there was a bull who was given to a Brahmin by the god Siwa-Iswara.  The bull’s name was Nandaka (after Siwa’s own bull Nanda) and the Brahmin used it to haul cartloads of firewood.