Legend of Rawa Pening

Legend of Rawa Pening

Once upon a time, there lived a boy. His name was Baru Klinting. The boy was cursed by an evil witch because of his magical power. The curse made the boy had so much stinking wound on all of his body. The wound never became dry. When Baru Klinting took a walk in a village, he saw some children played. Baru Klinting wanted to join them. But the children didn’t like Baru Klinting and abused him. Then Baru Klinting went out from the children. When he continued to take a walk, he got himself hungry. Baru Klinting tried to come to a house and ask for some food. But he was abused and chased away.

The village was a rich village, but the citizen was arrogant. Then one day he met an old kind widow. She desired to give Baru Klinting a place, and also some food. After He finished to eat, he thanked to the woman and said, “Mam, if you hear kentongan sound, you have to go away from this village with that dimple, OK?”, then the woman replied, “yes I will”.

When Baru Klinting was on the way to go out from the village, Baru Klinting met the children who often abuse him. He became angry. Then he implanted a palm leaf rib. He promised that no one could pull this thing up, except himself.

One by one tried to pull the rib that implanted by Baru Klinting, but no one could pull this up. Then adult tried that too, but the rib could not be pulled up. Finally Baru Klinting himself pulled the rib because he was the only one who could pull it (remember that Baru Klinting has magical power). Soon, water came out from the place where the rib was implanted. The water was very fast and heavy so that big flood happened.

Baru Klinting knocked kentongan to warn the old woman.Then, the woman who was grinding rice went in to dimple as soon as possible, and she was safe. The flood is so fast and heavy. Then that village became a pond called “Rawa Pening” and the woman told this story to the villager in the other village.

Now, Rawa Pening (Located in Kabupaten Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia) has some advantages, for example for irrigating and fishing.