THE KING, THE WITCH AND THE
PRIEST Title : The King, The Witch and The Priest
Author : Pramoedya Ananta
Toer, 2002.
The setting of the story is East Java in the 12th century. There was a kingdom named Kediri. The
people lived prosperous life under king Erlangga.
In the village of Girah there was a widow named Calon Arang. She was a wellknown and powerful witch so everybody was afraid of her. People believed that she had many victims. She had a beautiful daughter, Ratna Manggali. When Ratna Manggali reached the age of marriage for a girl nobody proposed her. This fact made Calon Arang angry to the community. So she decided to take revenge by killing as many people as possible.
One day she prayed to goddess Batari Durga. She wanted to be granted ability to spread
plague to the whole country. Batari Durga agreed on one condition that she might not reach the capital. Before long plague spread all over the country and killed many people. Soon people heard the news that the plague was created by the witch.
The situation got worse and worse. More and more people died. Finally the news about the plague reached king Erlangga. In a meeting with his advisors the king decided to halt and to punish Calon Arang. Soon a troop was sent to the village of Girah to arrest Calon Arang. Unfortunately the troop was easily defeated, even the commander was killed by her. Meanwhile the plague got more ferocious.
Once again the king discussed the situation with his advisors. The priest received a sign from god that there is only one man who can solve the problem. He is a priest who lived in the village of Lemah Tulis. His name was Empu Baradah, a kind hearted priest. Empu Baradah was contacted and he agreed to help.
Empu Barada suggested Empu Bahula, his student, to marry Ratna Manggali. Empu Bahula then proposed her. Because Calon Arang was a rich witch the wedding ceremony was held extravagantly. Empu Bahula then spied on his mother in law. Ratna Manggali revealed to him that her mother had a secret book of witchcraft. Empu Bahula asked Ratna to take the book for him and she agreed. One day when Calon Arang slept Ratna took the book. Empu Bahula then gave it to Empu Barada.
Empu Barada knew the secret of Calon Arang’s witchcraft. Then he went to infected areas and he cured the people with his spell. Eventually Empu Barada met with Calon Arang. They fought with spell and finally Calon Arang died.
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