Princess White Hair

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Princess Pinang Masak

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Princess Pinang Masak

The Princess Pinang Masak was the most beautiful girl in her village.
Word of her beauty soon spread.
Everyone in the entire region knew of her beauty.
Her fame spread far beyond the bounds of her father’s small kingdom.
Soon the Sultan of Sumatera heard of her beauty.

Now the Sultan of Sumatera held sway over the entire island of Sumatera.
He could have anything and anyone he wanted.
And when he heard of a beautiful young girl…he wanted HER.
So when word came to his palace of the faraway Princess Pinang Masak…he at once sent soldiers to capture her and bring her to his palace.
The Sultan already had a harem with over a hundred beautiful girls held captive there.
But he was eager to add another.

Fortunately word reached Princess Pinang Masak that the king was sending soldiers to arrest her.
She thought long about how she could escape them, and she came up with a plan.
The Princess boiled the dark purple blooms of the banana tree in a huge vat of water.
Then she began to streak that dark dye onto her skin.
She streaked it all over her arms.
She streaked it all over her face, her neck, her shoulders.
She rubbed it all over her legs and feet.

Then she mussed up her hair, stuck sticks, straw, and bugs in it.
And she put on the oldest, most ragged clothes she could find.

When the soldiers came to take her, they stopped in their tracks.
“THIS is the beautiful Princess Pinang Masak?”

“There must be some mistake!
This girl is horrible to look at!”

But they took her with them all the way back to the Sultan’s palace.

There they presented her to the Sultan.

“What is this hideous object?” exclaimed the Sultan.
“THIS is the Princess Pinang Masak?
Take her out of my sight!
I cannot stand to look at such ugliness!”

So the Princess Pinang Masak was returned to her own village.

She had outsmarted the Sultan.

But of course in time her skin returned to normal.
She combed her hair and put on beautiful clothing again.
And word of her beauty once more began to travel throughout Indonesia.

“Have you heard of the Princess Pinang Masak?
She is the most beautiful girl this country has ever seen!”

Soon the Sultan heard of this.
“Something is not right here.
The girl I saw was hideous.
Yet I keep hearing of this beauty.”

The Sultan sent a man to spy in the kingdom of Princess Pinang Masak.
The man came there incognito and just hung around to see what he could discover.

One day he say a most beautiful young lady out walking with her four girlfriends.

“Who is that girl in the middle?” he asked.
“She is amazingly beautiful.”

“Oh that is the Princess Pinang Masak.”

“THAT is the Princess Pinang Masak?
Then we have been tricked!”

The spy hurried back to inform the Sultan.

“Then I have been TRICKED!”

The Sultan right away sent a whole contingent of soldiers to arrest the princess and bring her to his palace.

When she heard that the soldiers were coming again, Princess Pinang Masak knew that she could not fool the Sultan a second time.
She and her four girl friends went down to the water and found a boat.
Two strong young men went with them.
And in the dead of night the seven escaped from their village.
They sailed down and down the whole length of Sumatera, looking for a place to land.
At last they found a cove which looked promising.
There was fresh water there.
The hills were covered with fruit trees.
Seafood was abundant in the sea.
They could live here and found their own village.

The Princess changed her name to Princess Senura.
And they called the new village they founded Senura village.

The Sultan never discovered her.

For the rest of their lives the seven lived in this spot.
Soon they married with people from nearby villages.
And their own small village thrived.

When Princess Senura was old and about to die,
She called all of the villagers to her.
“I am going to ask a boon of the gods,” she said.
“I am going to ask that no girl in this village should ever be born as beautiful as I was.
That sort of beauty can be a great curse on the girl and on her family.”

And do you know her wish came true.
To this day, the girls of Senura Village are not at all beautiful.

And some say this is a curse.
But some say this is a blessing.

For it means that whenever a girl of Senura Village is asked to marry,
She knows that the young man has not chosen her because he was blinded by her beauty.
He has chosen her because he loves her inner being.

If you visit Senura Village today,
You can still see the graves of the Princess Senura, her four girl friends, and the two young men who accompanied them.
They are all still there…in Senura Village.
•••••
Contributed by
Margaret Read MacDonald

Princess Pinang Masak
[A folktale from Indonesia.. Retold from Indonesian Folktales by Murti Bunanta. (Libraries Unlimited). Retold by Margaret Read MacDonald.]

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Princess Pinang Masak

A Folktale from Senuro Village in South Sumatera Province.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl. Her name was Napisah, but she was also called Princess Pinang Masak. In the local language pinang masak means ripe areca nut. Perhaps she was as beautiful as a ripe areca nut to the people of her village.

This beautiful young girl lived in a small kingdom ruled by a king. The King was known to be fond of bringing young, beautiful girls to his court and keeping them there for his own pleasure.

The King had heard that in this small village there lived a beauty named Princess Pinang Masak. Her beauty was said to be unmatched throughout the whole kingdom. It was the talk of the entire kingdom and many young men had already competed to marry her.

The King wanted to know the truth of this matter, so he ordered several of his chief commanders to take this Princess Pinang Masak and bring her to his palace.

When Princess Pinang Masak heard of the king’s intention, she was distressed. She decided she would rather die than join the many young women held prisoner at the king’s palace. She sought a way to avoid being taken there, but she knew it would be hard to escape the king’s vicious soldiers.

Then she thought of a plan. Princess Pinang Masak boiled deep purple banana blossoms until she had a vat of dark liquid. Then bathed in the maroon-colored banana blossom water. As she covered herself in this dark liquid, her skin began to look streaked and dirty. Her beauty was disguised and ruined. Then she put on the oldest rags she could find and waited for the king’s soldiers to arrive.

When the soldiers came to take her to the palace, they found no beauty, but only a dirty looking, unsightly girl in rags. They could not believe the king wanted this creature, but they took her to the palace as commanded.

When they brought her to the king, he was horrified and disgusted that such an unsightly girl should be brought before him. Immediately he expelled Princess Pinang Masak from his palace and harshly sent her back to her village.

However her misfortune did not end with that. Young men continued to arrive at her village proposing marriage, for the fame of her beauty still was known far and wide.

News of her continued suitors reached the king. He wondered if he had been deceived in some way, and sent soldiers to investigate. When they reported that the Princess Pinang Masak was indeed very beautiful, he ordered her captured and brought once more to the palace.

But, Princess Pinang Masak had heard of the king’s intentions. She called her four faithful friends and two guards and they planned for her to escape. Leaving by night, the seven sailed along the rivers and lowlands looking for a new place to avoid the pursuit of the soldiers.

Their boat passed a wide lowland which was later called Lebak (lowland) Maranjat and a bay (teluk) called Teluk Lancang. Before long they sailed through a swamp which had a fast current.

Traveling so far, they at last discovered a safe, hidden place to reside and settled down there. The people nearby welcomed Princess Pinang Masak. Living here, the princess changed her name and took the name of Princess Senuro. Gradually the place grew into a village and was named Senuro village after the lovely princess.

In this new place, Princess Senuro was still the young men’s ideal. She taught basketry skills and instructed in the making of plaited materials such as baskets and other kitchen utensils. It was said that she could plait a basket so well that it could not be penetrated by water.

Years passed. One day Princess Senuro fell ill. With time her sickness became worse and worse. Before she
died she swore an oath. “I beg God Almighty that my descendants should not be as beautiful as I am. Beauty can cause calamities such as have befallen me.”

After she spoke this oath, she breathed her last. She left her four faithful friends and two brave guards who had protected her until her death. Her four friends and two guards remained living in this village until they too died and were buried beside the grave of Princess Senuro.

For the people in that village, Princess Senuro is a symbol of women who hold in high esteem the dignity of women.

As for the evidence of Princess Senuro’s oath, people say that since that time the girls in Senuro village are less beautiful than girls from other villages.
•••••
[Contributed by Murti Bunanta of Jakarta. It is from her book Indonesian Folktales (Libraries Unlimited, 2003, this version as retold by Lee-Ellen Marvin, folklorist and storyteller.]

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