On the embankment of the Suranadi River, Sukrosono stops before he walks to search for Sriwedari Garden. He walks to the edge, then dips his feet into the river. The water is so fresh. The sky is clear, giving morning, which is reflecting in the clear splashes of water. Sukrosono's mind wanders, remembering Jatisrana, where he used to often play with his older brother, Sumantri, along the river. The memory turns out to never come into reality again, disappears, flows like water he is now looking at at the Suranadi River.
It has been a long time for Sukrosono to wait for the time, when he will never be separated from his older brother, Sumantri. But the days go on, and Sukrosono experiences, let alone never to be separated again, meeting again simply for a moment seems impossible. He promises himself that he will always be close to Sumantri, so that he can help him, whenever his brother needs him. He follows his brother wherever he is going, even though his brother doesn’t know it. He will help his brother, whenever his brother is in trouble and danger. It had already happened, when his brother nearly died at the hands of Prabu Darmawasesa. He was the one who defeated Prabu Darmawasesa, when everyone thought his brother had succeeded in destroying the King of Widarba, so he had the right to bring Dewi Citrawati to Maespati. Now, his brother falls into a dead end because of his prideful promise that he could move Sriwedari Garden to Maespati. Now, too, he is trying to move Sriwedari Garden for his older brother, when his older brother is confused and can't do anything.
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> The-Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (107)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (106)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (105)
Sukrosono's eyes stare far away, following the flow of the Suranadi River. He cannot imagine where the water goes. But the water always turns, where it is needed. The water stops for a moment to become a pond, where the fish swims. Fit is flowing the paddy fields to support the rice. The water is like the promise of Sukrosono, who is always willing to help Sumantri in times of trouble. This promise makes Sukrosono always close to his older brother, so that at any time he can help him. This promise hurts sometimes. Because even though he is close to his older brother, that closeness even becomes a distance that stretches so far and cannot be bridged. What does he want? His older brother is ashamed of his ugly appearance and doesn’t want Sukrosono to be around him. Sukrosono then feels, the close distance turns out to be an infinite distance, because the heart of his beloved older brother does not want to accept him.
Sukrosono's thoughts fly, penetrating the branches of the kaniri tree by the river. His mind wanders all over the place, one by one they come, falling with the avalanches of kaniri flowers, dice, red and white, making a beautiful view on the riverbanks. His mind creeps to follow his life from one event to another, he is slowly led into the shadows, one day his life will sink, like morning which must finally turn to night.
Faintly the swinging of kemuning tree leaves is heard, and in the sky yellow butterflies fly. Dusk arrives creeping in, giving the sun that fades into a yellowish mirror, where life must reflect on the wrinkles of its death. The birds return to their nests, and time passes quietly, which creeps into the grass by the river.
On the tops of the nagasari trees, the kepodang birds still have time to sing, and the singing is silent, which drags Sukrosono away. Sukrosono seems to be pulled away from his existence. He seems so far away from his being. However, in the distance he feels he meets his state of existing. He is more than a person he is experiencing. He is unreachable, but now he feels he has reached it. And in that existence he feels his true self. In the extraordinarily silent stillness, he feels that his being really exists, even though it seems like it doesn't exist. His being is real, not imaginary. Even though unreachable, his being does not feel foreign. Even, in it, Sukrosono rediscovers all his life experiences so far.
The sacrifice of life comes to life in front of him. And being alive again when he meets Dewi Tunjung Biru, and freed him from the pursuit of the giant Kaladaru.
There he meets the nature that has raised him, when humans did not want him, so that he was thrown away in the Jatirasa forest. In him he feels again the kindness of the mother tiger that nursed him, when he lived alone in the wild jungle. One by one the animals that accompanied his life came and went, from them he got help for his life. He has never experienced any savagery and cruelty. Everyone gave him love. They were so sad to say goodbye when they accompanied him away from the Jatirasa forest. All their tears are pictured before him, when he had to be separated from them. Again, the image of his encounter with the mother buffalo and the tiger who wanted to eat the buffalo appears. The mother buffalo asked to be allowed to breastfeed her calf first before the tiger preyed on her. The sacrifice of life comes to life in front of him. And being alive again when he meets Dewi Tunjung Biru, and freed him from the pursuit of the giant Kaladaru.
Of course, his memories also appear again, when he defeated the King of Widarba, and saved Sumantri's life, even though his older brother always rejected him. And now he promised again to bring Sriwedari Garden for him to save his face. All these memories come and go, flowing like the stream of the Suranadi River. He dissolves in the water that is always flowing, and on the banks of the Suranadi River he knows that, like water, life is alive because it keeps on giving and giving, without ending. Giving will stop, only when this life ends.
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> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (104)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (103)
Sukrosono feels that the end of life does not wait for him. The end of life has always come, as he is now experiencing, when the end of life seems to come with the moon sneaking in the night that approaches him at the river's banks. The moon that creeps into the night makes everything dim. Miraculously, in this dim situation everything looks beautiful. On the banks of this river, flowers of asoka and nagapuspa, kaniri and jasmine, blades of widuri leaves, bloom brightly, even when the night is at its dim peak. In the sky, the clouds are beautiful because they are faint and give a silence whose beauty can only be felt in a state of being faint. The silent clouds then arrange themselves. Sukrosono notices the movement of the clouds, and how surprised he is, when he finally sees the silent clouds in the state of being faint become Semar. As soon as Semar is seen, the sky is splashed with a sprinkling of thousands of stars. Sukrosono is lifted up, his body is light, a cloud-horse carriage takes him into the dark realms like previously in Taranggana Sekar, when he met Semar.
(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo)