Once upon a time, lived a beautiful woman named Dayang Sumbi. One day, she was knitting in her front yard. Her thread kept on falling down, she kept taking it back until a point where she felt tired of it. “I will marry anyone who can take that thread back to me,” said Dayang Sumbi.
Out of nowhere, a dog came and brought the thread to her. She was bound to her words and married the dog. The dog’s name was Tumang, he was actually God in disguise. They lived happily and had one son named Sangkuriang. Dayang Sumbi did not tell him that the dog in their house was his father.
One day, Sangkuriang promised his mother that he will bring her some meat from his hunt. Dayang Sumbi felt so happy hearing that. Sangkuriang went to the forest with Tumang. But, he couldn’t catch anything. He did not want to disappoint his mother, he had to bring meat to her. He decided to bring Tumang’s meat. He killed the dog and brought back the meat.
Dayang Sumbi was happy with the meat. But then she realized something. “Where is Tumang?” asked her.
“The meat we have just eaten was Tumang’s meat, Mother.” Replied Sangkuriang.
Dayang Sumbi was furious upon hearing it. She hit Sangkuriang’s head with an iron spoon. It made his head bleed. Feeling disappointed with his mother’s act, he left their house. After he left, Dayang Sumbi regretted the thing she had done to her son. She prayed and prayed to God as often as she could to let her see her son again before she died. The God felt sorry for her and grant her eternal youth so that her son could still remember her.
Years later, Sangkuriang arrived to a village which happened to be his old village. He met a beautiful woman and fell in love with her. The woman was actually Dayang Sumbi. Sangkuriang did not remember his mother’s face anymore and Dayang Sumbi did not know her son’s face because he had turned into from a boy into a man. Sangkuriang asked her to marry him and Dayang Sumbi said yes to his proposal.
When Dayang Sumbi was helping Sangkuriang to fix his head scarf, she noticed a mark on his head. She asked him the history of his mark. He told her that her mother hit him with a spoon. Hearing that story shocked her and made her realize the truth about the man she was about to marry. She couldn’t tell Sangkuriang the truth because he would not believe it and yet it was impossible for her to marry her own son.
She finally told him she wanted the wedding to be cancelled. Sangkuriang ignored her and kept on preparing for their wedding. Dayang Sumbi came up with another idea.
“I will wed you if you can prove your love to me.” Said her.
“Tell me what you want?” Replied Sangkuriang.
“I want you to create a lake and build a huge ship to sail across it. I want it to be done within one night!” Requested Dayang sumbi.
“Fine. I will show you my love first thing in the morning,” said Sangkuriang.
During his journey, Sangkuriang had made friend with Spirits and Genies. He asked them to come and help him. With their help, everything can be easily done.
Dayang Sumbi saw that her request was almost finished. She coulnd’t let that happen. She prayed to God to make the sun set earlier than before. God granted her pray and made the sun came out before her usual time. The chicken started singing their morning song.
Sangkuriang was bewildered. He knew the sun should not come out yet. He knew he had been tricked. Out of anger, he kicked the ship to the forest and landed on the ground in upside-down position. Feeling that she had once again disappointed her son, Dayang Sumbi decided to kill herself by jumping into the lake. Legend said that Sangkuriang also killed himself in that lake.
