Timun Mas

    Once upon a time in Java, there was a poor widow named Mbok Srini. She felt so lonely and prayed to God to bless her with a child.

    One night in her dream, she envisioned something wrapped under a tree in a jungle. She later went to the jungle. Finally she discovered the object wrapped inside a cloth under the tree exactly as her vision in her dream. When she unwrapped it, there was a seed of cucumber. Suddenly she heard a monstrous laughter; a green-skinned giant named Butho ljo appeared behind her. The green giant told her to plant the cucumber seed and she would have a child. She must nurture the child. However, when the child had grown up, Mbok Srini must give the child back to Butho ljo. Mbok Srini hesitantly agreed with Butho ljo's deal.

    Mbok Srini returned to her home and planted the cucumber seed. Later, a magical golden cucumber grew from its seed. When Mbok Srini took the cucumber and opened it, a beautiful baby girl appeared inside. Thus, she named the baby girl Timun Mas which means golden cucumber.

    Year after year, Timun Mas grew to be a beautiful girl. She was a loving, kind, and diligent child who was always willing to help and take care of an aging Mbok Srini. Just a week before Timun Mas's 17th birthday, Butho ljo appeared in front of Mbok Srini's house and reminded her about her promise. Mbok Srini was so sad and fearful of the horrible fate that awaited her beloved child. She heard that there was a wise old hermit that resided in a mountain nearby. She hastily went to the mountain to seek him. After hearing her story, the old hermit gave her four small bags of cloth with something inside them. Mbok Srini returned home and told Timun Mas to throw the objects inside the bags if the green giant chased her.

    Finally, on Timun Mas's 17th birthday, Butho ljo appeared at Mbok Srini's house to take Timun Mas as promised. Mbok Srini ordered Timun Mas to run for her life. Timun Mas was really scared and terrified and ran as fast as she could to try to escape the giant. The giant was furious and destroyed Mbok Srini's house while chasing Timun Mas. Finally, Butho ljo caught up to the fleeing Timun Mas. In distress, Timun Mas opened one of her four cloth bags, spread cucumber seeds behind her. Suddenly a large cucumber vine appeared and strangled the giant's body, trapping him so that he couldn't move. This gave Timun Mas time to escape further. However, the powerful giant finally managed to break free and continued his chase. Timun Mas opened her second bag and spread needles behind her. Suddenly the needles transformed into a bamboo forest with sharp tips that wounded the giant badly. The giant was badly wounded stuck with sharp bamboos. However, he managed to get through the sharp bamboo forest and caught up with the running Timun Mas again. She opened her third bag and spread salts behind her back. Suddenly a sea appeared behind her, drowning the evil giant. However, the giant managed to swim through the sea and continued to chase her. Timun Mas, once again, almost got caught and opened her last bag. She threw the shrimp paste behind her and continued to run desperately. Suddenly the terasi transformed into sea of boiling volcanic mud. Butho ljo was stuck inside the boiling hot mud, drowned and died. Timun Mas finally survived and returned to Mbok Srini, and they lived happily ever after.

Source: https:llen.wikipedia.orglwiki!Timun Mas

Work in groups. Answer the following questions based on the story in Activity 16.

How many characters are there in the story?