Gajah Mada dan Pencuri Misterius

The kingdom of Majapahit was at its peak in the 13^th century.  The wise king who ruled was King Hayam Wuruk.  He was young, intelligent, and brave.  He had a smart prime minister, his name was Gajah Mada.  Besides that, he had smart and young aides and ministers.  Under Hayam Wuruk Majapahit ruled over most of the present day Indonesia.  Majapahit was very prosperous. 

The palace of Majapahit was very big.  It was very luxurious.  Inside of the palace there is a special building called ‘Gedong Pusaka’.  It was a house or more precisely a luxurious warehouse to store all the treasure of the kingdom.  There were jewelries, gold crown, earrings, gold coins, gold Kris and many other luxurious things.  That’s why the building was heavily guarded.  There was a high wall surrounding it.  Inside and outside the wall soldiers were on duty twenty four hours a day.  All of them were fully armed.  It was almost impossible for anyone at that time to get into the Gedong Pusaka.

One night the situation in the palace was very different.  There was a thick, very thick fog surrounding the whole palace, even the capital.  The temperature which usually warm was cool.  This situation was very rare in Majapahit.  The Javanese people (the people of Majapahit) interpreted this strange phenomenon as a signal from god.  They were sure that a great event would take place.

King Hayam Wuruk immediately called Gajah Mada.  After a shirt discussion they decided to call the army generals.  The king told the generals to put the army in the highest alert.  Soon they ordered all of their boys in highest alert.  The number of soldier who guarded the palace was doubled.  The king and the prime minister stay awoke until midnight.  Every hour they received report that everything was OK.  The night was very quiet.  So at midnight the king and Gajah Mada were asleep.

But when it was almost dawn something happened.  A group of soldier who guarded the front gate of Gedong Pusaka reported to the army general that the door of Gedong Pusaka was opened.  When they checked inside they found that the collection of gold coins was missing.  The army chief immediately reported the event to Prime Minister Gajah Mada.   

Gajah Mada immediately ordered that the commander of the guard was arrested.  Without waiting for the sun to arise he questioned the commander.  Gajah Mada thought that the commander was the one responsible for the lost of the cold coins.  But the commander refused.  He was sure that someone else did the wrong doing.  When the king woke up Gajah Mada reported to him.  But the king was silent.

The following night the situation was very different.  The sky was clear and the temperature was warm.  Although tension had diminished Gajah Mada ordered the army to stay in highest alert.  That time the king was ignorant.  The night was very serene.  Suddenly at midnight the soldiers who guarded at the front gate of Gedong Pusaka was shocked when they saw someone ran very fast from it.  Soon they chased him. But he ran very fast and soon the soldiers lost him.  However they could see that he ran toward the king’s compound. 

Their commander soon reported to Gajah Mada who immediately came.  He ordered the soldiers to siege the king’s compound.  He also ordered more soldiers to surround it.  Amazingly the king’s compound was covered with cloud.  Nobody saw where it came from but suddenly thick cloud surrounded it.  The fog was so thick that nobody could see the king’s compound.  The cloud even grew larger that finally the whole palace was covered by cloud.

The next morning the people of Majapahit was shocked to see the strange phenomenon.  The sky was clear and the sun was shining bright but the palace was covered by cloud.  No one could see it.  The king never came out of the palace.

Soon rumors spread that the thief was hiding inside the king’s compound in the palace.  The army kept surrounding it.  They cried to tell the thief to surrender.  Suddenly someone threw stones to the soldiers.  Some of them were hurt.  Then Gajah Mada got in to see the king.  When he came from inside the palace he told soldiers that the king was all right and that the   thief was not there.  After that rumor spread that the thief was ghost, not human being.  Months later the mystery thief had not arrested and the palace was still cloudy.  Years later the thief remained a mystery and he palace remained cloudy.  Majapahit suffered from a great loss.  It was a serious blow to the economy.  Several years later the kingdom of Majapahit collapsed.

Today territory of Majapahit becomes Indonesia.   People miss the glory of Majapahit.  They are dreaming that the glorious Majapahit will return someday.