Ki Semar And Slamet Mountain
A long time ago, there was a mountain in central java, named Slamet Mountain. Slamet Mountain was very high, so high until it could reach the sky. People believed that men could take the stars if they climbed on top of the mountain. But no one dared to go there.
People were afraid that the gods would be angry if they took the stars. However, the beauty of the stars made some monkeys led by their king dared to go to the top of the mountain. They went there and tried take some stars.
Batara Guru, the leader of the gods, knew the monkeys intention. He quickly held a meeting to prevent the monkeys took some stars. He invited Batara Narada, Batara Brama, Batara Bayu, and others. In their meeting, Batara Narada had an idea how to stop the monkeys. They would ask Ki Semar to help them.
Ki Semar was actually one of the gods. But Ki Semar did not live in heaven. He lived on earth with his children; Gareng, Petruk, and Bagong. Ki Semar had a great supernatural power. He could cut the top of the mountain easily. But first, he wanted to give a lesson to the naughty monkeys, so they did not try to take some stars again. They had to be punished for trying to steal the stars. He then set a plan with his children to trap the monkeys.
Gareng then went to the top of the mountain. He had to attract the monkeys to go down by giving them some bananas. It worked! The monkeys followed Gareng. After the monkeys left the top of the mountain, Ki Semar immediately cut the top of the mountain then he threw the biggest part to Cirebon. It became Ceremai Mountain and the small parts became small mountains, like Clirit Mountain, Tapak Mountain, and others.
In the foothill, Petruk was ready with some hot water. He planned to pour the hot water over the monkeys. He waited for the monkeys but they never came to him. He did not know that while the monkeys chased Gareng, they met a giant dragon. The monkeys had a fight with the dragon. It was so terrible that both the monkeys and the dragon finally died.
Because of tired waiting for the monkeys, Petruk then left the place. He did not bring his hot water and left it there. People then named the place as Guci. It is about 50 kilometers from Tegal, Central Java. It is famous for its hot water.