In ancient Java Island, there was a princess of the king in West Java named Dayang Sumbi. She had a son who she named him Sangkuriang. The child really liked to go hunting accompanied by Tumang, the palace dog pet. Sangkuriang didn’t know that the dog was the god's incarnation and also his father.

One day when they were hunting, Tumang disobeyed his order to chase the hunted animal. He then exiled the dog into the forest. When returning to the palace, Sangkuriang told the incident to his mother. Dayang Sumbi was very angry hearing what her son told her. She was so angry and struck Sangkuriang’s head with the rice spoon and cast him away. Sangkuriang left with wounded on his head.

After the incident, Dayang Sumbi really regretted of what she did to her son. She always prayed after that. Then finally the gods gave her a gift. She will be forever young and had eternal beauty.

After for years roamed, Sangkuriang had finally intended to return to his homeland. On his arrival there, he realized that the kingdom has totally changed.

There he met a lovely girl, who actually was Dayang Sumbi. Enchanted by the beauty of Dayang Sumbi, Sangkuriang proposed to marry her. Since the young man was very handsome, Dayang Sumbi was enchanted to him as well. They both had forgotten and failed to recognize each other after the long time separated.

One day Sangkuriang prepared to go hunting. He asked for help Dayang Sumbi to tidy up his headband. Dayang Sumbi was very startled when seeing the scar in the head of Sangkuriang. The wound was precisely like his son's wound. She tried to pay attention to Sangkuriang, then realized that evidently the face of this young man really resembled the face of his son. She was become really afraid.

Then afterwards she looked for the effort to thwart the marriage process. After Sangkuriang came back from hunting, she told him two conditions for their marriage. Firstly, she asked the young man to build a dam on the  Citarum river and secondly build a large boat to cross the river, both before the sunrise.

Sangkuriang meditated and summoned mythical invisible ogre-like creatures to help him completed the work. Dayang Sumbi secretly carried out surveillance of this work. Just as the work was almost finished, Dayang Sumbi ordered her guards to spread out red silk cloths on the east of the city to give the impression of impending sunrise.

Witnessing color of the sky as the reflection of the red silk cloths becoming red in east the city, Sangkuriang thought the night has turned to morning. He then stopped his work. He was very angry and disappointed due to his unfinished work and it means he could not fill the conditions asked by Dayang Sumbi. Actually he was fooled by Dayang Sumbi.

With his powerful strength, he broke down the dam that he made. The big flood happened struck the entire city. He then afterwards kicked the big boat he made as well. The boat flew and fell to a mountain that now named "Tangkuban Perahu"* or the "upturned boat".

(Sundanese Folk Tale)

* Tangkuban Perahu is an active volcano 30 km north of the city of Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia.