English has Romeo and Juliet to be proud of as a spectacular literary work. Chinese has Sampik Ing-Tai that shows world community that they also have a great romantic story. And Balinese answer for a romantic story is none other than Jayaprana and Layonsari.

Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a family consisted parents and their 4 children. They lived in Kalianget village, North Bali. One day deadly disaster attacked the village. The members of that family dead except the third younger child, named Jayaprana.

He became a motherless and fatherless child. Nonetheless, the King took him to the palace and let him lived at there. Year after year he grew to be a handsome young man. The king forced him to get married soon. One or two force did not change Jayaprana’s mind to realize the king desire. But, after the King forced him so many times he could not avoid it again.

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Song of advice is a genre of traditional song that contains a wise advice in each song. The song of advice usually enact a setting in which the parents give an advice to their children how to behave, what to do, what is important in a life, etc. Parents usually teach their children to sing this kind of song, thus they are not just teach their children a song but also give then an useful advice, with this song the parents prepare their children to face the community and the life. Unfortunately the wise advice song is no longer a popular genre, parents no longer teach their children to sing this song. Nowadays, the old wise advice song is only given in school occasionally in Balinese language lesson. Here is an example of good old advice song:

Saking tuhu manah Guru
Mituturin cening jani
Kaweruhan luir sanjata
Ne dadi perabotan sai
Keanggen ngaruruh merta
Saenun ceninge urip

The free translation of this song goes as follow:

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