Srintil is a "ronggeng": a young woman expressing the pride and joy of her village with coquettish traditional dances. The village witch doctor (dukun) and his wife act as her managers and profit as much from the ronggeng's second traditional role: to satisfy men for one or two grammes of gold. The ronggeng however is a more independent person than tradition prescribes.

Author Ahmad Tohari paints a lively and humorous portrait of village life in Central Java in the 1960's. These villages were still full of birds, reptiles, insects, traditions, ancient Gods, mysticism, magic and poverty, while Islam is absent in this novel. The slogans on Independence Day in the district capital, where the authorities claim the ronggeng expresses the desire of freedom from capitalists and colonizers, mean nothing to the villagers. Faithfulness and solidarity were confined to the village and politics were absent in a time and place were tradition and consanguinity gave security.

This description of village life rather than the development of the story is the book's strongest point. Probably this comes in the next part of Tohari's trilogy. ( )