Part 22 (2/2)
NOTE.--Laki is the Malay word for man or male, adopted by many of the tribes. The native word for woman, however, is always maintained. Keladi is a _caladium_, which furnishes the princ.i.p.al edible root in Borneo.
11. THE WONDERFUL TREE
(From the Saputans; kampong Data Laong)
Tanipoi bore a female infant, and when the child had been washed with water on the same day, the father gave her the name Aneitjing (cat). Years pa.s.sed, and the girl had learned to bring water in the bamboo and to crush paddi. And the mother again became pregnant, and in due time had another little girl which was called Inu (a kind of fruit).
Now, among the Saputans the custom long ago was that the woman who had a child should do no work during forty days. She must not bring water, nor husk paddi, nor cook. She remained in the house and took her bath in the river daily. She slept much and ate pork cooked in bamboo, and rice, if there was any, and she was free to eat anything else that she liked. Her husband, Tanuuloi, who during this time had to do all the work, became tired of it, and he said to his wife: ”I cannot endure this any longer, I would rather die.”
After he had cooked the meal and they had eaten he said: ”Take the two children and go with me to the river.” All four of them went into a prahu which he paddled down stream until they came to a large rock in the middle of the river, where he stopped it. They all climbed on the rock, and the prahu he allowed to drift away. He then said to his wife: ”You and I will drown ourselves.” ”I cannot,” she said, ”because I have a small child to suckle.” He then tore the child from the mother's breast and placed it on the rock. The two children and the mother wept, and he caught hold of one of her hands, dragged her with him into the water, and they were both drowned.
The two children remained on the rock all day. After sunset Deer (rusa) arrived. The older child called out; ”Take me from here.” And Deer came to the stone and placed Aneitjing on his back, and behind her Inu, and carried them ash.o.r.e. Deer then made a clearing in the utan and built a hut for them. He then went to the ladang to look for food, but before starting he said to the children: ”I am going to the ladang. Maybe I shall be killed by the dogs. In that case you must take my right arm and my right eye and bring them here.”
Deer went away and was attacked by dogs. The two children heard the barking, and when they arrived the dogs were gone and Deer was found dead.
The children took the right arm and the right eye and went home, made a clearing and dug a hole, where the arm and the eye were placed, and they covered the hole with earth. They often went to look at that place. After twenty days they saw a sprout coming up, and in twenty years this had grown into a big tree which bore all sorts of fruit and other good things.
From the tree fell durian, nangka, and many other kinds of delicious fruit, as well as clothing, spears, sumpitans, gongs, and w.a.n.g (money).
Rumour of this spread to the kampong, and two men arrived, Tuliparon, who was chief, and his brother Semoring. They had heard of the two young women, and they made a hut for themselves near by, but did not speak to the girls. They went to sleep and slept day after day, a whole year, and gra.s.s grew over them. Inu, the younger, who was the brighter of the two, said to Aneitjing: ”Go and wake these men. They have been sleeping a long time. If they have wives and children in the kampong this will make much trouble for all of them.” Aneitjing then asked Tipang Tingai for heavy rain. It came in the evening and flooded the land, waking the two men who found themselves lying in the water. They placed their belongings under the house of the women and went to the river to bathe. They then returned and changed their chavats under the house. The women wanted to call to them, but they were bashful, so they threw a little water down on them.
The men looked up and saw that there were women above and they ascended the ladder with their effects.
The girls gave them food, and Tuliparon said to Inu: ”I am not going to make a long tale of it. If you agree I will make you my wife, and if you do not agree, I will still make you my wife.” Inu answered: ”Perhaps you have a wife and children in the kampong. If you have, I will not, but if you have not, then I will.” ”I am free,” he said, ”and have neither wife nor child.” Rea.s.sured on this point she consented. His brother and Aneitjing agreed in the same way. The women said that they wanted always to live where they had the tree with so many good things. The men felt the same way, and they went to the kampong and induced all the people to come out there, and thus a new kampong was founded.
NOTE.--Tipang Tingai means the highest G.o.d, the same as the Malay Tuan Allah. It is also used by the Penyahbongs.
12. MOHAKTAHAKAM WHO SLEW AN ANTOH
(From the Saputans; kampong Data Laong)
Once upon a time three brothers, Mohaktahakam, Batoni, and Bluhangoni, started in the morning from the kampong and walked to another kampong where Pahit, an antoh, had a fish-trap. They were intent on stealing the fish, and as they went along they considered among themselves how they could take it. Pahit was very strong, but Mohaktahakam said: ”Never mind, I am going to fight it out with him.” Arriving there they let the water out of the trap, and with parang and spear they killed lots of fish of many kinds, filling their rattan bags with them. Taking another route they hurried homeward. Their burdens were heavy, so they could not reach the kampong, but made a rough shelter in the usual way on piles, the floor being two or three feet above the ground. They cut saplings and quickly made a framework, called tehi, on which the fish were placed. Underneath they made a big fire which smoked and cured them. In the morning they had boiled rice and fish to eat, and then went out to hunt for animals with sumpitan. The fish meanwhile remained on the tehi, the fire being kept alive underneath.
Pahit found his trap dry and no fish there. ”Why have people been bold enough to take the fish?” he said to himself. ”They don't know I am strong and brave”; and, very angry, he followed their tracks. He had gone scarcely half-way when he smelled the fish, which was very fat. When he arrived at the camp he found the fish over the fire, but n.o.body there. He gathered some leaves together behind the camp and sat down upon them to wait the arrival of the men.
In the afternoon Batoni and Bluhangoni returned to camp carrying much pig and deer. He immediately caught hold of both of them, lifted them up and brought them down with force upon the rough floor of the hut, and both died. Pahit saw that places had been made for three men to sleep, and knowing that there must be another man coming he decided to wait. The two bodies he placed under the hut, on the ground. After a while Mohaktahakam came, carrying pig, deer, rhino, wild ox, and bear, and threw it all down near the drying fish, to cook it later. He was tired, having walked all day, and went up into the hut to smoke tobacco. Pahit saw this and went after him. He caught hold of the man to throw him down, but could not lift him. Mohaktahakam, very angry, caught Pahit by the arms, lifted him up, threw him against the floor and killed him. ”Pahit spoke of being strong and brave, but I am stronger,” he said.
Mohaktahakam then made his brothers come to life again, and they cleaned all the animals they had caught and placed the meat on a tehi to dry and smoke. Then they cooked meat in bamboo and ate, afterward going to sleep.
During the night one of them at times mended the fire, which was kept burning. In the morning, after eating, they went home to the kampong, carrying bags full of meat and fish.
NOTE.--Tehi, a framework for drying fish or meat, is called in Malay, salai.
13. THE MAGIC BABI BONE
(From the Saputans; kampong Data Laong)
Dirang left the kampong to hunt for heads, with three prahus and many men, armed with parangs, s.h.i.+elds, sumpitans, and spears, and they also carried some rice for provisions. After a while the people who remained behind became very hungry, and one day Inyah, the wife of Dirang, went out to look for bamboo shoots to eat. She met a small babi (pig), caught it, and brought it home. In the kampong she asked the men to help her make a shed for it.
<script>