Tabedjeh was tired and short of breath, but when
antoh saw what kind of a tree he was sitting on he said: "You may remain
there. I cannot eat you now because I am afraid of that tree." Tabedjeh
took a piece of the wood of the tree, which is called klamonang, and he
went to the house of Inyah to show her the tree of which antoh is afraid,
and they had their wedding at once.
5. LEAVES THAT BAFFLED ANTOH
(From the Penyahbongs; kampong Tamaloe)
Two brothers were walking in the utan, with sumpitans, when they met a pig
which one of them speared. The quarry became furious and attacked the
other one, but they helped each other and killed the pig, ate what they
wanted, and continued their hunting.
Next they met a rhino which they killed. As they began to take off the
hide, cutting into his chest, the rhino became alive again, and the hide
turned out to be the bark of a tree. The two ran home, but the rhino came
after them, so they again had to flee, pursued by him, until they came
across a small tree called mora, of which antoh is afraid. They gathered
some of the leaves, and as soon as the rhino saw that he ran away.
6. PENGANUN, THE HUGE SERPENT
(From the Penyahbongs; kampong Tamaloe)
The mother of Daring's wife ordered him to go out and hunt for animals to
eat, but said they would have to be without bones. He searched for a
month, and all that he got had bones. Finally he brought back a leech,
which she ate. Then she said: "Go and look for penganun," the huge serpent
with the golden horn. He met the monster and used all his poisoned darts
before it succumbed. He left it there and went home. "Have you got the big
serpent?" she asked him. "Yes!" he answered. She then went out to bring it
in, but she cut off only a little of the flesh, which she brought back. It
was cooked in bamboo, and the people in the house ate it, but before they
had finished the meal they became crazy - fifteen of them. The affected
ones, as well as the bamboo in which the cooking had been done, turned
into stone, but the meat disappeared. Daring and his wife, who had not
partaken of the meal, escaped.
NOTE. - There exists in Borneo a huge python, in Malay called sahua, which
is the basis for a superstitious belief in a monster serpent, called
penganun, the forehead of which is provided with a straight horn of pure
gold. The tale is possibly influenced by Malay ideas. The Penyahbongs have
a name for gold, bo-an, but do not know how to utilise the metal.
7. HOW THE PENGANUN WAS CAUGHT ALIVE
(From the Penyahbongs; kampong Tamaloe)
Two young girls, not yet married, went to fish, each carrying the small
oblong basket which the Penyahbong woman is wont to use when fishing,
holding it in one hand and passing it through the water. A very young
serpent, of the huge kind called penganun, entered a basket and the child
caught it and placed it on the bark tray to take it home.
Penganun ate all the fish on the tray, and the girls kept it in the house,
catching fish for it, and it remained thus a long time. When it grew to be
large it tried to eat the two girls, and they ran away to their mother,
who was working on sago, while their father was sleeping near by. Penganun
was pursuing them, and he caught the smaller one around the ankle, but the
father killed the monster with his sumpitan and its spear point. With his
parang he cut it in many pieces and his wife cooked the meat in bamboo,
and they all ate it.
NOTE. - Penganun, see preceding tale. The sumpitan (blow-pipe) has a spear
point lashed to one end, and thus also may serve as a spear.
8. THE FATHERLESS BOY
(From the Saputans; kampong Data Laong)
A woman was going to the ladang in the morning, and she said to her young
son, Amon Amang, whose father was dead: "When the sun comes over the tree
there you must begin to husk paddi." She then went away to the ladang
while the boy remained at home. He carried the paddi, as well as the
oblong wooden mortar, up into a tree. There he began to work, and the
mortar and the paddi and the boy all tumbled down because the branch
broke. A man helped the half-dead boy to come to his senses again,
throwing water on him, and when the mother returned she was very angry to
see the mortar broken and the paddi strewed all about. "I told you to husk
paddi in the house when the sun came over the tree," she said. "Better
that you now go and hunt birds."
The boy then decided to hunt. He climbed a tree and put up snares to catch
birds. He caught a great many big hornbills, which he fastened alive to
his loin cloth, and they began to fly, carrying the boy with them to a big
tree, where they loosened themselves from him, left him in a cleft, and
all flew away. The tree was very tall, but he climbed down a fig tree
which grew beside it, descended to the ground, and went home.
His mother was not pleased that he did not bring any birds, and he told
her what had happened. "Why all this?" she said.
