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 principal 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
passed, 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 ashore. 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 wang (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
grass 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." Reassured 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 God, 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.
