Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and...

“The Bear116 is believed to be the mortal foe of the Tiger, which he sometimes defeats in single combat. (Bruang, the Malay word for ‘bear,’ has a curious resemblance to our word ‘Bruin.’117) A story is told of a tame bear which a Malay left in charge of his house and of his sleeping child while he was absent from home. On his return he missed his child, the house was in disorder, as if some struggle had taken place, and the bear was covered with blood. Hastily drawing the conclusion that the bear had killed and devoured the child, the enraged father slew the animal with his spear, but almost immediately afterwards he found the carcase of a tiger, which the faithful bear had defeated and killed, and the child emerged unharmed from the jungle, where she had taken refuge. It is unnecessary to point out the similarity of this story to the legend of Beth-Gelert. It is evidently a local version of the story of the Ichneumon and the Snake in the Pancha-tantra.”118

Monkeys and men have always been associated in native tradition, and Malay folklore is no exception to the rule. Thus we get the tradition of the great man-like ape, the Mawas (a reminiscence of the orang-outang or mias of Borneo), which is said to make shelters for itself in the forks of trees, and to be born with the blade of a cutlass (woodknife) in place of the bone of the forearm, so that it is able to cut down the undergrowth as it walks through the jungle. It is believed, moreover, occasionally to carry off and mate with human kind.119

The Siamang (Hylobates lar),120 which walks on its hind-legs, is, however, the species which is most commonly associated in legend with the human race; in fact, it is not impossible that there may sometimes have been a confusion between its name (siamang) and Sĕmang, which is the name of one of the aboriginal (Negrito) races of the interior. The following Malay legend, which I took down at Labu in Selangor is believed to explain its origin, and also that of the Bear:121—

Once upon a time her Highness the Princess Telan became the affianced bride of Si Malim Bongsu. After the betrothal Si Malim Bongsu sailed away and did not return when the period of the engagement, which was fixed at from three to four months, came to an end.

Then Si Malim Panjang, elder brother of Si Malim Bongsu, decided to take the place of his younger brother, and be married to the Princess Telan. The latter, however, repelled his advances, and he therefore attacked her savagely; but she turned herself into an ape (siamang) and escaped to the jungle, so that Si Malim Panjang desisted from pursuit. Then the ape climbed up into a pagar-anak tree which grew on the sea-shore, and leaned over the sea, and there she chanted these words:—

Now Si Malim Bongsu was passing at the time, and on recognising the voice of the Princess Telan he took a blow-gun and shot her so that she fell into the sea. Then he took rose-water and sprinkled it over her, so that she resumed her natural shape, and they started to go home together. Still, however, Si Malim Bongsu would not wed her, but promised that he would do so when he came back from his next voyage, whereupon the Princess chanted these words:—

The same course of events, however, happened as before. Malim Bongsu did not return at the time appointed; his elder brother, Malim Panjang once more attacked her, and, leaping towards an areca palm, she once more became an ape, whereupon she chanted as before:—

Again Malim Bongsu, as he passed by, heard and recognised her voice; but upon learning that he had been for the second time the cause of his Princess’s troubles, he exclaimed, “Better were it for me were I nothing but a big fish”; and leaping into the water he disappeared, and was changed into a big fish as he desired.

Now the Princess’s nurse (who was called “The Daughter of Sakembang China”) was at the same time transformed into a bear, and as they were bathing at the time when they were surprised, and had not time to wash off all the soap (rice-cosmetic), the white marks on the breast and brows of the bear and on the breast and brows of the ape (siamang) have remained unto this day.

Thus the k’ra (Macacus cynomolgus) is believed to develop into a species of fish called sĕnunggang, and of the fish called kalul (kalui or kalue), Sir W. E. Maxwell writes: “The ikan kalul (is believed) to be a monkey transformed. Some specially favoured observers have seen monkeys half through the process of metamorphosis—half-monkey and half-fish.”122 The species of monkey which is believed to turn into the ikan kalul is, as I was told in Selangor, the b’rok or “cocoa-nut monkey.”

“Berhakim kapada brok” is a Malay proverbial expression which means, “‘To make the monkey judge,’ or, ‘to go to the monkey for justice.’ A fable is told by the Malays of two men, one of whom planted bananas on the land of the other. When the fruit was ripe each claimed it, but not being able to come to any settlement they referred the matter to the arbitration of a monkey (of the large kind called brok). The judge decided that the fruit must be divided; but no sooner was this done than one of the suitors complained that the other’s share was too large. To satisfy him the monkey reduced the share of the other by the requisite amount, which he ate himself. Then the second suitor cried out that the share of the first was now too large. It had to be reduced to satisfy him, the subtracted portion going to the monkey as before. Thus they went on wrangling until the whole of the fruit was gone, and there was nothing left to wrangle about. Malay judges, if they are not calumniated, have been known to protract proceedings until both sides have exhausted their means in bribes. In such cases the unfortunate suitors are said to berhakim kapada brok.”123