Perpustakaan + Kawan = Perpustakawan

The fisherman found love. He abandoned the bro-code and got married. Thankfully the bros weren't mad. At least I think they weren't but they traveled away anyway and that's kinda sus. They left the fisherman with a letter with the similar ominous words Awang said to the giant.

During their travels, the coconut collector man healed from the skin disease as they arrive at a fishing village. They again freeloaded at someone's home and like the fisherman, the coconut guy found love. The hoe-less bros left him with the same letter then the Pinang dude healed and followed the same footsteps as the married bros once they freeloaded in a different village.

The grass cutter machete dude, the longest companion of Awang Subalah Batu found love in the next village as he healed. He was worried for his strong himbo friend as he had not healed from the ailment at all. Awang assured him that he was well enough to go and left him with a letter as tradition.

The next morning, the dude was gone and some point, he healed from the skin disease of nightmares. He arrived at a village in complete ruin with no human soul insight. He followed a cat up some flight of stairs and found a crying woman who ushered him to escape as this was no place for a young man to be.

Two geroda stalks the village. Giant monster size birds that'll swoop down from the heavens and feed on humans like wiggling worms and the girl was the sole survivor.

Well, those two birds have a storm coming for them cause Awang and his giant needle machete can take down a god. Their fight was short and it ended with him beheading the creatures like nothing. The giant and his friends arrive wayyy later when Awang had courted the woman to be his. He needed to show his pals how heroic he was. Show off.

Awang and the lady wed and returned to his village with stories to tell and new life to build as husband and wife.

Then he was off on own with a machete around his hips. He found a man cutting bushes with a machete and impressed with his swinging, Awang challenged the man into a fight. The loser must become the winner’s follower and follow them anywhere. The machete man lost and Awang robbed himself a travelling companion who might have just be cleaning the area around their village. 

Along the way, a man was harvesting buah pinang (google says they’re ‘nutmegs’ - that doesn’t look right-) from a plantation. Awang being glutton ate all of the fruit even when he promised to only eat a few. He fights the fruit collector and became a victor. He gained another companion and gained another when he ate another fruit collector’s coconuts. The group became a rowdy bunch of four who, thanks to Awang, had little to no food left for their journey. 

They arrived at a beach and met a fisherman who had no fish for them to steal. Frustrated, they complained to the man and he suggested that all five of them will go into the sea holding hands. If any of them spots a fish, they need to yell so Awang Subalah Batu can whip out his giant needle machete to chop the fish into two. I don’t remember the machete being that big in book 1?

They took the fish up shore, hung it and realized that none of them know how to start a fire. Ironic because the fisherman is described as person who regularly fries fishes. Wouldn’t he know about staring fire? Maybe he just didn’t want to help. He suggested the men to go out and seek help. 

The fisherman found a home that belonged to a giant. Instead of seeing this as big red flag, he entered the home when a voice answered his call and agreed to teach them how to make fire. The other men fell for this trick too and were tied to pole with chains. 

Awang Subalah Batu became worried then walked up to the same home figuring that perhaps the giant took them in. He yelled at the top of his lungs and threatened to chop the giant into pieces with his abnormally large machete that wasn’t that big in the last page. The giant noticed and quivered in fear. He lets the men go and announce that he’s taking them as their grandchildren. They’re free to freeload in his home for days but Awang wasn’t about that life. After a few days, they group went out after leaving the giant a letter. 

Awang Subalah Batu is his name, farming, cutting wood and giving his dad heart attacks is his game. His name, though odd, foreshadows his uniqueness. The closest translation I can do to explain his name is that, if you over think, it means “Boy (who) is at the other side of the rock”. It’s awfully close to the Malay proverb, “Udang disebalik batu”. Hence, his name foreshadows that he is more than just a himbo: he is a man gifted at birth with super strength that parallel The Hulk but at the cost of both book and street-smart as well as an frightening stomach. He’s hungry 24/7. In one meal, his parents have to prepare him THREE pots of rice! In a day, he has 9 POTS of rice!

Luckily, the glutonous Awang Subalah Batu doesn’t have a lazy bone in him at all. He’s very obedient to his parents which is a trait only not-so-smart people have in Malay children book. If you’re smart, you can’t be good and if you are both, you’re either poor or crippled or ugly. You don’t win both worlds and Awang Subalah Batu is proof of that; not smart, super strong, super handsome according to the book, obedient but poor. I will also add that the man is lowkey sadistic. The following pictures below are situations where he nearly gave his father a rollercoaster of emotions far too much for his old bones to handle. I’m tempted to write but the pictures speaks for itself.

1. Buried alive because a giant three by a cliff fell on him. Turned out he could carry it home like nothing.

2. Jumping into a river full of crocodiles with two heavy pots tied to his waist. Never floating up to the surface at all. Comes home with a crocodile. 

3. A giant boulder fell on his spine. 

--

The story then shifts to Awang hanging out with his mother who was sewing at the balcony during the day.

He asked for her needle and brought it to a blacksmith friend who he’s awfully close to, to turn the teensy needle into a full length machete. It sounds outrageous but I suppose Awang Subalah Batu’s charm can entrance men.

Magically in a few days, his needle machete became a reality and he shows it off to his mother by chopping a whole forest by their home. The mother was impressed but was a little outraged with the mess he made but Awang reasoned that now they have a land of their own that they could use grow veggies. That’s not how land owning works but okay. His parents found his reasoning to be a big brain moment and feel #blessed as long as they have Awang in their lives...

Some mumbo-jumbo happened where the 7 men shook their heads and recite mantras, they looked too reluctant to share the vision they each shared. Once urged, one of them spoke revealing that the two children will bring great misfortune across their land, turning it into a barren wasteland the longer they are kept within the kingdom. This crushed the man but he ultimately decided that his people mattered more than his children and persuaded his wife to allow him to discard the children far away for everyone’s safety. The mother took the news badly accuse the man of being cruel but reluctantly agreed.

 They banished the children to a far away island where no human has ever settled before and that’s a huge red flag for the children. They were sent their to die. The belonging their parents packed consisted of a ring, a necklace 7 ketupats for them to survive on and 7 rolls of cigarettes for them to ease their distress. Their parents, didn’t have the heart to accompany them to island so two guards were told to do. Once they arrive, the guards bid them farewell and the children were on their own. 

It wasn’t specified on which day these events happened but the two discovered quite odd encounters that were too good to be random. First, it was a few bananas, then two giant eggs, they also found a giant woven basket, afterwards they found a buffalo’s horn and sounds of chicken cooing - it was as if a settler was on the island! Walking towards the sound, they were greeted with walls of flowers placed around a wooden home of a giant. 

Fearing that the giant was carnivorous, Si Bongkok voluntarily climb up the stairs as Si Pacah cried out helplessness. Si Bongkok crept into a crack by the door and was appalled with the interior decoration of the home. The decorations were made animal bones and skin, this includes human ones too. There were seven rooms and in each Si Bongkok found gold, diamond, jewels , pearls, silver, an abundance of rice and other riches beyond his wildest imagination. He quickly fetched Si Pacah and made rice for the two of them. 

The smoke from the fire was spotted by the giants, a couple who were at sea fishing. They rushed and docked their boat nearby, anxious as they’ve never met another being living in the island with them. They yelled “Who’s in there?” and it startled the children. 

Much to Si Bongkok’s displease, Si Pacah answered them from the within the home “We live here!”

“If you claim to be our people (giants), then step out and reveal yourself!”

To fake their appearance, they drew a face on a basket and peeked it out of the window. Its odd how he could carry it with one hand but the giants were not convinced. They asked them to show their teeth, their tail, eyes and asked them to roar.

The children used the bananas as teeth, a rope for a tail, the giant eggs for eyes and they blew into the buffalos horn for the roar. This confuses the giants. Giants don’t look like that so they backed away into a sprint as they thought the being in their home was not normal and feared their life. I believe they thought they’ve stumbled on a jin that curses people with death when meet. Ironically, they ran into some pointy woods and stabbed themselves by accident. They died there and the children set their corpse on fire as a burial. 

Greed entered the children mind and bloodstream, they fought over their loot and it quickly became physical. Si Bongkok punched Si Pacah in the face so hard that it cured her blindness while Si Pacah punched her brother at the spine so hard that it fixed his spine straight. He was a hunchback no more. They ended the fight with a hug then packed up as much as they could before going back to their homes. 

When they arrived in their kingdom, the king and queen couldn’t recognize them. The children had show them each the royal ring and necklace before their parents realize that they were the banished children! They embrace and the story comes to a close. 

Thankfully, the beautiful illustration and a long debate with my sister and friend helped me ease into the story and the supposed curse that has befallen to these villagers.

 The villagers are of Murut tribes that live in long houses by the river in Temburong. Senawat isn’t the name of their village but the name of their village chief. These tribesmen make a living out of hunting, farming and fishing. They embrace their culture by having celebrations every now and then donning their traditional clothing, named ‘Apar’ and dance to the rhythm of ‘Sapee’ while dancing a traditional dance called ‘Nalai’ accompanied by singing. One of the songs that accompanied this dance was ‘Busak Bakui’. Unfortunately, I have little information on the Murut culture and looking at sources online… I don’t think any of the searches are reliable.

 It was one evening when a group of hearty and teasing boys went for a swim. They notice a frog and bullied it to jump towards a nearby home against its will. The frog was petrified but not a single being helped it in this time of humiliation. In fact, the tired mothers from the field found it amusing and laughed with the boys.

 An injured squirrel that was tied up from a hunt escaped and ran forward to where the frog is. This made the scene hysterical because both animals were jumping about and bumping into each other a lot. Quite a few villagers found it amusing. After a tired day of working, hunting and fishing, a little laugh would bring no harm at all.

 But it did. The sky grew dark, the wind, the lightning and thunder attacked their beloved long house repeated as rain poured. The villagers who were inside cried for help but it was every man for themselves. The long house shook and the lightning must’ve struck the ground hard, it lifted the home upwards like sinking ship. When the nightmarish storm stopped, the area was barren. All that had life breathe into them stood still, their bodies hardened into stone and their cries gradually diminished. Batu Senawat, is three kilometers on the path towards Kampong Selapon and its quite eerie to think that the little boulders and rocks used to be people.

I find the curse of Batu Senawat to be unfair to the humans. They were in the forest while survival meant everything and I’m sure it is difficult keep themselves amused. This story reminds me of something my aunts say when reprimanding me years ago when I was younger; I should not laugh, especially laugh hardly because god WILL take away everything that made me smile and laugh for good as while I laugh, I forget him and my whole existence is to worship him and keep him in my mind. It’s disgusting and toxic, furthermore untrue. This story just screams that. Just because someone enjoying a moment, doesn’t mean they become deviant in religion. Is faith that fragile? Or perhaps, are people that salty to not like seeing people happy?

 That’s partially why the curse happened. The main reason was that the humans were humiliating and tormenting the creatures. In many folklores, its believed that animals are powerful than humans spiritually. Their faith with god is stronger than that of a human who is easily consumed by greed and other sinful desires. An animal does not dare to exploit others and their surroundings the way a human does. An animal sticks to its natural cycle and norms. Because of this, god listens to their prayers more than humans. That kind of explains why in Malay culture, when it rains, a frog was the one who prayed for it to fall. In this case, the squirrel and frog prayed for the death of this tribe and it was listened to but they fail to realize that they too will be caught up in the storm and die alongside the humans who tortured them. Serves them right.

The 9-year-long drought reduced the water source of the whole country to one single well in Kampong Manggis. The height of the water is less than one’s ankles and its situated at the far bottom of the well. Seven different ladders, tied together at each end had to be use for the villagers to climb up and down. Usually they would queue up but knowing Bruneian’s haughty, selfish and petty behavior, fights that end up with killing happened a lot over water. Every single day. With the glaring heat and a large body count of people, the living, plagued in fatigue merely piled the dead bodies on top of one another and covered them in buckets of dirt to make the buriers less guilty. These poorly made graves turned into hills over time. The two greater hills were called Pungsu Timbunan and they’re the closest to the well as that’s where the killing usually happened.  

After some time, a Chinese man appeared with a jambol (a kinda haircut) and in his hand was a hammer and a nail thing. Curious on what this stranger was doing in their bare Malay lands, the villagers watched him place the nail at the base of a hill and hammer away. Water flooded out of the base of hill to the low lands to create a river. The Malays were overjoyed and their life prospered because, just like the current events, it is China that helped this struggling nation.

The Chinese man disappeared and now, the villagers, faced a even bigger dilemma; the water kept rushing in non-stop that the lowlands are the riverbeds and the highlands are the new lowlands. Sharks, crocodiles and other ocean creatures migrated to the river, namely Sungai Damaran via a channel in Sungai Mangsalut. The Chinese man, who the locals fondly call ‘Kina Bejambol’ appears, no emotions in his face and put a giant-ass rock at the hill opening. The flood stop and our hero vanished again. After some time, the villagers found a giant caterpillar resting on the flat rock of the hill base and decided to name the hill after the caterpillar instead of the man who literally saved the whole country. The Tagiok in Bukit Tagiok derived from the Bruneian word ‘giok’ which means caterpillar.

Fun fact: the rock Kina Bejambol used was flat so it’s called Batu Betilam. It’s believed that if you knock on it hard enough, it’ll sound hollow, like a well full of water. I’m not entirely sure if you can find the hill in modern day as putting ‘Bukit Tagiok’ on Waze had no results. But! Sungai Mangsalut and Bukit Tabur Bintang does exist in current day! 

Perhaps, this story is based on real events- which brings me to:

THEORY TIME

The drought lasted for 9 years and there was no mention of a Sultan. My first theory was that the story took place in the era of the Bruneian Civil War that lasted for about 13 years. The same war that started over a cockfight and two sultans were fighting over the throne. With constant war, rations are low and the drought could just be symbolizing the dread, danger and neglect the people feel amidst war. Sabah during the time was under Brunei, so Sabah’s Mount Kinabalu’s name origin being from the word ‘Aki Nabalu’ – the revered place of the dead is such a coincidence with the Pungsu Timbunan in the story. Maybe their hill is made of piles of dead bodies too?

But that doesn’t match up. Mount Kinabalu has many origins, particularly involving widows and there isn’t a mention of a widow in this book. The events could not have happened during the Bruneian Civil war as its mentioned in history how one of the Sultans fled to Pulau Chermin, stuffed the royal crown and jewelries into a canon and shot it into the ocean where it remained lost. Water existed and Brunei back then wasn’t a barren land as chickens were healthy and used for cock fights- if there was a severe drought then, no one would have time to fool around with gambling with chickens.

This brings me to my second theory: the story took place wayyyyy longer in time. Before the first recorded sultan, Sultan Muhammad Shah came to the picture and Brunei back then, was ruled by an unknown chief who wasn’t Muslim. It’s noted from far back that Brunei, through different names had very close relationships with China so that might explain why our Chinese hero came to be. This makes sense cause, historically, Awang Alak Betatar (Sultan Muhammad Shah’s name before embracing Islam) and his siblings and crew screamed “BARU NAH” (‘There!’) on a SHIP meaning water was already present in the river canals.

But this doesn’t match up either because Kampong Manggis was mentioned in the story. There isn’t any historical records mentioning when Kampong Manggis was called Kampong Manggis. I don’t have info but the fact it’s only called Kampong Manggis instead of something more archaic sounding like, Tabur Bintang, Pandai Besi, gives me the impression that Kampong Manggis is a relatively new Kampong established in modern Brunei. I can’t even recall a folk story involving the kampong too so until further info is available, both my theories of this story is flawed.

Before I end this blog post, I wish to share that I am certain that his story isn’t a silly made up story like Dayang Dengan Timun because of the insert at the very first page by the director:

In today's wave of modern society, views are not always focused on one impression. The separation gap is too obvious, when the view is absorbed from the ideals of intellect and the mind is not limited to certain norms.

The natural response is to say that all folk tales are mere fairy tales, and are not suitable and in accordance with the current state of society. This response is very detrimental. This loss is not for individuals, but for all who are entitled to it.

Folklore has a distinctive position in literature. Its role is no less important than other ancient literary works. Disclosure of stories in the form of history, education, prominence and others in the form of books, is a practical and effective method.

This series of folk tales is rewritten from the speeches of the elders. Through cultural acculturation it is not impossible that these folk tales have similarities with the folk tales in this archipelago. The treasury of these folklore will be a ristaan ​​and a point of reference for future generations who will most likely not hear these folk tales spoken by the elders. By recording these folk tales directly can also curb the extinction of these stories from disappearing just like that.

It is hoped that, in accordance with its potential as reading material, this book is suitable for additional reading of children in particular and adults in general.

The story is about girl named Dayang, single child, over pampered by her parents who plays with dolls and prefers to play them alone. She harvested veggies from her family’s garden one day and though a certain cucumber looked really, really cute that she needed to sneak it away so her mom wouldn’t cook them. She played with is like a baby doll and she was the mother. She even skipped meals cause a cucumber is such a fun doll. 

In Malay stories, once you refuse to eat at the table with your parents, that’s when shit goes down cause she called out to this vegetable, asking if it wanted to drink (breast milk), it answered back her call in a muffled voice. She promptly lifted the the cucumber to her chest to pretend to breastfeed but she felt a sharp pain. The cucumber bit her. Naive, she scolded this teething veggie and proceeded to hug it again but it bore its fangs on her chest that it couldn’t be let go. She was shrieking and screaming for help and her Ma and Pa came in. Pa had a snazzy machete in his hands but Ma carried an even powerful weapon, a wooden spoon. 

In a heartbeat, the Ma beats the hell out of the cucumber that it fell off the screaming Dayang whose chest was bloodied. I don’t mean to add even worst imagery but I always imagined that cucumber bit Dayang at the nipple. Having milk come out of there is already enough to make me uncomfortable but blood? that terrifies me and I went into a phase of body dysphoria in my puberty years over my bust. 

Pa’s machete was useless cause it kinda evaporated into thin air. Sad, cause it turned out the cucumber wasn’t a man-eating mutant veggie but a big-ass caterpillar who wants to S U C K Dayang’s blood dry. They had a wild chase scene, not a single human helped them. That machete would have been helpful.

It was these pointy Penjulung fish that helped them. They’re a long thin bodied fish with pointy snout like a swordfish’s.  For some reason, Dayang makes it a point to make these fishes pass message to the caterpillar, “Mamamu titi atang titi anggas” which I have no idea what that means at all. I’m sure the caterpillar, who called Dayang ‘mama’ wasn’t sure either. It crossed the bridge-ish tree with a group of these fishes below and fell. The fishes skewered it and ate it alive. All is well afterwards. Dayang even now plays with her friends and is now an obedient child. 

What’s the lesson of this story? According to the foreword from the director of the publishing house, Dayang dengan Timun is one of 28 books made from Karyawan Bengkel which is a workshop lead by Dr. Elizabeth Liew of Universiti Brunei Darussalam in 1994 about creating manuscripts of children literature. There’s a high chance that Maysalamah Haji Hitam was a student of the University pressured to come up with a manuscript on the spot and publishers liked it because it seems to have a lesson on manners in them i.e be obedient, antisocial tendencies such as playing dolls alone are wrong and always eat when said to.

I don’t agree with those lessons. A lot children who are ‘obedient’ tend to have a tough time opening to people and share their problems, They’d much prefer to keep their true selves locked out in fears of being ‘disobedient’. A child should be free to be disobedient, make them understand why this and this is not good instead of pulling the because I say so card. Wanting to be alone isn't entirely bad and demonizing children for playing dolls should be an absolute no-no! There are quite a few books in Brunei where playing with dolls is bad. Kids should be allowed to be kids. 

Because of this, a lot of local folklore are lost or morphed into a version far different than it was originally. So that little detail saying the story was told by this individual is kind of a cute gesture to credit the story teller.

Ikan Patin starts with basic couple, the husband is a fisherman while the wife takes care of their only child. On one bad fishing day, the husband caught one lone fish that was known for a few other names but the husband knows it as Ikan Patin. He comes home and leave the fish overnight in the boat hoping to catch at least two more tomorrow to feed his family of 3.

But at the dead of night, the wife woke up startled by the sound of the hysterical crying of a baby but it wasn’t her child, it came from outside, in the water, on the boat. The baby had a chipped upper lip (sumbing) at the center making her lips look like a cat mouth. It didn’t take long for the wife to connect the dots and realize that the ikan Patin turned into the shrieking baby girl.

The couple raised her like their own, she didn’t have a name but I guess it was Fatin. She later married a man and had a child of her own.

The cried day and night so the father thought a little song could stop the crying. But the song was about fish who had a hook stuck on its lips and made Fatin insecure. She later realized that her chipped lips were from a hook and now she remembered that she was once a fish. She asked her husband to stop but he found it amusing and it was the only thing making the crying child stop crying, even if it was for a moment.

He added a new lyric to his song that drove the poor girl to tears; ‘…mothers who were once fishes should return to what and where they were’.

In tears, she pecked a kiss to both her husband and child like it was a farewell kiss and YEETed into the river to transform into a fish and swam away. Her parents were devastated and her asshole of a husband stood there like a surprised Pikachu. The man really thought she wouldn’t do it but boy did he fucked up.

The crying child in his arm grew up and had children of his own. Because of his mother being a fish, he and his descendants were half-fish people who could transform into Ikan Patin. The ability was a secret but it was an open secret people in the village shared so out of respect, the non-fish people don’t eat Ikan Patin and that persisted to this day since its uncommon to eat the said fish in Brunei.

This story just shows how much of an asshole her husband is but, her descendants can transform into fish people? So you’re saying, there’s a Malay aquaman at some point in history but instead of talking to dolphins, he talks to the sumpit-sumpits? I’d love to see that. Knowing that Malays are mostly fisherman, it would be cool to read a Malay pirate story centered around the Brunei Bay. I would actually want to buy a book of that so badly!

Back to the story of Ikan Patin, the fish girl had a chipped upper lip that may have greatly affected her speech. I can’t seem to describe it but, in Malay, it’s described that’s she’s sumbing, confirming that she does have speech defect cause of the chipped shape of lips. The defect, sounds more nasally and there’s a slight lisp to it cause the chip actually extends to one her noses. Obviously, since people back in the olden days make fun of people’s appearance and intelligence harshly, I can imagine the girl’s pain when her own husband makes fun of her. He was the last person she wanted to hear such ridicule from and the man had the guts to tell her to ‘go back to where and what she was’ – it was an invitation to leave and she took it.

References (For New Rumi Spelling):

Driven by curiosity and love for anything weird and obscure, Kisah Si Palui was a book I’ve longed to read and I’d be over the moon if I have this in my small bookshelf. Alas, that dream will not be because:

The book was printed in the 1980’s where only a limited copy was made during its run. Any existing copies aren’t guaranteed to be in mint condition.

The title ‘Kisah Si Palui’ is problematic. Palui is a rude and crude word that can be used as a swear word. To put it politely, the word means stupid but harsher. Many younger parents would not like such language to be in their children’s vocabulary. To add fire to the fuel, the main character of this story is described as a man with very little intelligence and an even lesser amount of common sense who relies on his wife for guidance. Because of this, he’s called such title, Si Palui – The Retard.

In the recent directory of books for sale by the publisher is available online to view and order- only a few titles from around the 80’s era has been reprinted in the 2009’s. One of them being the Pak Pandir series that I pointed out in my Instagram Stories. Kisah Si Palui wasn’t listed and it seemed like it will never be if you consider point #1 and #2.

The next revelation left me stumped. I would rather have my memory locked than committing an act of murder.

I find myself grinning and chuckling throughout reading and but when I attempt to write... I killed the joke- no, the whole book. No matter the number of tries I do, I cannot translate the contents and mimic the same level of savagery and hilarity the original one has. It’d be like explaining the punchlines Patrick from Spongebob said in the first two seasons. It won’t be funny anymore.

The use of the Malay language here is the key that makes this tale funny. I mean look at the first paragraph you read, tell me how that did not crack a smile on your face? (unless you can’t understand Malay, I’m sorry. I can’t explain, my brain cells aren’t enough-):

So to make things easier for me and you, I won’t write the whole tale like I did with Si Ranggau in the previous post. Instead, if you desire to read a copy, I’ll happily inform you that I borrowed my copy of Si Palui from the Universiti Brunei Darussalam Library. Please keep the copy as perfect as when you borrowed it because I will flip if I return my copy, the book becomes lost or damaged because of the next library member. I’m warning you, just like how Si Palui’s wife manifests into his thoughts to scold him in the middle of the river of nowhere.

To be honest, he did some dumb things that are charming but I can’t help but find his reliance and trust for his wife adorable. He wouldn’t do anything without consulting her and it’s somewhat sad. He’s a good man but everyone calls him Si Palui including his wife so his self-confidence must be an all-time low. It was obvious that he is a mentally challenged individual who is mistreated by society and despite his wife calling him by the title the people gave him, she took care of him regardless. She didn’t baby him and do all of his work. She gave him chores and responsibilities he had to do to be a little independent and that I believe gave our male lead a little strength. He wasn’t being a burden to her, he’s taking care of her just as much as she is taking care of him. A total couple goal, I may say.

The story starts with a couple who bore no children for years, specifically, the whole 15 years they were married. And one day, the wife was pregnant. It was a milestone for the two until she had this one weird craving; she wanted to eat a kijang bertanduk putih (white horned deer). 

Okay, so what about it? Deer horns aren’t white. That’s the problem but the husband greatly loves his wife and goes hunting in the nearby forest with their dog Si Sampar next morning with a spear in hand. 

Deer horns aren’t white. I’m going stress about that a lot. Deers in general are hard to find themselves so the poor husband spent days in the forest hoping to find the strange animal his wife craves. 

The days soon became weeks and months and he still have not returned. The wife had to give birth to their son alone without a midwife. She raised him in regret for it was her odd cravings and her husband’s blind love that the son will grow up without a father. 

The son grew up and naturally, he asks his mother the question she fears, “Where’s my pa?”.

Reluctantly, with a waterfall of tears streaming down her face, she told him the tale of what had happened and begged for her son to not look for the father in the jungle. Her heart couldn’t handle another missing loved one. 

The son was stubborn. He was determine to find his long lost father and she eventually permit him for the search. 

“My son, if you call the name Si Sampar and a black dog appears, that is your father’s dog. If the man with the dog carried a spear, that is your father,” she reminded him so the boy walked and screamed the name Si Sampar the whole time. 

It was nearly sunset when the dog howled and ran towards the boy. It was indeed a black dog and in the trees he saw a figure. The figure was large, his body was covered in fur from head to toe, his teeth were pointed and his nails looked like it came from a nightmare. In his hand was a spear. 

He called upon the man, referring him as father and that he was his son and his mother was waiting for his arrival. But the figure, the father, did not respond. He was deep in thought and spoke, “I cannot return. I cannot assimilate into society anymore. I’ve become feral from feasting on raw meat and blood to the point I don’t feel like I deserve to be called a human anymore. I’ll only cause trouble for you and your mother.”

“And my dog is possessed by a demon,” he continued. “And I’m Si Ranggau now. A monster of the jungle. Call out my name, Si Ranggau then call upon Si Sampar, the dog and my spear Si Julang and I will arrive to your aid. It is the least I could do.”

The boy went home with a heavy heart. In his mind his father’s words repeated itself like a broken cassette. His father was no longer human and is now a being people call out for murders.

---

The part that made me laugh a little too hard was the fact that the dog was possessed by a demon. It’s a little too random and it seemed like an overkill, like the writer went ‘Ya thought Si Ranggau has it rough? Look at his dog, it’s possessed by a demon. Watch the demon dog lick the boy’s hand like a good dog.’

Special thank you to my friend, Fatin (@tincan_art) for lending me this children’s book to read. I don’t have it in my collection and I’ve never read it before so I was quite curious of the content since the cover already sparked questions in my head. It’s an enjoyable read but it infuriated me at how darn loyal the husband was to keep searching for this non-existent deer but then again, who was I to blame him? He was a man who longed to be a father and wanted the best for his wife. 

I’m sure he thought of returning, you can tell because in many pictures in the book, he was always staring into a distance. I reckon that he was looking at the direction of his home and imagine how things must’ve been while he’s gone or imagining how thing will be if he returned now. I believe he was afraid of how his wife would react to see him in his demonic looking state. He is indeed, the unluckiest man.