Journal of the Federated Malay States museums - Sabrizain.org

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1918.] I. II. N. E\ w /•'
: lie) not. 205
Tin Cockroaches' Vili \ge.
! by
Katil.
I
There was once a man who had seven male children.
Their names were Sulong, Tengah, Alang, Ruh, Penangkap,
Bumbun, and Uonsu Api.
One day the eldesl - >n Sulong) went off into the forest
to hunt for game, and far away from his home came upon an
na-tree (Fiats sp.) in fruit. He sought out a convenient
some distance from the tree to make a
night, and there he slept.
shelter for the
Early 111 the morning he went to tin tree and climbed up
into it with his blow-pipe to shoot the monkeys, birds and
I
squirrels, which came m hundreds to eat the fruit.
The tree was on the top of a hill, and below the hill, on
one side, though hidden from view, was a clearing. While hewas
in the tree he laughing and the cries of
children coming from the clearing. So he came down from
and, making his way towards the sounds, eventually
arrrived there, He entered a patch oi sugar-cane and came
across a fowl which cackled loudly. Next he came to a house
and saw a mortar in which he had heard somebody pounding
padi. Then he called aloud. " Hoi, sister ! Hoi, sister!" but
nobody answered, ami going up into the house he found that
the people had vanished. He saw food ready cooked there
and said to himself. " What am I to do. for I am hungry ? If
this is spirits' food it will he savourless, but if for human
beings, it will be salt."
So he tasted the food and found that it was salt and,
thinking it safe to do so, ate until he was satisfied. After this
he took water and drank it. and then he took sireli, which was
also set out there, to chew. Now the first quid that he chewed
tasted sweet, the second rich, the third intoxicating, and the
fourth sweet. Then feeling giddy, he lay down on some mats
which were spread in the house. When he had fallen into a
stupificd sleep, the people of the house, who were all women,
but who had become cockroaches at his approai h, came out
of their lurking places and ate his body till little remained to
him but his life. \t last, on his awaking, they killed him with
billets of wood.
Now. as he did 1
1 •
.
, the second brother set out
to look for him and came aco.-Q the hut 111 whii h he had -pent
the night. Here he slept, and in the morning he went to the
nra-tree where, on the previous evening, he had found his
brother's blow-pipe, dart-quivi r, an 1 spear, I ;;ethcr with the
rotting bodies of the animals that ho had shot. He also
climbed up into the tree and shot some of the animals and
birds which were eating its fruit, and towards mid-day. while
still in the tree, he heard the sound of people pounding rice
and of laughter coming from the place where the clearing was