1918.] I. II. N. E\ w • : /•' lie) not. 205 



Tin Cockroaches' Vili \ge. 

 ! by Katil. 



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 



I some distance from the tree to make a shelter for the 



night, and there he slept. 



Early 111 the morning he went to tin tree and climbed up 

 into it with his blow-pipe to shoot the monkeys, birds and 

 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 he- 

 was in the tree he I 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 



