MYTHS, LEGENDS, STORIES 145 



afterwards gave birth to a son, who was but one-half 

 of a human being, having one arm, one leg, one 

 eye, and so on. This child. Simp ang Imp ang, whose 

 only companions were the animals, often complained 

 bitterly to his mother of his incompleteness. One 

 day Simpang Impang discovered some padi grain 

 which the rat had hidden in a hole. He spread it 

 out to dry on a leaf, which he put on top of a stump. 

 On this the rat demanded the padi back ; and when 

 Simpang Impang r^ius^d it, he grew very angry, and 

 swore that he and all his race would always retaliate 

 by taking the padi of men whenever they could get 

 at it. While they were disputing, Selulat Antu 

 Ribut, the wind-spirit, came by and scattered the 

 padi grains far and wide in the jungle. Simpang 

 Impang looked round in anger and astonishment, 

 and could perceive nothing but the noise of the 

 wind. So he set out with some of his companions 

 to get back his corn from the wind-spirit, or know 

 the reason why. After wandering for some days he 

 came to a tree on which were many birds ; they 

 picked off its buds as fast as the tree could push 

 them out. Simpang Impang asked the tree to tell 

 him the way to the house of the wind-spirit ; and the 

 tree said, " Oh, yes, he came this way just now, and 

 his house is far away over there. When you come 

 to it, please tell him I am tired of putting out my 

 leaves to have them bitten off by these rascal birds, 

 and that I want him to come and end my miserable 

 life by blowing me down." 



Simpang Impang went on and came to a lake, 

 which said, " Whither are you going, friend .'* " And 

 when he answered that he was going to find the 

 wind-spirit, the lake complained that its outlet to 

 the river was blocked with a lump of gold, and told 

 him to get the wind-spirit to blow away the obstruc- 

 tion. Simpang Impang promised to put in a word 

 for the lake, and, passing on, came to a cluster of 



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