LEGENDS 371 



have seen them. Especially in regard to their presence 

 at the lake of Sembulo, at the kampong of the same name, 

 the consensus of opinion is strong. That place is the 

 classical ground for the rumour of tailed men, and I 

 thought it worth while, before leaving Borneo, to make 

 another attempt later to reach Sembulo and investigate 

 the reasons for the prevalent belief in tailed humans in 

 that locality. The most complete legend on this subject 

 I obtained from a prominent ex-district kapala, Kiai 

 Laman, a Kahayan Dayak converted to Islam. He has 

 travelled much in certain sections of Borneo, is interested 

 in folklore matters, and told his stories without apparent 

 errors or contradictions. The tale here rendered is from 

 the Ot-Danums on the Upper Kahayan River. 



A male dog called Belang started out to hunt for game 

 — pig, deer, plandok. The kampong heard him bark 

 in the manner common to dogs when on the trail of an 

 animal, and then the baying ceased. The owner watched 

 for the animal to return, but for half a year there was no 

 news of him. In the meantime the dog had gone to 

 Sembulo, making the trip in fifteen days. He appeared 

 there in the shape of a man, took part in the work of the 

 kampong, and married. His wife bore a child who had a 

 tail, not long, about ten centimetres. "I do not like to 

 tell a lie/* said my raconteur. "What the sex was I 

 do not know, but people say it was a male infant. She 

 had another child, a female, also with a tail." 



In the ladang the woman thought the crying of her 

 children sounded very strange. "It is not like that of 

 other infants," she said. "Other people have no tails 



