FOLKLORE OF THE MALAYS. 2M 



The bear is believed to be the mortal foe of the tiger, which he 

 sometimes defeats in single combat, ( Bracing, the Malay word 

 for "bear," has a curious resemblance to our word "Bruin.'") A 

 story is told of a tame bear which a Malay left in charge of his 

 house and of his sleeping child while he was absent from home. 

 On his return, he missed his child, the house was in disorder as if 

 some struggle had taken place, and the bear was covered with 

 b'ool. Hastily drawing the conclusion that the bear had killed 

 and devoured the child, the enraged father slew the animal with 

 his spear, but almost immediately afterwards be found the carcase 

 of a tiger, which the faithful bear had defeated and killed, and the 

 child emerged unharmed from the jungle where she had taken 

 refuge. It is unnecessary to point out the similarity of this story 

 to the legend of Beth-Gelert.° It is evidently a local version of 

 the story of the Ichneumon and the Snake in the Pancha-tantra. 



A mischievous tiger is said sometimes to have broken loose from 

 its pen or fold (pcchah Jcandang). This is in allusion to an ex- 

 traordinary belief that, in parts of the Peninsula, there are regular 

 enclosures where tigers possessed by human souls live in associa- 

 tion. During the day they roam where they please, but return to 

 the Jcandang at night ! 



The superstitious dread entertained by Malays for the larger 

 animals, is the result of ideas regarding them, which have been 

 inherited from the primitive tribes of Eastern Asia. Muhammad- 

 anism has not been able to stamp out the deep-rooted feelings which 

 prompted the savage to invest the wild beasts which he dreaded 

 with the character of malignant deities. The tiger, elephant, and 

 rhinoceros were not mere brutes to be attacked and destroyed. The 

 immense advantages which their strength and bulk gave them over 

 t}io feebly armed savage of the most primitive tribes, naturally 

 suggested the possession of supernatural powers ; and propitiation, 

 not force, was the system by which it was hoped to repel them. 

 The Malay addresses the tiger as Datoh (grand-father), and 

 believes that many tigers are inhabited by human souls. Though 

 he reduces the elephant to subjection, and uses him as a beast of 



* Similar Grclert storie* are current in Sind. Burton— Sind Re-visited, IT., 

 80, 303. 



