76 A PELANDOK TALE. 



position they lit the fire. By that time it was night. About 

 midnight when one side of the meat had been cooked they 

 turned it over to the other side. When this had been done the 

 pelandok said, 



" Hai, hulubalang, let me go to sleep now and then when 

 I wake up you can have a nap." 



The tiger said, " Very good." " But," added the pelandok, 

 " Don't you interfere with my eye teeth for fear that you should 

 be hurt by their poison." 



■■ All right." 



"Then again," said the pelandok, " whenever my eyes are 

 closed I am not asleep, but if my eyes wink and if I snore at 

 the same time, then I am asleep." 



After this the pelandok went to sleep. The tiger put more 

 wood on the fire. After about an hour's sleep the pelandok 

 began to wink his eyes and to snore. The tiger began to think 

 about the pelandok's eye teeth. 



" Are they really poisonous or are they not ? " 



So the tiger began to touch them. 



" They are not so very sharp," he said. 



After gazing closely at them for a little while he lay down. 

 Now the pelandok had seen him touching them. After that 

 the pelandok, thinking that smoking was now properly done, 

 got up from his sleep. 



When the pelandok got up the tiger went to sleep and 

 began to snore too. When the pelandok saw that the tiger 

 was fast asleep he took the tiger's share and ate it up. Then 

 he took a piece of the bark of the gentong tree, which was of 

 the same shape and put it where the tiger's meat had been. 

 This was now near day-break. When the sun rose the pelan- 

 dok called the tiger who rose from his sleep with a start. When 

 he had got up the pelandok said, 



" Hai, hulubalang, come along to this clearing and find a 

 stick on which we can carry this cooked meat." 



So they both set off together. When they were about 

 half way there, the pelandok said, . '. . 



" Hai, hulubalang, you look .'for the root '( with which ±'o 

 tie it on), while I look for the stick on which to carry It." 



Jour. Straits Branch 



