120 THE FOLK-TALES OF INDONESIA AND INDO-CHINA. 



' One day the tiger, the hare, the otter, the hen, and the 

 elephant went to cut straw to make a house. They left the tiger 

 at their camp and he caught deer and cooked them rice and venison 

 on their return. The next day the otter was left and he dived 

 into the river and caught fish and cooked it for the other beasts. 

 Then the hen took her turn and served up a dish of eggs. Finally 

 it fell to the hare to eater. The hare was at a loss; so filled the 

 rice-pot with dung (crottes), mixed it with stinking fish-paste 

 (nwoe mam) and invited his companions to regale themselves. 

 The hare pleaded a head-ache and no appetite ! He yawned and 

 cried hay eh taputj; hay eh tapirt], a nonsense cry, suggesting 

 hiuutj eh tapay, 'I smell tapais dung:' — a cry which reveals to 

 the beasts what they have eaten ! Then they go and load their 

 straw on the back of the elephant, and allow hare, as an invalid, 

 to lie on it. He groans and asks the hen to hand him a fire-brand 

 to keep his body warm. He blows it up and sets fire to the straw ! 

 And he shouts to the others to lead the elephant to windward. 

 The otter extinguishes the flames by taking the elephant into the 

 water. The hare, afraid of being killed by his companions, hides 

 himself in the forest. He comes upon a snake who coils round 

 him. The tiger discovers the hare and asks what he is doing. 

 " Fve donned a girdle of floAvers, an heirloom of mine " says the 

 hare. The tiger wants to put on the girdle. The hare demurs 

 from dawn till noon. Then he bids the tiger get a thorn, and 

 prick the nose of the python. The python uncoils from the hare 

 and coils round the tiger. Hare calls, " Come, men, and kill the 

 tiger. The python has seized him." Men rush up with knives 

 but the tiger bites the python and escapes. Tiger pursues hare 

 and finds him beating a drum ! The hare had stopped up the exit 

 of a wasps' nest and was beating the nest and making the wasps 

 buzz. Said the tiger, "What are you doing?" The hare replied. 

 " I'm beating a drum left to me by my ancestors ; it is a great 

 solace, when I'm in the mood." The tiger asked to be allowed to 

 beat it. The hare demurred ; at last, he consented, adding, " If 

 you Avish to get a harmonious sound out of the drum, open the 

 hole beloAV and close that on top." The tiger follows this advice 

 and beats the drum ! Out swarm the Avasps and sting him ! The 

 hare flees from the tiger and coming to a tree, whose branches rub 

 together, climbs into it. The tiger enraged comes to the tree and 

 bids the hare descend to be eaten. " Allow me till noon," pleads 

 the hare, " to enjoy the strains of this sharanai ( = Malay serunai), 

 an heirloom of mine." At noon the Avind blew the branches to- 

 gether and made a noise. The tiger thought it was a musical 

 instrument and begged leave to play it. " Eat me," said the hare, 

 "for I can't allow it." The tiger persisted. "Well" said the 

 hare, " Avait till the Avind bloAvs and then apply your tongue to 

 this interstice." The tiger did so, and his tongue was nipped! 

 " Come men," cried the hare, " the tiger is caught in a tree." As 

 the men came up, the tiger wrenched his tongue free, losing the 

 tip of it, and vanished. In running awa} r , the hare fell into a 



Jour. Straits Branch 



