46 THE PELANDOK, AND PA' SI BAGO\ 



Last of all a bull elephant passed by, to whom Salam di Rimba 

 said, 



" Ho elephant ! elephant ! ! are you not afraid the sky is 

 going to topple over? " 



For at this time it looked very like a great rain storm with 

 thunder and thunderbolts. The elephant answered, " Is that 

 true ? " 



Salam di Rimba said, " Of course it is true. Just look : 

 all of us have run and huddled together here. Why ? We fear 

 that the sky will fall in." 



The elephant said, " If that is so, I had better come down 

 too." 



The pelandok said, " Come down quickly." So the ele- 

 phant came down and entered into the well. As soon as lie 

 was right in the pelandok took a piece of wood and began to 

 tease the elephant. The elephant said, " Stop that. Look 

 out, or I will kick you up outside where you will certainly 

 perish struck by the fall of the sky." But the pelandok paid 

 no attention and went on teasing, so the elephant became very 

 angry indeed and at last he kicked the pelandok, hurling him 

 right up outside. Salam di Rimba was very glad when he 

 found himself outside, and said, 



" Hei, I fooled you nicely that time. I fell into that well, 

 and could not climb out, so I said that the sky would fall in." 



Just then the noise of a drum being beaten in a neighbour- 

 ing village was heard, so Salam di Rimba went to the drum 

 beater. On arriving he found that he was making pre- 

 parations for the marriage of his daughter. Salam di Rimba 

 said, " Ho gentlemen and lords, if you happen to want 

 to eat barking deer or sambhur deer, just go and get them 

 in that well over there." The people simply fell over one 

 another in their rush to see that well. When they got 

 there they saw that what Salam di Rimba said was quite 

 true. So they killed the elephant and the other animals, 

 while they cut the throats of the sambhur deer and the bark- 

 ing deer. And they made a feast of the deer. When all the 



Jour. Straits Branch 



