Pa' Pandir.* 



Once on a time a certain woman named Ma' Andih 

 married a man called Pa' Pandir. In course of time they had 

 a daughter. When she was about six months old Ma' Andih 

 went out to receive her wages as a reaper. She left the child 

 with Pa' Pandir. 



She said, " I leave the child with you, Pa ' Padir. You 

 must bathe her in hot water, but take care that it is only flesh 

 warm (lit : as hot as your ringer nail)." 



Pa' Pandir said, " All right." Afterwards while Ma' Andih 

 was away getting her pay, Pa' Pandir put a lot of water in a 

 big pot and when it was boiling over he dipped the child right 

 into it. The child died at once. Its teeth remained wide 

 apart. When Pa' Pandir saw its teeth like that, he said, 

 " How the child likes the hot water." 



Not long after Ma' Andih came back from getting her 

 pay and when she saw her dead child in the pot she burst into 

 weeping and with profuse lamentations said, " Woe is me child, 

 child of my heart, we have been for ever separated by this 

 accursed Pa' Pandir, may his death be sudden." 



Pa' Pandir said, " Why are you weeping like that ? " 

 " Are you blind ? Don't you see that my own child is 

 dead, murdered by you ? " 



" I never thought that she was dead for she was busy 

 eating that broken rice." 



" Are you blind ? The child's mouth is full of flies and 

 you say it is eating broken rice. But since it is dead we must 

 bury it." 



So they buried the child. Three days after Ma' Andih 

 said, " Pa' Pandir, I want to give a feast, let me make ready." 



This tale is told by Penghulu Mohamed Noordin bin Jaffar of 

 Kota Stia Lower Perak. He cannot give the source from which he 

 learned it. — The humour is in places unfortunately pre-Shakespear- 

 ean in its breadth. 



Jour. Strait* Branch, B. A. boc, No. 48, 1907. 



